WWII Tech Pubs Briefing

Written by
James Davies

In a Norwegian fjord, Apr. 13, 1940, HMS Southampton fires a barrage at land positions during the Second Battle of Narvik.

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Overview

Cruisers were formally defined in the 1930 London Treaty as “Surface vessels of war, other than capital ships or aircraft carriers, the standard displacement of which exceeds 1,850 (long) tons (1,880 tonnes), or with a gun above 5.1 inch (130-mm) calibre.” These were further sub-divided into two sub classes: heavy cruisers, which carried guns of calibre between 6.1 in (155 mm) and 8.0 in (203 mm), and light cruisers with guns of calibre 6.0 in (152 mm) or below. Under these definitions, the Southampton class cruiser is a light cruiser.

The Southampton class is the original variant of the Town class cruisers. Five Southampton class cruisers were built by Great Britain (HMS Southampton, HMS Newcastle, HMS Sheffield, HMS Glasgow, and HMS Birmingham) and they entered service just prior to World War II. All, apart from HMS Southampton, survived the war although all suffered damage in action.

Among the heavy and light cruisers, the advantage of firepower did not always lie with the ships with the bigger guns. In particular, the heavier 8.0-in gun took longer to reload than the 6.0-in gun and as a result, the smaller gun could put a heavier weight of shell out per minute than the larger. The 8.0-in gun compensated for this with its longer range. In good visibility, a heavy cruiser could severely damage a light cruiser before the target could get in range to use its guns. However, in poor visibility or at night, the longer range offered no benefit and the light cruiser, with its faster-firing weapons, could inflict more damage over the course of an action.

The Southampton class cruiser was conceived to fit within the light cruiser limits of the 1930 London Treaty. Despite heavy criticism, the designers elected to use only 12 6.0-in guns in four turrets as the main weapons. Pressure to employ 15 guns, which would match the armament of Japanese Mogami class and the American Brooklyn class cruisers, was resisted on the grounds that doing so would break the 10,000-long-ton (10,160-tonne) limit set by the treaties, although given the generally liberal interpretation of ship displacement by other powers, the refusal appears strange. Under normal operating conditions, these guns could fire eight rounds per minute each and had a maximum range of approximately 25,500 yd (23,300 m). Each round weighed 112 lb (50.8 kg), and - unlike the rounds for 8.0-in guns - could be manually handled in the event of power failure.

Armour for the ships was chosen to provide some protection against the 8.0-in shells fired by the heavy cruisers that the Southampton class might be expected to fight, although they could not be expected to withstand the much heavier guns of capital ships.

Aircraft were provided for a reconnaissance role, and to avoid the problems other ships had experienced in maintaining aircraft in an airworthy condition, the Southampton class ships were fitted with two aircraft hangars - the first British cruisers so equipped. The ship launched aircraft by catapult and recovered them by crane after they landed on the water. The chosen aircraft was the Supermarine Walrus, a single-engine amphibious biplane.

The eight 4.0-in (102-mm) guns chosen for dual purpose air defence and short range weaponry had a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute. These were supplemented with two four-barrelled pom-poms, smaller versions of the eight-barrelled weapons fitted to larger ships. These guns fired 115 rounds per minute per barrel, and were effective out to 1,100 m (1,200 yd). Finally, eight 0.50-in (12.7-mm) machine guns were installed in two mounts of four guns each, although these were found to be prone to jamming. The pre-war lack of appreciation of the threat posed by aircraft can be seen in this light selection of anti-aircraft weaponry.

Torpedo tubes were provided in case the vessel had to go into action against a capital ship, which could be expected to withstand a light cruiser’s 6.0-in (152-mm) guns.

Overall, the Southampton class was a success, with a proven ability to stay afloat and continue to fight after sustaining considerable damage, effective main guns, adequate armour, and sufficient speed - all the qualities of a good cruiser. In common with all ships of that time, the class was shown to be initially lacking in air defence, although as the war progressed significant improvements were made to the anti-aircraft guns and this deficiency was rectified.

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Units

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Specifications

Note 1: During the war, changes were continually made to the vessels to meet the particular needs of the areas in which they were operating, to deploy technological developments, and to put into action the lessons of war experience. By early 1941, no two ships mounted the same equipment, and by the end of that year, no Southampton class cruiser remained unmodified. Changes included the addition of anti-aircraft equipment (by the end of the war one turret had been replaced with AA guns) and the installation of radar.

Note 2: A good approximation, although the exact waterline length unknown.

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