HMS Cornwall (56)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Cornwall.

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History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Cornwall
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK)
Laid down:	9 October 1924
Launched:	11 March 1926
Commissioned:	8 May 1928
Identification:	pennant number 56
Fate:	Sunk 5 April 1942, with HMS Dorsetshire, by bombs from Japanese carrier aircraft, west of Ceylon (198 lost)
General characteristics
Class & type:	County-class heavy cruiser
Displacement:	9,750 tons (9,010 t) standard 13,450 tons (13,670 t) full load
Length:	630 ft (190 m)
Beam:	68 ft 3 in (20.80 m)
Draught:	16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
Propulsion:	Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers Four shaft Brown Curtis geared turbines 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range:	3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) 13,300 nautical miles (24,600 km; 15,300 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Endurance:	3,400 tons (3,450 t) fuel oil
Complement:	700
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4 x 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns 2 x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms quad guns 2 x 0.5 in MG quadruple guns 2 x 21 in (533 mm) quadruple Torpedo Tubes. 1936 – 1942 configuration: 8 x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns 4 x 4 in (102 mm) dual AA guns 2 x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms eight barrel guns 2 x 0.5 in MG quadruple guns
Aircraft carried:	Three aircraft with one catapult, removed in 1942

HMS Cornwall, pennant number 56, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. She was built at Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK).

History

In a single ship action of 8 May 1941 Cornwall sank the German commerce raider Pinguin but was hit in the stern. She returned to Durban for repairs, which were completed on 10 June 1941. On 25 November 1941, Cornwall intercepted the Vichy-French merchant Surcouf off the east coast of Somalia and brought her to Aden. Surcouf was en route to Djibouti with food.

HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall under heavy air attack by Japanese carrier aircraft on 5 April 1942. Photographed from a Japanese aircraft.

On 2 April 1942, Cornwall and her sister ship Dorsetshire were detached from the fleet: Dorsetshire to resume an interrupted refit and Cornwall to escort convoy SU-4 (composed of the U.S. Army transport USAT Willard A. Holbrook and Australian transport MV Duntroon) to Australia and the aircraft carrier Hermes to Trincomalee in Ceylon for repairs. On 4 April, the Japanese carrier fleet was spotted and the two cruisers left harbour and, after a hurried refuelling at sea, set out for Addu Atoll shortly after midnight. On 5 April 1942, the two cruisers were sighted by a spotter plane from the Japanese cruiser Tone about 200 miles (370 km) southwest of Ceylon.

As part of the engagement known as the Easter Sunday Raid, a wave of dive bombers led by Lieutenant Commander Egusa took off from Japanese carriers to attack Cornwall and Dorsetshire, southwest of Ceylon, and sank the two ships. British losses were 424 men killed; 1,122 survivors spent thirty hours in the water before being rescued by HMS Enterprise and two destroyers.

Bibliography

• Dimbleby, Ken (1984). Turns of Fate. The Drama of HMS Cornwall 1939–1942. London:William Kimber. ISBN 0-7183-0523-X

External links

• HMS Cornwall at U-boat.net
• IWM Interview with survivor Robert Crick
• IWM Interview with survivor John Maule
• IWM Interview with survivor Harold Farmer
• IWM Interview with survivor Roger Collett
• IWM Interview with survivor Patrick Fitz
• IWM Interview with survivor Edwin Drew
• IWM Interview with survivor Benjamin Fuller