HMS ''Cornwall'',

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

56, was a

heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...

of the ''Kent'' sub-class built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

in the mid-1920s. The ship spent most of her pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

career assigned to the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

. Shortly after the war began in August 1939, she was assigned to search for German

commerce raider Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than enga ...

s in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. ''Cornwall'' was transferred to the South Atlantic in late 1939 where she escorted

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s before returning to the Indian Ocean in 1941. She then sank the in May. After the start of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...

in December 1941, she began escorting convoys until she was transferred to the

Eastern Fleet Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...

in March 1942. The ship was sunk on 5 April by

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact through ...

s from three Japanese

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s during the

Indian Ocean Raid The Indian Ocean raid, also known as Operation C or Battle of Ceylon in Japanese, was a naval sortie carried out by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 31 March to 10 April 1942. Japanese aircraft carriers under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo ...

Description

''Cornwall'' displaced at standard load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into we ...

. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam tu ...

s, driving four shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by eight

Admiralty 3-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...

s. ''Cornwall'' carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), b ...

that gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 784 officers and men. The ship mounted eight 50- calibre 8-inch (203 mm) guns in four twin

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...

s. Her secondary armament consisted of four QF Mk V

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

(AA) guns in single mounts. ''Cornwall'' mounted four single 2-pounder (40 mm) light AA guns ("pom-poms"). The ship carried two quadruple

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

above-water mounts for torpedoes.Raven and Roberts, p. 412 ''Cornwall'' was only lightly protected with little more than a single inch of plating protecting vital machinery. Her

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

s were the exception and were protected by of armour. Space and weight was reserved for one

aircraft catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...

and its

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

, but they were not fitted until after she was completed.

Construction and career

''Cornwall'', the fifth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was named after the eponymous county. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

at Devonport Dockyard on 9 October 1924 and was launched on 11 March 1926. Completed on 6 December 1927, she was assigned to the

5th Cruiser Squadron The 5th Cruiser Squadron and also known as Cruiser Force D was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1907 to 1915 and then again from 1939 to 1946. History First formation The squadron was first established in 1907, it was att ...

(CS) on the China Station and spent the bulk of the interbellum period there. In 1929–30 she received a High-Angle Control System, used to direct her anti-aircraft guns, and a catapult was fitted the following year. Two quadruple Vickers .50-calibre (12.7 mm) Mark III

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

s were added in 1934.Raven and Roberts, p. 251 In July 1936, ''Cornwall'' returned home to begin a major refit, which included a

Krupp cemented armour Krupp armour was a type of steel naval armour used in the construction of capital ships starting shortly before the end of the nineteenth century. It was developed by Germany's Krupp Arms Works in 1893 and quickly replaced Harvey armour as the ...

belt abreast the engine and boiler rooms as well as the dynamo room and the fire control transmitting station. This belt extended down from the lower deck. Four inches of armour were also added to protect the sides of the boiler room fan compartments. A hangar for her aircraft was added and a new, more powerful catapult was installed. The ship's director was moved to the roof of the hangar and a new power-operated director-control tower was installed in its original location. Her single four-inch AA guns were replaced with twin-gun mounts for Mark XVI guns of the same calibre. Two octuple-barrel 2-pounder mounts were added abreast the searchlight tower and the original 2-pounder guns were removed. The changes raised the ship's displacement by and cost an estimated £215,000. After the refit was completed in December 1937, the ship was assigned to the

2nd Cruiser Squadron The 2nd Cruiser Squadron was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1904 to 1919 and from 1921 to 1941 and again from 1946 to 1952. History First formation The 2nd Cruiser Squadron was first formed in December, 1904 then placed ...

before rejoining the 5th CS in 1939.Whitley, p. 86 On 5 October 1939, a month after the start of World War II, she was assigned to Force I to hunt for German commerce raiders in the

and spent most of the rest of the year there. ''Cornwall'' was then transferred to the South Atlantic for convoy escort duties. On 13 September 1940, the ship rendezvoused with a convoy that was carrying troops intended to capture

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

from the

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

, but was detached to intercept the Vichy French

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

that was escorting an

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined ...

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been in ...

French Equatorial Africa French Equatorial Africa (french: link=no, Afrique-Équatoriale française), or the AEF, was the federation of French colonial possessions in Equatorial Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River into the Sahel, and comprising what are ...

, five days later and forced them to return to

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco (french: Protectorat français au Maroc; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في المغرب), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The prot ...

. She then returned to the Indian Ocean and sank the German commerce raider on 8 May 1941. ''Cornwall'' rescued 3 officers, 57 ratings and 22 prisoners after the battle. Dorsetshire&Cornwall

After the start of the

on 7 December, the ship began escorting convoys across the Indian Ocean, examples being Convoy JS.1 from

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, Ceylon, to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

in late January–early February 1942 and the troop Convoy MS. 5 to Australia in early March. Later that month, she was assigned to the fast Force A of the

. On 2 April, ''Cornwall'' and her half sister, , were detached from the fleet, ''Dorsetshire'' to resume an interrupted refit and ''Cornwall'' to escort convoy SU-4 (composed of the U.S. Army transport and Australian transport ) to Australia and the

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

in Ceylon for repairs. On 4 April, the Japanese fleet was spotted and the two cruisers left harbour and, after a hurried refuelling at sea, set out for

Addu Atoll Addu Atoll, also known as Seenu Atoll, is the southernmost atoll of the Maldives. Addu Atoll, together with Fuvahmulah, located 40 km north of Addu Atoll, extend the Maldives into the Southern Hemisphere. Addu Atoll is located 540 km ...

shortly after midnight. The following day, the two cruisers were sighted by a spotter plane from the about 200 miles (370 km) south-west of Ceylon. As part of the engagement known as the

Easter Sunday Raid The Easter Sunday Raid was an air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid by carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 5 April 1942. The Japanese objective was to destroy the Ceylon-based British Eastern Fleet in ...

, a wave of

Aichi D3A The Aichi D3A Type 99 Carrier Bomber ( Allied reporting name "Val") is a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber. It was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was involved in almost all IJN actions, including the a ...

dive bombers took off from three Japanese carriers to attack ''Cornwall'' and ''Dorsetshire'', south-west of Ceylon, and sank the two ships. British losses were 424 men killed; 1,122 survivors spent thirty hours in the water before being rescued by the light cruiser and two destroyers.Gill 1968, p. 19

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

HMS Cornwall at U-boat.net

IWM Interview with survivor Robert Crick

IWM Interview with survivor John Maule

IWM Interview with survivor Harold Farmer

IWM Interview with survivor Roger Collett

IWM Interview with survivor Patrick Fitz

IWM Interview with survivor Edwin Drew

IWM Interview with survivor Benjamin Fuller
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwall (56) Kent-class cruisers County-class cruisers of the Royal Navy Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1926 ships World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean Maritime incidents in April 1942 Cruisers sunk by aircraft Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft