The  Antarctican Navy was looking to the future - post war. The Markham class had shown how far 'cruisers' had increased in size in just a few short years. While Antarctica had concentrated on small cruisers, the USA, among others, had built bigger ships. The US Navy had the Baltimore types, and the Des Moines classes building while the RN had the Princess Royal type. The Markham class was of a size with those ships so the designers were looking to improve the main armament. The two avenues that were followed was 1. Increase the gun size while keeping the four turret layout. 2. Go to a smaller gun size but go to a fully automatic weapon system keeping the four turret layout. The Admiralty was advised that option one could be done immediately but option two for fully automatic weapons of the size contemplated would not complete their trials and development till post-war. Of the class of five contemplated it was decided that three would be built with conventional weapons while the other two would utilise the same hull but with provision for the new automatic turrets.



As can be seen, the Wilkins class was indeed an all round improvement over the earlier Markham class. This should be expected with four to five years of research and development under wartime conditions to draw on. The new model 12" 50 calibre guns fired a 1200 pound shell 38,000 yards. These were real cruiser killer weapons, and very accurate - even more so when tied to modern fire control equipment. The shells ripped through any light/heavy cruisers armour like it was tissue paper. While Antarctica, like the US with their Alaska Class, called the ships the CB designation for 'Large' cruiser these really were battlecruisers. Moving the boats to where the catapult equipment had been allowed for an extra pair of 5" to be fitted aft. A larger bridge superstructure allowed for more command functions to be fitted. Part of this was the ability to be the Fleet fighter control ship for the CAP (Combat Air Patrol) squadrons where up to eight squadrons could be directed. The hangar design was kept , though it never saw an aircraft in it, being split up for accommodation and offices from new. The first three ships were completed just in time to make it to Tokyo Bay for the surrender of the Japanese. All five ships fought in the Korean War, in their original conditions. By the time the Vietnam War was in full swing, all five had gone through various refits and rebuilds as the Navy tried to get the best and longest service they could out of these cruisers. 45-50 years of service for these ships was not uncommon.



The last two ships in the class emerged in 1947 and 1948. They would be the first fully automatic gun armed vessels in the Navy. This might sound good, and in fact was, but the weight and space saving in just people was easily used up in the huge requirement of rounds per gun for the automatic weapons. The general rule for main weapons on cruisers (and above) was between 100-120 rounds per gun. The magazines would be designed to take that many shells and no more. (Another but.) But those 100-120 shells had to include armour piercing for ship to ship, high explosive for unarmoured and land targets, star shells for illumination, and even AA shells for some. If your guns fired at even five rounds per minute, it only takes 20 minutes to completely empty your magazines. Which is why 'maximum' rates of fire in real life very rarely reach full speed. What slows down the rate of fire (at least in WW2 actions) is spotting the fall of shot. You fire your salvo, wait for it to land at the other end, correct your line and range, fire again. It is the length of time a shell takes to arrive at the target that marks the rate of fire of an engagement. In the early part of an engagement, warships would only fire 'half' salvoes until line and range were correct then go to full salvoes. It would be a bit embarrassing to have your enemy battleship on the ropes, and pleading for mercy, only to run out of shells and watch it sail away to fight again another day. So the Nash and Young had prodigious amounts of space provided for shell stowage. Their 8" automatic guns could fire at an impressive ten to twelve rounds per minute, three times faster than the earlier Markham classes 9.5" guns and the Wilkins' 12" guns. The 5" secondaries were replaced with the new automatic 3" gun. No weapons of smaller size were fitted until later in the 1960's when the rebuilds allowed for such mountings to be fitted. These were the most fully radar equipped ships to join the fleet. The lattice masts were needed to mount all of the radar equipment that sprouted from everywhere. Radio antennas did the same. No need for large groups of wires anymore. Radio had progressed beyond those points. These two ships actually did not last as long in service as the other three. Being so 'modern' on completion meant that the ships served in their original state through the 1950's and 60's virtually unchanged. 1970-71 when the ships were finally looked at for modernisation or conversion to missiles, it was decided they were now too old for that kind of money to be spent on them. They were cleared for duty till the end of the 1970's at which stage they would be retired from service.



All of the three 12" Admiral Wilkins received conversions. The first two to become Scorpion cruisers similar to the earlier Markham class conversions. The last ship was to be converted to a helicopter carrier. This was to be done purely on cost. The cost of converting the five cruisers, to Scorpion armed ships, kept escalating from ship to ship, to the point where it was cheaper to build new ships that would have a longer career span than cruisers that were already nearly twenty years old. The helicopter conversion was a blast from the past - Area Defence Vessels - with modern equipment.



The large hangar could easily accommodate six aircraft. This number did not reflect the types that could be carried. The first six in the 1960's were purely ASW helicopters that could carry air to air missiles but were sitting ducks for most fighter aircraft. As aircraft like the Harrier became available, the Admiral Stills was more and more capable. Attack helicopters were added as well and the total number carried rose to seven. Two fighters, two attack and three ASW helicopters. With the ASW torpedoes carried and SuperCat AA missiles, the ship really could look after itself and the area it was in.

 

Displacement	19,000 tons standard, 23,500 tons full load
Length	723 ft
Breadth	80 ft
Draught	27 ft
Machinery	4 shaft, steam turbines, 130,000shp
Speed	33 knots
Range	10,000 miles at 12 knots
Armour	8" side, 5" deck, 8" turrets
Armament	As completed Wilkins 8 x 12" (4x2) 16 x 5" (8x2) 24 x 40mm (4x4, 4x2)	As completed Nash 8 x 8" Auto (4x2) 16 x 3" Auto (8x2)	As converted Wilkins 4 x 12" (2x2) 8 x 5" (4x2) 6 x 40mm Mk VI (3x2) ASW torpedoes (2x4) 1 x Twin Scorpion Launcher 4 x Quad SuperCat Launchers	As converted Stills 4 x 12" (2x2) 8 x 5" (4x2) 6 x 40mm Mk VI (3x2) ASW torpedoes (2x4) 2 x Quad SuperCat Launchers
Aircraft	nil	Nil	Nil	6-7
Complement	850-880 as Flagship
Notes	Admiral Wilkins Admiral Crosby Admiral Stills Admiral Nash Admiral Young

The Harrier made it possible for Helicopter Carriers  to have a credible fighter defence. They could not carry a full load of weaponry and use their STOL ability.