During the First World War, rumours of heavily-armed German raiders led to the building by the Royal Navy of the first ‘modern’ heavy cruisers. Named for famous Elizabethan seamen, they were very different from the lumbering armoured cruisers of the previous generation, and were enlarged and 7.5in-armed developments of the highly successful light cruisers that had been built during the previous decade. As such, they provided the template for the ‘Washington Treaty’ cruisers that dominated naval construction during the 1920s, with two of them also pioneering the use of the catapult for launching aircraft from cruisers. Completed too late to actively participate in the First World War, they would go on to have mixed fortunes, spending much of their careers as flagships, but also being sadly attracted to rocky reefs, in two cases with fatal results. One, Cavendish (later Vindictive), fulfilled a remarkable array of functions during her career: laid down as a cruiser, completing as an aircraft carrier, then reverting to a cruiser, to be further transformed into a dedicated cadet training ship, and finally a repair ship. Another, Effingham, underwent the most comprehensive rebuilding of any British cruiser of her era. Although nearly scrapped as a result of the London Naval Treaty and stripped of their original main armaments, all the survivors nevertheless returned to serve during the Second World War in a range of roles, two gaining battle honours – albeit in one case fatally – during the Norwegian campaign, and two spending long years as deep-sea escorts in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, before being brought home to bombard the beaches of Normandy. The story of the Hawkins class therefore weaves together a number of strands. These include the technical development of the cruiser in the UK and abroad; the early use of aircraft at sea; international naval diplomacy and treaty-making between the wars; the evolution of the cadet training regime in the Royal Navy; the way in which the vital southern and eastern trade routes were kept open; and the contribution of naval forces to the success of the invasion of occupied Europe. It provides detailed descriptions and analysis of the ships and their development, and the narratives of their careers, all tied together with a wide-ranging collection of photographs and line drawings. It will be interest to naval historians and enthusiasts, ship modellers, and all those who are interested in the roles of the Royal Navy in peace and war.
Please click on image of front cover below to download a PDF of corrections and additions.
