HMS Effingham

HMS Effingham (D98) in 1925
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Effingham
Namesake:	Lord Howard of Effingham
Ordered:	December 1915
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	6 April 1917
Launched:	8 June 1921
Commissioned:	2 July 1925
Identification:	Pennant number D98
Fate:	Wrecked off Bodø, Norway, 18 May 1940
General characteristics
Class and type:	Hawkins-class heavy cruiser
Displacement:	9,750 tons (standard) 12,190 tons (full load)
Length:	565 ft (172 m) (p/p) 605 ft (184 m) (o/a)
Beam:	58 ft (18 m) (65 ft (20 m) across bulges)
Draught:	17.25 ft (5.26 m) (20.5 ft (6.2 m) full load)
Propulsion:	Ten Yarrow-type oil-fired water-tube boilers Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, Four shafts, 70,000 shp (52,000 kW)
Speed:	31 knots (57.4 km/h)
Range:	5,400 nmi (10,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Capacity:	2,186 tons oil fuel
Complement:	690 (standard), 800+ (wartime)
Armament:	Design; 7 × BL BL 7.5-inch (191 mm) Mk VI guns in single mounts CP Mk V 8 × QF 12-pounder (76 mm) 12 cwt guns on single mounts P Mk I 4 × QF 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt Mk I guns on single mounts HA Mk II 2 × submerged & 4 x fixed above water 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes As completed, 7 × BL 7.5 inch Mk VI guns in single mounts CP Mk V 3 × QF 4 inch Mk V guns in single mounts HA Mk III 4 × QF 3 inch 20 cwt Mk I guns on single mounts HA Mk II 2 × QF 2 pounder Mk II guns on single mounts HA Mk I 2 × submerged & 4 x fixed above water 21-inch torpedo tubes As refitted; 9 x BL 6 inch Mk XII naval guns in single mounts P Mk XIII* 8 x QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval guns in twin mounts HA Mk XIX 2 × QF 2 pounder Mk II guns on single mounts HA Mk I
Armour:	Main belt; 1.5–2.5 in (38–64 mm) forward 3 in (76 mm) amidships 2.25–1.5 in (57–38 mm) aft Upper belt; 1.5 in (38 mm) forward 2 in (51 mm) amidships Upper deck; 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm) over boilers Main deck; 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm) over engines 1 in (25 mm) over steering gear Gunshields; 2 in (51 mm) face 1 in (25 mm) crown & sides

HMS Effingham was a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned at Portsmouth in 1925, having had her construction halted for several years following the end of the First World War in 1918. She was named after Lord Howard of Effingham, one of the leaders of the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1587. Completed in 1925, the vessel saw action during the Second World War and was escorting a convoy to Norway in 1940 when she ran aground. The crew was evacuated and the cruiser destroyed by a torpedo from an accompanying destroyer.

Effingham had a displacement of 12,190 tons, was 605 feet (184 m) long with a 65-foot (20 m) beam, and carried a complement of 690 officers and men. As originally designed she carried seven 7.5-inch guns, along with anti-aircraft (AA) weaponry and six torpedo tubes. After the end of the First World War her construction was a low priority and she was the last of the class to be completed, in 1925.

Effingham served as flagship of the Far Eastern Squadron in the East Indies between 1925 and 1932, before being placed as the flagship for the reserves on her return. She is mentioned in Evelyn Waugh's short book about the 1930 coronation of Haile Selassie in Abyssinia as having provided her Royal Marine band for the occasion.

In 1937–38 Effingham was given an extensive modernization which radically changed her appearance. Her boilers were reduced from 12 to 10, as a result of which she was given a single vertical funnel in place of the two raked ones, and vertical masts. Her main armament was changed to nine 6-inch guns in single mountings, all along the centre line. The forwardmost three of these were superfiring, necessitating an extra superstructure deck built in front of the bridge, which was itself rebuilt. She also received four 4-inch AA guns in single mountings (in 1939 these were removed and replaced by two twin mountings), the torpedo tubes were removed, and she received a crane for handling aircraft, though the proposed aircraft catapult was not fitted and she never actually carried an aircraft. Similar modernisations had been planned for her sisters Frobisher and Hawkins, but were postponed and then cancelled due to the outbreak of the Second World War.