british heavy cruisers world of warships

With all limits removed, he asked the Director of Naval Construction for designs of completely new and large cruisers he termed “heavy cruisers,” labelling previous heavy cruisers as only “medium cruisers” by comparison.

Those small cruisers did not satisfy Churchill. Eleven such ships were laid down in 19, with plans for more such ships built to somewhat improved plans but still within the same parameters.

A so-called “escalator clause” allowed a rise in maximum displacement to 10,000 tons if non-signatory nations built larger cruisers, but did not allow larger guns.īritain had not only signed the treaty, but had been its leading proponent, and so had attempted to keep within its limits, resulting in the cramped (and overweight) Fiji class ships with nine six-inch guns. The Second London Naval Treaty put sharp limits on cruiser construction: 8,000 tons’ maximum displacement, with their main armament having a caliber no greater than 155mm (6.1 inches). The Royal Navy had great needs both for the new war and for its potential widening against Italy and Japan: many more escort craft to protect Britain’s overseas lifelines, and the refit and repair of existing warships battered by hard service and the heavy seas around Northern Europe.Ĭhurchill recognized this, but also realized that the coming of war voided all previous limits on warship construction enforced by either treaty or budgetary considerations. To replace him at the Admiralty, Chamberlain named Winston Churchill.Ĭhurchill set to his new task with both the energy and the loose grasp of political, economic and military realities that marked his entire life. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain immediately re-shuffled his cabinet to put the government on a war footing, moving Earl Stanhope from First Lord of the Admiralty to Lord President of the Council with a charge to oversee Britain’s wartime economy. On 3 September 1939, the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany.

British heavy cruisers world of warships