Kent Class Cruiser (1926)

Seven Kent class cruisers were completed as the first post-war construction of the type, with two of the vessels going to the Royal Australian Navy.

Overview of 7 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Berwick	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company	15 Sep, 1924	30 Mar, 1926		Broken up 1948
Cornwall	Devonport Royal Dockyard	9 Oct, 1924	11 Mar, 1926		Sunk 5 May, 1942
Cumberland	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow	18 Oct, 1924	16 Mar, 1926		Broken up 1959
Kent	Chatham Royal Dockyard	15 Nov, 1924	16 Mar, 1926		Broken up 1948
Suffolk	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard	30 Sep, 1924	16 Feb, 1926		Broken up 1948
Australia	John Brown & Company	26 Aug, 1925	17 Mar, 1927		Broken up
Canberra	John Brown & Company	9 Sep, 1925	31 May, 1927		Sunk

Armament

8-in Guns

• four twin 8-in BL Mark VIII L/50 guns, in superfiring pairs fore and aft

The guns could elevate fully 70 degrees in accordance with an onerous design criterion that they be capable of anti-aircraft fire. This perverse "mandate" was imposed without consideration for the slow speeds of traverse and elevation and the total lack of a suitable fire control system for high angle fire at the time.

4-in High Angle Guns

• four 4-in QF Mark V L/45 guns in single HA Mk.III mountings

Torpedoes

• two quadruple AW torpedo mounts on the broadsides

The tubes were curiously designated. In 1925, it was proposed that they should be, (aft to fore) on port side as "F", "I", "R", "E" and on the starboard as "N", "O", "P", "Q". In 1926, this was altered and the starboard tubes would be designated "W", "X", "Y", "Z".

See Also

• Wikipedia
• Chesneau, Roger (editor) (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).

Footnotes

Kent Class Heavy Cruiser

Royal Navy

Berwick

Cornwall

Cumberland

Kent

Suffolk

Royal Australian Navy

Australia

Canberra

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H.M.S. Hood

Major Cruisers (UK)

London Class

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