Capetown Class Light Cruisers

Capetown Class.  Last of the evolutionary group of 'C' classes they were repeats of the Ceres class but had the forecastle deck raised by five feet and flared into a so called 'trawler' bow to improve sea-keeping.

HMS Capetown
Built Cammell Laird, laid down February 1918, completed April 1922.

HMS Cairo
Built Cammell Laird, laid down November 1917, completed October 1919.

HMS Calcutta
Built Vickers, laid down October 1917, completed August 1919.

HMS Carlisle
Built Fairfield, laid down October 1917, completed November 1918.

HMS Colombo
Built Fairfield, laid down December 1917, completed June 1919.

Size:
Length 425 feet pp 451 feet 6 inches overall, beam 43 feet 6 inches, draught 15 feet 6 inches, displacement 4,290 tons normal 5,250 tons deep load.

Propulsion:
2 shaft Parsons turbines, 40,000 shp, 29kts

Trials:
Colombo 40,65 shp = 29.48 knots

Armour:
3-1.5in belt, 1in decks

Armament:
5 x 6in 45cal Mk XII (5 x 1), 2 x 3in (2 x 1), 8 x 21in TT

Comments:
Crew 432.

World War 1 Service:
Capetown
1946 Scrapped.

Cairo
12 August 1942 torpedoed and sunk by Italian submarine Axum.

Calcutta
1 June 1941 Sunk by air attack.

Carlisle
5th Light Cruiser Squadron Harwich Force.
1949 Scrapped.

Colombo
1948 Scrapped.

HMS Carlisle.  Most of the class were completed too late to see service in World War 1.  She was one of four of the class that were converted to anti-aircraft cruisers in the late 1930s with the replacement of their 6 inch guns with 4 inch anti-aircraft guns.