York class cruiser

The "York" class was the second and last class of convert|8|in|mm|0|sing=on gunned (heavy) cruisers built for the Royal Navy under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. The were essentially a reduced version of the preceding County class, scaled down in an effort to extract more, smaller ships from the treaty limits. They can be described as "treaty cruisers", the term "heavy cruiser" not being defined until the London Naval Conference of 1930"Treaty Cruisers: The First International Warship Building Competition", Leo Marriot, 2005, Leo Cooper Ltd., ISBN 1-8441-5188-3] "British and Empire Warships of the Second World War", H. T. Lenton, Greenhill Books, ISBN 1-85367-277-7] . Two ships were constructed (HMS "York" and "Exeter"), although three more were at one stage planned before the 8-inch gunned cruiser fell out of favour with the Royal Navy.

Design

The Royal Navy had a need for smaller cruisers than the County class, the largest design possible under the Washington limits, in order that more could be built under the strict defence economies of post-war, depression-era Britain. The only way to afford such savings was to reduce either armament, armour or speed. As the latter two options were unnaceptable, the former was chosen, and as a result the "Yorks" suppressed 'X' turret to ship six convert|8|in|mm|0|sing=on guns, judged to be the minimum number required to allow fall of shot to be accurately spotted. The economies in size allowed for a convert|50|ft|m|0 reduction in length and convert|9|ft|m|0 in beam over the Counties, although installed power was unchanged to maintain speed. The "Yorks" saved 1,750 tons in net weight, but the reductions in cost of £250,000 and manpower of 50 was something of an uneconomical saving.

Compared to the County class, protection was much improved, with a 3 inch thick, convert|8|ft|m|0 deep main belt and an armoured lower deck joining at its top edge. To shorten the belt length, the amidship magazine found on the Counties was removed (reduced armament required less magazine space anyway). The magazines were proteced by fore and aft "box citadels" extending beyond the belt. As the amdiships magazine had been removed, the secondary convert|4|in|mm|0|sing=on guns were moved forwards to keep them closer to the supply of charge and shell provided from the forward magazine. It is believed that this additional armour was what saved the "Exeter" at the Battle of the River Plate.

Armament was as per the Counties, excepting the suppression of 'X' turret, and owing to insufficient training space on the narrower beam, only triple torpedo tubes were carried. There was no provision in the original design for the then new QF 2 pdr "multiple pom-pom", leaving an inadequate anti-aircraft armament of only two quadruple 0.5 in Vickers machine guns (fitted eventually in 1935, single 2 pdrs being carried in lieu).

As a result of the magazine changes, and to keep the funnels distant from the bridge, only two funnels were required; the forward boiler room uptakes trunked up into a large fore-funnel. This was raked in "York" to clear the flue gasses from the bridge, but was straight in "Exeter" owing to an altered bridge design and more extensive trunking. To maintain homogeneity of appearance, "York" stepped raked masts and "Exeter" vertical ones. "York" had a tall "platform" style bridge as seen in the Counties, which was somewhat distant from 'B' turret. This was because it had been intended to fit a catapult and floatplane to the roof of the turret, which needed clearance distance and required a tall bridge to provide forward view. The roof of the turret, however, was not sufficiently strong to carry this catapult and it was never fitted. "Exeter" was ordered two years later and the bridge was redesigned in light of this, being lower, further forward and fully enclosed, as later seen in the "Leander" and "Arethusa" classes.

"York" eventually received a rotating catapult amidships behind the funnels, and "Exeter" had a fixed pair in the same location, firing forwards and angled out from the centreline. A crane for recovery was located to starboard and one aircraft could be carried, initially a Fairey Seafox and later, in "Exeter", a Supermarine Walrus.

hips

References

* "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946", Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-913-8
*Colledge
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=61 York class at Uboat.net]
* [http://www.world-war.co.uk/index.php3 WWII cruisers]