Fiji-class Cruiser

The ''Fiji''-class cruisers were a class of eleven light cruisers of the Royal Navy that saw extensive service throughout the Second World War. Each ship of the class was named after a Crown colony or other constituent territory of the British Commonwealth and Empire. The class was also known as the Colony class, or Crown Colony class. Developed as more compact versions of the preceding s, the last three were built to a slightly modified design and were sometimes also called the ''Ceylon'' class.

Design

They were built to the limitations that the 1936 Second London Naval Treaty imposed on cruisers, which lowered the limit for a light cruiser set in the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty from 10,000 tons to 8,000 tons displacement. Externally they appeared as smaller derivatives of the 1936 s.

The ''Fiji''-class cruisers however, like the that followed in the middle of the war, essentially carried the same armament on a 1,000-tons less displacement. The ''Fiji'' and ''Minotaur'' classes were very tight designs, built largely in war emergency conditions with little margin for any great updating postwar. The beam imposing crippling limits.

The ''Fiji'' class were distinguishable from the Towns as they had a transom stern and straight funnels and masts; those of the Towns being raked. The armour scheme was revised from that of the Towns; the main belt now protected the ammunition spaces for the guns but the belt itself was reduced to in the machinery spaces. The 6-inch Mk XXIII gun turrets and ammunition spaces were laid out as per the ''Edinburgh'' group of the Town class, except the after turrets were positioned a deck lower as in the ''Southampton'' and ''Gloucester'' groups. The long trunk version of the triple 6-inch turret fitted to the ''Fiji'' class was 25 tons heavier than the 150-ton turret on the Group 1 & 2 Towns and further cramped the design. The supply of ammunition to the guns was also improved, dispensing with the complicated conveyor system.

Due to the limited size of the ''Fiji'' class, a number of the ships had their 'X' turret removed to fit additional light anti-aircraft (AA) guns. Ships of the first group were equipped with the High Angle Control System (HACS) for secondary armament AA fire while the ''Ceylon'' group used the Fuze Keeping Clock for AA fire control. Both groups used the Admiralty Fire Control Table for surface fire control of the main armament and the Admiralty Fire Control Clock for surface fire control of the secondary armament. By the late 1940s most of the ''Fiji'' class had the updated Type 274 'lock and follow' surface fire control radar, which massively increased the chance of hits from the opening salvoes. In the 1950s (except during the Korean War and Suez crisis) no more than one of the MKXIII turrets was ever manned, with 'B' and 'Y' turrets mothballed due to the large number of crew required for their operation. This allowed for more liveable peacetime conditions by operating with a crew of 610–750 rather than the full wartime crew of 1,000–1,100.

Modifications

The addition of radar sets meant that spotting aircraft were now surplus to requirements, allowing the removal of the aircraft facilities and catapult. Not only did this provide additional accommodation spaces for enlarged wartime crews, but there was no longer the need to carry large quantities of volatile aviation fuel; in 1940, had her bow blown off when a torpedo detonated the 5,700 gallons of aviation fuel stored forwards and was out of action for a year. ''Fiji'' and ''Kenya'' had never received the catapult, ''Nigeria'' had hers removed in 1941 and the other ships had theirs removed between 1942 and 1944.

The ''Ceylon'' group were completed without 'X' 6-inch turret, and between 1944 and 1945, those of ''Bermuda'', ''Jamaica'', ''Mauritius'' and ''Kenya'' were also removed. This allowed the carriage of additional light AA weapons, a quadruple QF 2 pdr pom-pom mounting Mark VII generally being carried in 'X' position. ''Bermuda'', ''Jamaica'' and ''Mauritius'' had 2 additional quadruple pom-poms added (for a total of five) and between two and four single pom-poms in powered mountings Mark XV. In ''Kenya'', all pom-poms were removed, and were replaced with five twin and eight single 40 mm Bofors guns. By the end of the war, ''Newfoundland'' had one and ''Uganda'' had two American pattern quadruple 40 mm Bofors mounts Mark III and ''Nigeria'' had four single mounts Mark III. Generally, 6 to 24 20 mm Oerlikon guns were also added in a mixture of single mounts Mark IIIA and twin powered mounts Mark V.

Postwar modifications of the class were very limited with improved Type 274 lock and follow surface fire control. ''Newfoundland'' had a fragile and unreliable 'glasshouse' version of Type 275 for twin 4-inch control,The same was fitted to HMS ''Superb'' and ''Swiftsure'' ''Ceylon'' had the short range type 262 MRS1 AA control which was limited to about range for tracking. ''Bermuda'' and ''Gambia'' had much more advanced US Mk 63 radar with four High Angle Director-Control Tower (DCT) and separate radar disks on the mounts themselves using systems that were released by the cancellation of 's 1955 long refit. Slightly improved new versions of the basic twin 4-inch gun mounts were generally fitted in extended refits in 1950; these had electric drive and could train and elevate at 20 degrees/sec to track subsonic jets.

US advice and offers under mutual assistance to replace the obsolete and inaccurate 4-inch guns with twin 3-inch 50-calibre turrets of similar weight and dimensions as the RN twin 4-inch Mark XIX turrets were rejected because the RN had huge stocks of 4-inch shells. These ships would have been altered for water sprays to wash off nuclear fallout and received the Type 960 standard long-range air search radar. ''Newfoundland'' received a greater extent of electrical updating and rewiring with more comprehensive AA fire control and was the only ''Fiji''-class vessel updated close to the standard planned for the improved ships. The ''Fiji'' class were only refitted for shore bombardment and colonial patrol and presence. The mid-1950s refits of ''Ceylon'', ''Gambia'' and ''Bermuda'' were very austere. They included increasing automation, the life of the geared steam turbines, and reducing manning below decks. There was simplification of the short range anti-aircraft defence to six to eight twin L/60 Bofors in Mk 5 twin mountings with a fire rate increased to 150 rpm per gun (280–300 rpm for each twin mounting). These would have stopped earlier WWII low-level or later Falklands War-type attacks, by which time the RN no longer fitted 40 mm, the last were withdrawn with in 1981.

Service

They served with distinction during the Second World War. ''Jamaica'' took part in a number of operations, including driving off the heavy cruisers and ''Lützow'' in 1942, the sinking of the battleship in 1943, and escorting carrier air attacks on the battleship in 1944. was sunk in 1941 by German aircraft during the battle of Crete. was lost on Arctic convoy duty in 1942; sailing at reduced speed due to damage in a surface action earlier she was set on fire by German air attack and scuttled. The survivors continued in service after the war, taking part in further actions, such as the Korean War.

and were sold to Peru in 1959 becoming the ''Coronel Bolognesi'', and ''Almirante Grau'' respectively. These two were decommissioned by 1982. was sold to India who had it reconstructed in 1954–7 to the same standard as ''Newfoundland''. As , the ship was heavily used from the time of her transfer, seeing action in the 1971 war with Pakistan, and later converted to a harbour training ship in 1979. She was decommissioned by 1984 and then scrapped in 1985, and as such she was the longest-lived (41 years) member of her class.

All ships of the ''Fiji'' class were decommissioned from active service with the Royal Navy by 1962 and began being sold for scrap, though ''Bermuda'' was fully operational during 1961 and sometimes ventured to sea in 1962 as flagship of the Reserve Fleet. ''Gambia'' had been reduced to reserve in December 1960.

During the 1950s the larger Town-class cruisers were usually regarded as more habitable and comfortable in patrolling in the tropics and Far East, although being older their operational use generally ceased by 1958 and went for scrap the following year except for (which had at sea deployments as a reserve flagship until late 1960 and was then, maintained as a reserve headquarters ship) and which stayed in active seaworthy service until 1963. ''Sheffield'' and ''Belfast'' were the last of the wartime commissioned cruisers considered capable of reactivation for GFS and were in semi maintained reserve until the election of the Labour Government in 1964, which immediately decided to scrap them, pending short term use as accommodation ships and consideration for historical preservation.

The last ''Fiji''-class cruisers were seriously deteriorating due to being in an unmaintained extended reserve status many years. ''Gambia'' was considered as an alternative for use as the London museum ship, as the ship's condition was more original than ''Belfast'', but ''Gambia'' was sold for scrap in 1968, because the state of the ship made it more expensive to preserve than ''Belfast''. .

Ships of the class

Original design

* ''Bermuda'' – Took part in Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa, during World War II, as well as other operations. After the war, the ship continued in service, seeing much of the world, and receiving a number of refits which helped her last until her decommissioning in 1962. She was scrapped in 1965.
* ''Fiji'' – In 1940 ''Fiji'' was torpedoed by a German U-boat but survived. In 1941, during the Battle of Crete, ''Fiji'' was damaged by a bomb from a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft, after having survived 20 bomb hits, this one caused her to list; further bomb hits increased the list and the cruiser rolled over an hour later. 523 of her crew were picked up.HMS 'Fiji'
naval-history.net
* ''Gambia'' – Was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1943, seeing active service in the British Pacific Fleet. She was returned to the Royal Navy in 1946. The ship was scrapped in 1968.
* ''Jamaica'' – Served in World War II, taking part in a number of operations during that war, including the sinking of the battleship ''Scharnhorst'' at the Battle of North Cape, driving off German cruiser ''Admiral Hipper'' at the Battle of the Barents Sea, and escorting carrier air attacks on the battleship ''Tirpitz''. In the Korean War, ''Jamaica'' was known as "The Galloping Ghost of the Korean Coast", due to the North Koreans claiming that she had been sunk three times. In 1955 ''Jamaica'' was used to play in the film '' The Battle of the River Plate''. She was scrapped in 1960.
* ''Kenya'' – Was heavily involved in World War II, being deployed to the Far East for some time. ''Kenya'' was also involved in the Korean War. She was scrapped in 1962.
* ''Mauritius'' – She was involved in the Normandy Landings, and other actions during World War II. She was scrapped in 1965.
* – Was involved in Operation Pedestal (when she was damaged by Italian submarine ''Axum''), the largest attempt to assist the besieged island of Malta in 1942. She participated in raids on Sumatra as part of the Eastern Fleet in 1945, as well as a number of other deployments. She was sold to India in 1958, being renamed . She was scrapped in 1985.
* ''Trinidad'' – In 1942 while engaging three German destroyers attacking convoy Convoy PQ13, she was hit by her own torpedo, which had a faulty gyroscope causing it to run in circles, though she did destroy one of the German warships. After temporary repairs in USSR, on return journey through Barents Sea to UK ''Trinidad'' was hit by a bomb from ''Luftwaffe'' Junkers Ju 88 bombers, further damaging her to an extent that she was scuttled with a torpedo the following day.

''Ceylon'' group

* – Was deployed to the Far East for much of World War II, and was heavily involved in the Korean War. She was decommissioned in 1960, and subsequently sold to Peru, being renamed ''Coronel Bolognesi''. She was decommissioned in 1982.
* – She was torpedoed by the , receiving temporary repairs at Malta, and full repairs at Boston Navy Yard. In 1944, the ship suffered an explosion at Alexandria while docked there. She sustained heavy damage, and suffered a number of casualties. She was in the Far East from 1945, supporting a number of operations there, and was present at the Japanese surrender, being one of the few British ships able to reach Japan in time. She sank the Egyptian frigate ''Domiat'', during the Suez operations, after the latter ship fired on her. She was sold to Peru in 1959, being renamed ''Almirante Grau'' and then ''Capitan Quinones'' in 1973. She was decommissioned in 1979 and scrapped in Japan, the country that she and her crew fought against in World War II.
* – Escorted to Washington, D.C., with Winston Churchill embarked. Covered the invasion of Sicily in 1943. She was then hit by a German glide bomb that same year, causing significant damage and killing sixteen of her crew and wounding seven. Following repairs carried out in 1944 in the US she was recommissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS ''Uganda''. She joined the British Pacific Fleet in 1945 taking part in a number of actions in the Far East. She was put in reserve in 1947 but recommissioned as HMCS ''Quebec'' for service in the Korean War. The ship was scrapped in 1961.

See also

* List of ship classes of the Second World War

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Gunnery Layout of "Mauritius" Class Cruiser. from Gunnery Pocket Book 1945
placed online courtesy of Historic Naval Ships Association

{{WWII British ships

Cruiser classes
Ship classes of the Royal Navy