HMS Birmingham (C19)

Birmingham in 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Birmingham
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, U.K)
Laid down:	18 July 1935
Launched:	1 September 1936
Commissioned:	18 November 1937
Fate:	Broken up in 1960
General characteristics
Class and type:	Town-class light cruiser
Displacement:	9,100 tons standard 11,350 tons full load
Length:	558 ft (170 m)
Beam:	61 ft 8 in (18.80 m)
Draught:	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Propulsion:	Four-shaft Parsons geared turbines Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers 75,000 shp
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Complement:	748
Armament:	12 × 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XXIII guns [triple mounts] 8 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk XVI guns [double mounts] 4 × 3-pounder 8 x QF 2-pounder (40 mm) AA guns [quadruple mounts] Torpedo tubes: 6 × 21-inch (533 mm)
Notes:	Pennant number C19

HMS Birmingham was a member of the first group of five ships of the Town class of light cruisers. She was built at Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, United Kingdom), and launched on 1 September 1936.

Birmingham initially joined the 5th Cruiser Squadron on the China Station in January 1938. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, she left for Malta for a refit before joining the Home Fleet in March–April 1940. Birmingham was a unit of the 18th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, initially used to patrol off the coast of Norway to prevent German fishing vessels operating in this area. In mid-April Birmingham, Manchester and Cairo escorted a troop convoy to Norway. On 26 April she shelled and sank the German patrol boat Schiff 37 after Schiff 37 rammed and damaged the destroyer Arrow off Norway. In May, Birmingham, in company with Manchester, evacuated 1,500 troops from Åndalsnes. She returned to the UK and was in refit between September–December 1940.

From January until April 1941 Birmingham escorted troop convoys to the Middle East, around the Cape of Good Hope. In May she returned to home waters, and was involved in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Birmingham had already put to sea from Scapa Flow on a patrol of the Iceland-Faroes passage, and did not end up engaging the German ships. Birmingham then escorted convoy WS-9A from the UK to South Africa arriving on 4 July 1941. Whilst in South African waters, she docked in the Selborne dry dock at Simon's Town for a minor refit, where she was fitted with the Mk 284 and 291 radars and several new anti-aircraft weapons.

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