Hawkins-class cruiser

The Hawkins class consisted of five heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War, although none of them saw service during the war. The first ship to be completed, HMS Vindictive, was renamed from HMS Cavendish and converted into an aircraft carrier while under construction. All ships were named after Elizabethan sea captains. The three ships remaining as cruisers in 1939 served in the Second World War, with Effingham being an early war loss through wreck; Raleigh had been lost in a similar shipwreck on uncharted rocks in 1922 (and Vindictive was nearly lost to grounding in 1919). Vindictive, though no longer a cruiser, also served throughout the War. This class formed the basis for the definition of the maximum cruiser type under the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

Raleigh in Vancouver, Canada, December 1921
Class overview
Name: Hawkins class
Operators:  Royal Navy
Preceded by: None
Succeeded by: County class
Built: 1916–1925
In commission: 1919–1947
Completed: 5
Lost: 2
Scrapped: 3
General characteristics
Type: Heavy cruiser
Displacement:
Length: 605 ft (184.4 m)(o/a)
Beam: 65 ft (19.8 m)
Draught: 19 ft 3 in (5.9 m) (deep load)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 4 shafts; 4 × geared steam turbine sets
Speed: 30–31 knots (56–57 km/h; 35–36 mph)
Range: 5,640 nmi (10,450 km; 6,490 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 709
Armament:
Armour:
  • Belt: 1.5–3 in (3.8–7.6 cm)
  • Deck: 1–1.5 in (2.5–3.8 cm)
  • Gun shields: 1 in (2.5 cm)
General characteristics (Vindictive)
Type: Aircraft carrier
Displacement: 9,996 long tons (10,156 t) (standard)
Installed power: 12 Yarrow boilers; 60,000 shp
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Armament:
  • 4 × single 7.5 in guns
  • 4 × single 3 in low-angle guns
  • 4 × single 3 in AA guns
  • 2 × single 2 pdr AA guns
  • 6 × 21 in torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried: 6–12 aircraft

Design
Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1923

Although the Hawkins class are sometimes named as the "Improved Birminghams", referring to the Birmingham sub-class of the Town-class light cruisers, their design was based on a proposal by the Director of Naval Construction, Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, in 1912–1913. Reacting to rumors of large German cruisers armed with 6.9-inch (175 mm) guns for overseas service and the need to replace the elderly armoured cruisers deployed abroad, d'Eyncourt proposed an oil-fuelled and lightly armoured ship of 7,500 long tons (7,600 t) capable of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) and armed with 7.5-inch (191 mm) guns in turrets. Referring the design as a "Light Cruiser for Atlantic Service", he optimized the design for good seakeeping performance for hunting down commerce raiders by giving it a deep draught and high freeboard.[1]

Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, objected to the size and cost of the ship and asked for a smaller and faster design armed with a mix of 6-inch (152 mm) and 7.5-inch guns, capable of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph) using oil and a version of the new design using a mix of coal and oil as in the Birminghams in August 1913. The oil-fuelled design was estimated to cost £550,000, compared to the original's £700,000, while the mixed-fuel ship was priced at £590,000. Nothing further was done with the designs as the naval construction budget was already badly stretched.[1]

In the early months of the First World War, German commerce-raiding warships and armed merchant cruisers seriously disrupted British seaborne trade as the need to form convoys or re-route ships to avoid areas that the raiders in which were operating seriously delayed sailings or lengthened voyages. Furthermore the need to escort the convoys and to search for the raiders required large numbers of warships that were needed elsewhere, far out of proportion to numbers of raiders.[2] On 12 October 1914 d'Eyncourt reiterated the arguments behind his "Atlantic Cruiser" proposal in a memo to the Board of Admiralty, adding that a fast mixed-fuel design with a large steaming radius would be very helpful for operations in remote areas where oil might not be available.[3]

By early 1915 the threat had been neutralized or sunk, but the Royal Navy believed that further commerce-raiding operations were likely. On 9 June the board met to consider specifications for a large light cruiser capable of hunting down commerce raiders anywhere in the world. D'Eyncourt was subsequently requested to submit designs for a ship capable of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) with at least one-fifth power from coal-fired boilers and an armament of at least ten 6-inch guns. He submitted six sketch designs armed with various mixes of 6-, 7.5- and 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns using 9,000-long-ton (9,144 t) and 9,750-long-ton (9,906 t) hulls.[4] Based on several encounters where the raiders had attempted to flee as soon as they had spotted the cruisers, the board believed that the ship's armament needed to be able to reach out to the visible horizon and be powerful enough to cripple the raider with a single hit. It therefore rejected the 6-inch gun as too short-ranged and lacking in power and the 9.2-inch gun as too few could be mounted on the hull; settling on the 7.5-inch gun in a new mount capable of 30° of elevation to maximise its range and carried on the larger of the two hulls proposed.[2]

Description
Hawkins in a dry dock, 1920–1935

The ships had an overall length of 605 feet (184.4 m), a beam of 65 feet (19.8 m) and a draught of 19 feet 3 inches (5.9 m) at deep load.[5] They displaced 9,800–9,860 long tons (9,960–10,020 t) at standard load and 12,110–12,300 long tons (12,300–12,500 t) at deep load. The shape of the hull was based on that of the large light cruiser Furious with 5-foot (1.5 m) anti-torpedo bulges covering the engine and boiler rooms. Amidships, the hull had 10° of tumblehome, although the forward portion of the forecastle deck flared outwards to improve seakeeping. The ships had a metacentric height of 4–4.1 ft (1.2–1.2 m) at deep load. D'Eyncourt claimed that they were so subdivided that they could survive the flooding of two adjacent compartments. Their crew numbered 37 officers and 672 ratings.[6][7]

The Hawkins class were equipped with four geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft. As designed, the turbines used steam provided by a dozen Yarrow boilers at a pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm2) and were ducted into two funnels.[8] Evenly distributed between three boiler rooms, the boilers in the middle compartment were coal-fired and produced only one sixth of the ships' power. The turbines were rated at 60,000 shaft horsepower (45,000 kW) to give the ships a speed of 30 knots. In November 1917 the Admiralty decided to replace the coal-fired boilers in the three least-advanced ships with oil-fired ones and only Hawkins and Vindictive were completed with the original installation. Raleigh was the only ship to have all four coal-fired boilers replaced which increased her power to 70,000 shp (52,000 kW) for 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph). Effingham and Frobisher were fitted with a pair of oil-fired boilers which gave them 65,000 shp (48,000 kW) for a speed of 30.5 knots (56.5 km/h; 35.1 mph).[9] During her sea trials in 1919, Hawkins reached a speed of 28.7 knots (53.2 km/h; 33.0 mph) from about 61,000 shp (45,000 kW) at deep load. The following year, Raleigh reached her designed speed during her trials. Hawkins and Vindictive carried 1,480 long tons (1,500 t) of fuel oil and 860 long tons (870 t) of coal while the other ships stowed 2,186 long tons (2,221 t) of oil[8] which gave them a range of 5,640 nautical miles (10,450 km; 6,490 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[10]

Armament

The main armament of the Hawkins-class ships consisted of seven 45-calibre 7.5-inch (191 mm) Mk VI guns in single mounts protected by 1-inch (25 mm) gun shields. They were arranged with five guns on the centreline, four of which were in superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, the fifth gun was further aft on the quarterdeck, and the last two as wing guns abreast the aft funnel.[6][11] The guns fired 200-pound (91 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,770 ft/s (840 m/s) to their maximum range of 21,114 yards (19,307 m).[12] The ships stowed 150 rounds per gun.[6] The mounts were initially hand-worked, but they were refitted with power-operated elevation and traverse motors after the war. Powered-loading gear was never fitted and the guns could only be hand-loaded up to 10° elevation.[12]

Their secondary armament was intended to consist of ten 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt Mk I guns.[Note 1] Six of these were in low-angle mounts, two in casemates between the forward 7.5-inch guns, another pair on platforms abreast the conning tower and the remaining guns on a platform between the funnels, although all the low-angle guns were removed in 1921. The last four served as anti-aircraft (AA) guns and were positioned around the base of the mainmast. These guns were only installed in Hawkins, Vindictive and Raleigh.[13] They fired 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) shells at a muzzle velocity of 2,604 ft/s (794 m/s).[14] Each gun was provided with 300 rounds.[6]

The low-angle guns were not fitted in Effingham or Frobisher and the high-angle guns were replaced by three 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V guns, a pair of which were positioned at the base of the mainmast and the third gun was on the quarterdeck.[15] At an elevation of +30°, their 31-pound (14.1 kg) shells had a range of 13,600 yd (12,436 m) at a muzzle velocity of 2,613 ft/s (796 m/s).[16] The rest of their anti-aircraft suite consisted of a pair of 2-pounder (1.6-inch (40 mm)) AA guns that were added during construction.[15] The Hawkins-class ships were designed with a submerged 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tube on each broadside, but two above-water torpedo tubes were added below the base of the mainmast during construction on each broadside.[13]

Vindictive, Raleigh and Hawkins had their guns controlled by a mechanical Mark I Dreyer Fire-control Table. It used data provided by the 15-foot (4.6 m) coincidence rangefinder in the pedestal-type gunnery director positioned under the spotting top at the head of the tripod mast. The ships were also fitted with one 12-foot (3.7 m) and a 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinder. Effingham and Frobisher were fitted with a Mark III Dreyer Fire-control Table and three 12-foot rangefinders.[8]

Armour

The Hawkins class were protected by a full-length waterline armoured belt of high-tensile steel (HTS) that covered most of the ships' sides. It was thickest over the boiler and engine rooms, ranging from 1.5 to 3 inches (38 to 76 mm) thick. Their magazines were protected by an additional 0.5 to 1 inch (13 to 25 mm) of HTS. There was a 1-inch aft transverse bulkhead of mild steel and the conning tower was protected by 3-inch HTS plates. The ships' deck protection consisted of 1- to 1.5-inch HTS.[8]

Cavendish as an aircraft carrier
Vindictive shortly after completion

In January 1917, the Admiralty reviewed the navy's aircraft carrier requirements and decided to order two ships fitted with a flying-off deck as well as a landing deck aft. The initial order had to be cancelled in April 1917 for lack of building facilities, so the Admiralty decided to convert Cavendish, already under construction, in June 1917. She was renamed Vindictive to perpetuate the name of the cruiser sunk at the Second Ostend Raid and her construction was rushed to bring her into service before her cruiser sisters.[17]

The forward superfiring 7.5-inch gun, two 3-inch guns and the conning tower were removed and the forward superstructure was remodelled into a 78 by 49 feet (23.8 by 14.9 m) hangar with a capacity for six reconnaissance aircraft. The hangar roof, with a small extension, formed the 106-foot (32.3 m) flying-off deck. The aircraft were hoisted up through a hatch at the aft end of the flying-off deck by two derricks. The 193 by 57 feet (58.8 by 17.4 m) landing deck required the removal of the aft superfiring pair of 7.5-inch guns and moving the four 3-inch AA guns to an elevated platform between the funnels, in lieu of the 3-inch guns intended for that position.[17] A port side gangway 8 feet (2.4 m) wide connected the landing and flying-off decks to allow aircraft with their wings folded to be wheeled from one to the other. A crash barrier was hung from "the gallows" at the forward end of the landing on deck. To increase her stability after the addition of so much topweight, the upper portion of her anti-torpedo bulge was enlarged.[18] She completed her sea trials on 21 September 1918 and reached a speed of 29.12 knots (53.93 km/h; 33.51 mph) from 63,600 shp (47,400 kW).[8]

Modifications
Effingham after being modernised

No ships were completed with the original design secondary armament. Hawkins carried only the 12-pounder anti-aircraft (A/A) guns, her sisters having two (Raleigh) or three (Frobisher, Effingham) QF 4-inch Mark V guns on mountings HA Mark III. In 1929, Hawkins had her 12-pounder guns replaced by an equal number of the same model of 4-inch (102 mm) guns as her sisters. Frobisher was partially disarmed as a training ship in 1932, but reverted to a cruiser in 1937 when Vindictive was specially demilitarised for this role.

The ships were scheduled for disposal in 1936, but rising international tensions caused their retention. In 1937, Effingham was rebuilt as a light cruiser with nine BL 6-inch Mark XII guns on single mountings CP Mark XIV. These were shipped superfiring forwards in 'A', 'B' and 'C' positions, on either wing, triple aft in 'W', 'X' and 'Y' positions with the ninth gun being on the quarterdeck in position 'Z'. The after boiler rooms were removed and the remaining uptakes trunked into a single large funnel. Secondary armament was eight QF 4-inch Mark XVI on twin mountings HA/LA Mark XIX, eight QF 2-pounder Mark VIII guns on two quadruple mountings Mark VII and twelve 0.5 inch Vickers machine guns on three quadruple mountings Mark I. The submerged torpedo tubes were removed. She had a new bridge and spotting top and carried a crane amidships; the catapult and aircraft were never fitted.

It had been planned to rebuild Hawkins and Frobisher on similar lines, but other priorities prevented this. They were re-armed for war with all their 7.5-inch (191 mm) guns, except in Frobisher which had the wing guns removed so that the 4-inch (102 mm) gun deck could be extended out to the ship's sides. In 1940, they received two (Hawkins) or four (Frobisher) quadruple 2 pounder "multiple pom-pom" mountings and seven (Frobisher) or eight (Hawkins) 20 mm Oerlikon guns on single mountings P Mark III. They received an outfit of centimetric Radar Type 273 target indication on the bridge, Type 286 air warning at the mastheads, Type 275 on the HACS 4-inch (102 mm) gun director for ranging and bearing and, in Frobisher only, a pair of Type 282 sets on the pom-pom directors on the bridge. Further wartime additions increased the number of 20 mm guns.

Ships
Name Namesake Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned Fate
Hawkins John Hawkins HM Dockyard Chatham 3 June 1916 1 October 1917 19 July 1919 Broken up at Dalmuir, 1947
Raleigh Walter Raleigh William Beardmore & Company, Dalmuir 4 October 1916, 28 August 1919, July 1921 Ran aground at Point Amour, Forteau Bay, Labrador 8 August 1922
Demolished September 1926.
Frobisher Martin Frobisher HM Dockyard Devonport 2 August 1916 20 March 1920 3 October 1924 Broken up at Newport, 1949
Effingham Charles Howard, Lord Effingham HM Dockyard Portsmouth 2 April 1917 8 June 1921 9 July 1925 Wrecked Faksen Shoal, Bodø, Norway 18 May 1940
Sunk by gunfire & torpedoes by HMS Matabele 21 May 1940
Cavendish Thomas Cavendish Harland & Wolff, Belfast 29 May 1916 17 January 1918 1 October 1918 Converted to aircraft carrier and renamed Vindictive, June 1917
Broken up at Blyth, 1946

Service
Raleigh grounded on Point Amour in 1922
  • Raleigh had the shortest career of any ship of the class, spending just one year in commission before being wrecked and subsequently broken up.
  • Effingham was an early war loss, during the Norwegian campaign; grounding on an uncharted shoal, she had to be destroyed by friendly forces.
  • Hawkins served in World War II as a convoy escort in the Indian Ocean, and provided gunfire support during the Normandy landings.
  • Frobisher served in World War II as a convoy escort and a depot ship for the Normandy landings. It was relegated to training roles by 1945, with a corresponding reduction in armament.
  • Vindictive served in two World Wars, in a wide variety of roles, finally being scrapped in 1946.

Notes
  1. "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.

Citations
  1. Friedman 2010, p. 35
  2. Raven & Roberts, p. 51
  3. Friedman 2010, p. 65
  4. Friedman 2010, p. 65, fn. 33, p. 340
  5. Preston, p. 63
  6. Raven & Roberts, p. 404
  7. Friedman 2010, pp. 67, 390
  8. Raven & Roberts, p. 405
  9. Friedman 2010, p. 69
  10. Friedman 2010, p. 390
  11. Friedman 2010, p. 66
  12. Friedman 2011, pp. 78
  13. Friedman 2010, pp. 66–67; Raven & Roberts, p. 404
  14. Friedman 2011, pp. 107–108
  15. Raven & Roberts, p. 55
  16. Friedman 2011, pp. 103–104
  17. Layman, pp. 62–63
  18. Friedman 1988, pp. 51, 57

References
  • Brown, David K. (1987). Lambert, Andrew (ed.). "Ship Trials". Warship (44): 242–248. ISSN 0142-6222.
  • Friedman, Norman (1988). British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-054-8.
  • Friedman, Norman (2010). British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • Layman, R. D. (1989). Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1859–1922. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-210-9.
  • Morris, Douglas (1987). Cruisers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies Since 1879. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-35-1.
  • Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-922-7.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell. ISBN 1-86019-874-0.
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