Duke Class light cruisers.
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With the completion of the heavy cruiser Ajaccio, the world got over the large
cruiser and went back to light cruisers. Tyrrhenia purchased an unused light
cruiser design which their designers modified to take a new triple 5.5" turret
type. Where the rest of the world were building 8,000 ton cruisers or bigger,
the Tyrrhenians Duke class was only a 6,000 odd ton cruiser. It was all they
needed. Eventually six were built in three batches of two. Two being completed
in 1936, the next two in 1938 then the last two in 1941.
The 5.5" was a new model with a limited 'barrage' capability against aircraft.
Elevation was only 50 degrees, but this gave the 5.5" AP shells a range of
24,000 yards which was enough to take it to the various 6" cruisers in other
navies. The ships were used, often, as flotilla leaders, and proved to be
excellent 'destroyer killers'.
| Displacement |
6,250 tons standard, 7,050 tons full load |
| Length |
510 ft |
| Breadth |
54 ft |
| Draught |
17 ft |
| Machinery |
4 shaft steam turbines, 70,000shp |
| Speed |
33 knots |
| Range |
4000 miles at 10 knots |
| Armour |
3in belt, 2in decks,
2" turrets |
| Armament |
As Completed 1936
9 x 5.5" (3x3)
6 x 4" (3x2)
8 x 2pd AA (2x4)
4 x 25.4 mm (4x1) |
Refits and batch 3 to 1942
9 x 5.5" (3x3)
6 x 4" (3x2)
12 x 2pd AA (3x4)
12 x 20mm (5x2 2x1) |
| Torpedoes |
6 x21" (2x3) |
6 x21" (2x3) |
| Aircraft |
2 |
0 |
| Complement |
490 |
515 |
| Notes |
First Group: (1936-38)
TNS Duke - sunk
TNS Princess - cede to France, scrapped 1954.
TNS Count - sunk
TNS Prince - sunk
Second Group: (1941-42)
TNS Countess - sunk as target ship 1949.
TNS Monarch - to Australis 1944, returned 1949, served till 1970, sale
and scrapped. |
The first four ships (those that remained) were slowly upgraded through 1940-42
to reach the same level as the two later ships. Landing the aircraft handling
facilities to make way for extra anti-aircraft weapons and electronics.
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The second group saw almost no action at all and spent the last year of their
war at Syracuse with the main bulk of the fleet. Surrendered to the Allies, the
three remaining ships went to France, United States and the United Kingdom
(Australis). France used the Princess till 1952 at which stage the ship spent
another 2 years as an accommodation ship, then deleted from the list and
scrapped. The United States, as with most of the surrendered ships it received
used the Countess for experimental purposes. Newly designed rockets were fired
at the Countess to see what damage they would cause. The Countess eventually
sank after being used as a live fire target for one of the Des Moines class
cruisers testing its automatic 8" guns. The Australis Navy took charge of the
Monarch and used it to repatriate its troops from the Middle East back to
Australis until 1946, when the ship was used for various experiments before
being returned to Tyrrhenian control in 1949 as part of the Commonwealth deal
for the use of Malta through to 1999 (50 year lease).
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