HMS Durban (D99)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Durban
Ordered:	September 1917
Builder:	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock Completed by Devonport Dockyard
Laid down:	January 1918
Launched:	29 May 1919
Commissioned:	1 November 1921
Fate:	Sunk as breakwater, 9 June 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Danae-class light cruiser
Displacement:	4,650 tons
Length:	472.5 ft (144.0 m)
Beam:	46.5 ft (14.2 m)
Draught:	14.5 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion:	Six Yarrow-type water-tube boilers Parsons geared steam turbines Two shafts 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Speed:	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range:	2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km; 2,600 mi)
Complement:	350
Armament:	1918: six BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) L/45 Mark XII guns on single mountings CP Mark XIV two QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) Mk II AA guns two QF 2-pounder (40-mm) "Pom-pom" AA guns twelve 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 triple launchers)
Armour:	3-inch side (amidships) 2, 1¾, 1½ side (bow and stern) 1 inch upper decks (amidships) 1 inch deck over rudder

HMS Durban was a Danae-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was launched from the yards of Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company on 29 May 1919 and commissioned on 1 November 1921.

Durban was initially assigned to the China Station as part of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron in January 1922, and in 1928 she was transferred to the America and West Indies Station. In 1930 Durban returned to Britain, and in 1931 she joined the South Atlantic Division. By December 1933, she was relieved by the heavy cruiser York and again returned to home waters. In March 1934, Durban left for Gibraltar to join the Mediterranean Fleet. She spent two years on this station, returning to Britain in September 1936 to be placed into reserve.

On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Durban was recommissioned and assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron in the South Atlantic Command. In March 1940 she was operating in the Indian Ocean and was then transferred to the Eastern Fleet based at Singapore. Here she became a unit of the British Malaysian Force with her two sister ships, Danae and Dauntless. The unit kept watch on German merchant ships in the Dutch East Indies harbours, with Durban's patrol area being off Padang. On 10 November 1940 the Norwegian tanker Ole Jacob reported being attacked by the German raider Atlantis between Ceylon, and the north end of Sumatra. A force was hastily assembled, comprising Durban, the cruiser Capetown and the Australian cruiser Canberra and armed merchant cruiser Westralia to hunt for Atlantis. The task force was however unable to locate the raider.

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Wikipedia