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Letters
I have been asked to identify these 4 County Class cruisers It is difficult to track down the 4 County Class Type 8 inch gunned Cruisers in this quite unusual photograph.  It was obviously taken pre WW2, there is no sign of any radar displays on the masts of any of these ships. The 8 inch cruisers were divided into several different classes. The York Class.
The Dorsetshire C Type ships.
The London B Type Ships.
The Kent A type ships.
If I had to choose a class that these ships in the photograph came from, it would have to be the Kents, ie. Kent, Cornwall, Cumberland and Berwick. But I must stress that I cannot be positive in my identification. Perhaps some one visiting our site may be able to be positive about their identification. E-mail us if you have any ideas.
15 November 2003 Dear Sir, I studied the photo: you are on the right way, a ship is CERTAINLY the cruiser Kent (up, on the left side of the photo). Only 3 ships of the "Kent" class had a catapult placed after the third funnel: Kent, Australia and Canberra (!!). The unit in foreground and the one after the Kent (it placed down the "upper" unit in the photo) were probably the Australian cruisers. Probably catapults was removed from units before becoming Australian ships ( in a 1942's Canberra's photo there wasn't the catapult) The fourth cruiser is without catapult, it was the Cornwall or the Berwick. It's my opinion that the photo was made from 1929 to 1935. Excuse me if I made mistakes but I'm Italian and I studied English many years ago. Regards,
Thank you for taking the trouble to E-Mail me about the four cruisers. I am afraid that Canberra and Australia were both fitted with catapults. At Dakar in September of 1940, Australia had her Walrus aircraft shot down by the French, at that time I was serving in her as a Midshipman. Then when Canberra was sunk at the Battle of Savo Island in August of 1942, I was also there then as a Sub Lieutenant. One of the first areas to be hit by Japanese shells was the catapult with the Walrus sitting on it. In another E-Mail I will send you a photo of the Walrus being launched from Canberra. I am indeed grateful for your help. Best regards from Australia. Mac. Gregory.
Photo of Walrus on Canberra's Catapult.
HMAS Australia in WW2 with her Walrus on the catapult. Dear Sir, I write for an italian on-line magazine (DIARIO DI BORDO, on the website www.friulanidimarina.org), and I have an idea for an article: You were in the middle of the battle, your witness will be very important! Write me what do you think about my idea.
Thank you for your offer of help, I am pleased that you are happy, but please call me Mac. I like your idea about Savo, the more exposure and understanding about that battle, the better in my view. I will be pleased to help in any way, just ask. All the best,
Browsing I found Your Site and this very interesting picture. I' ve seen so many pictures of this class but I still can find something interesting. In my opinion the ship in the foreground is for sure Kent class (which one maybe a little bit later), two in the background are two of London class. The last one is screened by the title label and is hard to recognize. Why this estimation? -Kent class has characteristic bridge with narrower upper brigde platform. From this perspectiwe is dificult to estimate the high of funnels but Australian ships had the funnels higher by 3 feet the their British sisters. This detail is clearly seen on broadside views but here a point of confusion. -London class had brigde platforms extended and searchlight platforms positioned on each side of the third funnel (the brigde of lefthand ship can bee seen quite clear and the righthand one when enlarged as well), -Dorsetshire class had the platforms also extended but their director platform was noticable lower. After 1935 the Kents differed each other having quarterdeck cut down or not, prominent hangars, twin 4' guns and in some case lowered bridges. From 1931-32 on all (the Australians as well) had catapults fitted. Some ( circa 1934) received two 0.5in quadruple mountings abreast of foremast (Cornwall, Kent, Berwick, Australia and Canberra) and the ship in the foreground has the platform in the vicinity of foremast (not orginaly fitted but I can't see if 0.5 in mounting is already in place). Concluding: The ship in foreground may be Cornwall, Kent or Berwick. Australia and Canberra could be taken under cosideration. Other two ships are London class, Fourth one impossible to recognize. Sorry for a little bit long message but I tried to explain as much as possible. Maybe I'm wrong and if somebody have any concerns please inform me. Maybe someone noticed the details I missed. If so I will dig in my archive to comfort him. Best Regards from Poland,
It is a fascinating task, and more than likely not possible to be absolutely sure of the name of each individual ship. A number of people have all tried, as you can see on the Web Site. Best wishes from Australia.
Refer to my message from 19.02.2004 concerning efforts to identify County class cruisers , after checking and comparing with many other pictures, I can limit the name of ship in the foreground to 3 or even 2 ships. This ship is out of question Kent class unit. Among them only 3 (Australia, Canberra and Suffolk) had the sirens on the forward funnel placed so hight and the rest of class had their sirens located in the half of the funnel hight. Because up to her extensive modernisation the Suffolk didn't received the 0.5 in quadruples and this pictured ship has the platform for it so we can (I hope) exclude her from "competition". Furthermore the ship screened by the label could be the Suffolk herself (has no catapult which was dismantled before August 1935 when modernisation started). So with some probability I can claim the ship in the foreground as one of Australian ships. Regards, |
