HMS Effingham
HMS Effingham was one of five heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She was not finished during the war and construction proceeded very slowly after the end of the war in 1918. Completed in 1925, the ship was assigned to the East Indies Station, sometimes serving as a flagship. She returned home in 1932 and was assigned to the Reserve Fleet as its flagship for the next four years. Effingham was rearmed and modernized in 1937–1938 and then resumed her previous role.
When the Second World War began in September 1939, Effingham was assigned to the Northern Patrol, but severe engine problems caused her to spend most of the next six months under repair. In between dockyard visits, the ship ferried a load of gold bullion to Canada and was briefly assigned to the North America and West Indies Station. After a lengthy refit at the beginning of 1940, Effingham supported Allied troops during the Norwegian Campaign, mostly bombarding German positions and providing naval gunfire support to troops ashore. While ferrying troops and supplies to Bodø on 18 May, the ship struck a shoal due to a navigational error and sank in shallow water. Her crew was evacuated without loss and the cruiser destroyed by a pair of torpedoes from an accompanying destroyer. Her wreck was salvaged after the war with only some minor wreckage remaining.
Design and description
The Hawkins-class cruisers were designed to be able to hunt down commerce raiders in the open ocean, for which they needed a heavy armament, high speed and long range. Effingham had an overall length of, a beam of and a draught of at deep load. The ship displaced at and at deep load. Her crew numbered 690 officers and ratings.The ships were originally designed with propulsion machinery, but the Admiralty decided in 1917 to replace their four coal-fired boilers with more powerful oil-burning ones. This change could only be applied to the three least-advanced ships, including Effingham, although she did not receive the full upgrade. The ship was powered by four Brown-Curtis geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by 10 Yarrow boilers that were ducted into two funnels. The turbines were rated at for a speed of. Effingham carried of fuel oil to give her a range of at.
The main armament of the Hawkins-class ships consisted of seven Mk VI guns in single mounts protected by gun shields. They were arranged with five guns on the centreline, four of which were in superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, the fifth gun was further aft on the quarterdeck, and the last two as wing guns abreast the aft funnel. Their anti-aircraft suite consisted of three Mk V guns and a pair of two-pounder guns. Two of the Mk V guns were positioned at the base of the mainmast and the third gun was on the quarterdeck. The two-pounders were mounted on a platform between the funnels. The ships were also fitted with six 21-inch torpedo tubes, one submerged and two above water on each broadside.
Effinhams guns were controlled by a mechanical Mark III Dreyer Fire-control Table. It used data provided by the coincidence rangefinder in the gunnery director positioned under the spotting top at the head of the tripod mast. The ship was also fitted with three rangefinders.
The Hawkins class were protected by a full-length waterline armoured belt that covered most of the ships' sides. It was thickest over the boiler and engine rooms, ranging from thick. Their magazines were protected by an additional of armour. There was a 1-inch aft transverse bulkhead and the conning tower was protected by 3-inch armour plates. The ships' deck protection consisted of 1 to 1.5 inches of high-tensile steel.
Modernisation
The London Naval Treaty of 1930 had placed a limit on the number of cruisers with an armament greater than and the Hawkins class were due to be demilitarized by December 1936 to avoid exceeding the allotted number of 15 heavy cruisers. The ships were still in good shape and could usefully remain in service if rearmed with smaller guns. Effingham was chosen to be the lead ship in the modernisation programme, using the spare Mark XII guns from the light cruisers and that were being rearmed and converted into anti-aircraft cruisers.In 1937–1938 all of the ship's existing guns were removed, as were her pair of underwater torpedo tubes, and the forward superstructure and bridge was rebuilt to accommodate nine 6-inch guns in two superfiring trios fore and aft of the superstructure, plus one gun further aft on the quarterdeck and one more on each broadside. At their maximum elevation of +30°, the guns had a range of. Effinghams anti-aircraft armament was increased to four Mk V guns and the two-pounders were replaced by three quadruple mounts for Vickers AA machine guns. Her aft pair of boilers were removed and the aft boiler room was converted into an oil tank, which increased her oil storage to and her range to at.
The removal of the two boilers reduced her total horsepower to and her speed about, although her boilers were re-tubed during the modernization. The conversion of the aft boiler room into an oil tank rendered her aft funnel redundant and her existing forward funnel was enlarged. This made space available amidships for a E.IV.H catapult and an aircraft-handling crane, although the catapult and its intended Supermarine Walrus flying boat were not fitted at that time. The spotting top was rebuilt and the gunnery director was moved to its roof. Provision was made for one Mk III* High-Angle Control System on the spotting top roof and another amidships, although they were not installed until a refit in mid-1939. Provision was also made for a pair of octuple mounts for two-pounder Mk VIII "pom-poms" and their directors, but they were not installed until another refit in early 1940. The 1939 refit also saw the replacement of the Mk V AA guns by four twin-gun mounts for four-inch Mk XVI dual-purpose guns. All these changes increased the ship's wartime crew to over 800 men.
Construction and career
Effingham, named after the Lord High Admiral Lord Howard of Effingham, one of the leaders of the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1587, has been the only ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was laid down by HM Dockyard, Portsmouth, on 6 April 1917, launched on 8 June 1921 and completed in July 1925, with Captain Cecil Reyne in command. She was assigned to the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron on the East Indies Station after working up. Captain Bruce Fraser assumed command of the ship in September 1929. Representatives from Effingham attended the coronation of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, on 2 November 1930 and her Royal Marine band provided entertainment during the affair. On 14 June 1932 the ship briefly became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Martin Dunbar-Nasmith, Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station, but he hauled his flag down on 1 October and the cruiser rejoined the 4th LCS. After a cruise in the Bay of Bengal in March–April 1933, Effingham returned home.On 30 July she became flagship of the Reserve Fleet when Vice-Admiral William Munro Kerr hoisted his flag aboard her. Kerr was relieved by Vice-Admiral Edward Astley-Rushton. After the former's premature death in June 1935, Vice-Admiral Gerald Charles Dickens assumed command on 28 June. The ship was present at the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review for King George V on 16 July. She became a private ship on 29 September 1936 in anticipation of her modernisation.
Effingham recommissioned on 15 June 1938 with Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee in command and became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Max Horton, Commander-in-Chief, Reserve Fleet. Captain John Howson relieved Warburton-Lee on 17 April 1939. At some point during the year before August, the ship received her missing HACS directors and exchanged her single four-inch guns for new twin-gun mounts. On 9 August she hosted King George VI as he met the captains of sixty ships during his review of the recommissioned Reserve Fleet in Weymouth Bay. She remained in commission after the review and began working up. Effingham arrived at the naval base in Scapa Flow on 25 August and was assigned to the 12th Cruiser Squadron. The ship remained Horton's flagship as he assumed command of the Northern Patrol which was tasked with intercepting German ships attempting to reach home before the declaration of war.
World War II service
After the British declared war on Germany on 3 September, the Northern Patrol's tasks expanded to include intercepting any German commerce raiders attempting to breakout into the Atlantic. Effingham was damaged during her first patrol on 6 September and arrived at HM Dockyard, Devonport on 3 October for repairs that lasted until the 9th. The ship relieved the heavy cruiser escorting Convoy KJ-3 six days later, but had to return to Devonport on the 25th for engine repairs. A boiler cleaning lasted until 7 November when she loaded £2 million in gold for transport to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. After arriving 10 days later, Howson was appointed Senior Naval Officer, West Indies Patrol and Effingham sailed south to Bermuda on the 24th, together with the Australian light cruiser, to patrol the area between Kingston, Jamaica, and Halifax. Effingham was only able to participate in the patrols on 3–6 December before more engine problems evidenced themselves. The ship put into HM Dockyard, Bermuda for repairs, but the replacement boiler tubes proved to be defective and the cruiser would need to have them replaced at home. She sailed back to Halifax to escort Convoy HX 14 across the Atlantic on 29 December.Effingham arrived at Portsmouth for the necessary repairs on 9 January 1940. Her engines had to be stripped down and her boiler tubes replaced; her "pom-poms" and their directors were finally installed during this time, as was her catapult. The ship was not ready for action again until 12 April when she sailed to Scapa Flow. The Navy intended Effingham to participate in Plan R 4, during which British forces would occupy Narvik, Norway, and the iron mines in Kiruna and Malmberget, Sweden if the Germans invaded Norway. The British plan had been rendered obsolete when the Germans invaded on 8 April.