RN Light Cruisers: C Class

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruiser HMS Curacoa pictured entering Lisbon in 1928..She was one of the five ships of the Ceres Sub-Class and was built at Pembroke Dockyard in 1917.She was assigned to the Harwich Force during the war, but saw little action as she was completed less than a year before the war ended. Briefly assigned to the Atlantic Fleet in early 1919, Curacoa was deployed to the Baltic in May to support anti-Bolshevik forces during the British campaign in the Baltic during the Russian Civil War. Shortly thereafter the ship struck a naval mine and had to return home for repairs.
After spending the rest of 1919 and 1920 in reserve, she later rejoined the Atlantic Fleet and remained there until 1928, aside from a temporary transfer to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1922–1923 to support British interests in Turkey during the Chanak Crisis. Curacoa was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1929.
In 1933, she became a Training Ship and in July 1939, two months before the commencement of the Second World War, Curacoa was converted into an Anti-Aircraft Cruiser. She returned to service in January 1940 and, while providing escort in the Norwegian Campaign that April, was damaged by German aircraft. After repairs were completed that year, she escorted convoys in and around the British Isles for two years. On October 2nd 1942, during escort duty, she was accidentally sliced in half and sunk by the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary, with the loss of 337 men.

[Brian James]

An international Fleet gathering at Villefranche c1921,consisting of from the left,Mediterranean 3rd Cruiser Sqn member C Class Light Cruiser HMS Ceres,Florida Class Battleship,Flagship USS Utah,Lead Ship Battleship FS Bretagne,an unidentified Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship and far right Courbet Class Battleship FS France.

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruiser HMS Carlisle pictured at Vladivostok....1919.

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruiser HMS Carlisle undergoing a 'spruce up' at Vladivostok in 1919.

[Brian James]

C Class,Ceres sub-Class Light Cruiser HMS Curacoa pictured in 1937.
HMS Curacoa was engaged in convoy escort duties with the RMS Queen Mary. While both ships were zigzagging, the Curacoa (Capt. John Wilfred Boutwood, RN, survivor) crossed the Queen Mary's bow with insufficient clearance. The Queen Mary knifed into her at a speed of 28 knots, cutting the Curacoa in two. Separated by about 100 yards, she sank instantly with 338 casualties.Queen Mary did not falter or slow down, despite the fact of a 40 foot gash in her bow, for fear of German Submarines. The convoy behind picked up 26 survivors.

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruiser HMS Concord pictured in 1925.

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruisers HMS Cairo,HMS Calcutta pictured at Charlestown Navy Yard,October 10th 1927.

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruiser HMS Constance pictured as she enters Boston in 1920.

[Brian James]

C Class Light Cruiser HMS Caledon pictured in 1935,she was the name ship of the Caledon Sub-Class of the C Class. She survived both world wars to be scrapped in 1948.

[Brian James]

Cambrian Sub-group,C Class Light Cruiser HMS Constance pictured at Charlestown Navy Yard on August 20th 1920.