The previous Hornby class were good small patrol cruisers, but the Navy wanted more! More speed, less armour, dual purpose main armament, more torpedoes, less aircraft. These were to be ships that could screen the big carriers and battleships and act as Flotilla Leaders to the older destroyers, a multi-role vessel. To do this the design team took the Hornby design and removed the aircraft to provide more space, removed the twin 6" and replaced those guns with the new 5" twin turret dual purpose weapons system. Two dual purpose directors would be fitted to control the guns. Four quad 2 pounder pom pom mountings would be fitted with a dozen 20mm to round out the gun armament. Four triple torpedo tube launchers would be fitted to give the ships teeth to sink into anything larger than themselves.



At six years old the remaining ships have their '40mm' refit. Replacing all of the 2 pounder guns and 20mm cannons. Along with the 40mm mountings, one radar predictor is fitted per mounting. One set of torpedoes was removed to help with topweight. The area created was used for an enlarged sick bay area which the war had shown was necessary. The classes main losses of three ships was in the Mediterranean where the German Fliegerkorps X sank so many fine allied ships. No greater sigh of relief was given when Fliegerkorps X was transferred to the Russian front. Their departure allowed the Allied air forces to regain some semblance of superiority over the Axis aircraft remaining.



These ships proved popular after the end of the war with no less than four of the remaining ships being sold to smaller nations. (Thailand bought two to replace their losses to the French in 1941/42, the other two went to Mexico.)

 

Displacement	5,400 tons standard, 6,800 tons full load
Length	495 ft
Breadth	52 ft
Draught	16 ft
Machinery	4 shaft, steam turbines, 70,000ihp
Speed	34 knots
Range	7,000 miles at 12 knots
Armour	2" side, 1" deck
Armament	As completed 8 x 5" (4x2) 16 x 2pd AA (4x4) 12 x 20mm (2x1)	Refits to 1942 8 x 5" (4x2) 24 x 40mm (2x4, 8x2)
Torpedoes	12 x 21" (4x3)
Complement	460
Notes	Captain Noble Captain Elton Captain John Captain Fantastic Captain Brown Captain Dirt Captain Cowboy Captain Yellow Captain Brick Captain Road Captain James Captain Dean

The lead ship of all these classes of ships is a Polar Explorer. The rest of the names for the cruisers (and probably other vessels) I am having some fun with using musicians and their works.

You will always be able to tell, when I add a new ship, as I change the drawing in the header, each time, on the index page.