HMS Manchester (15)

Manchester in 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Manchester
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn
Laid down:	28 March 1936
Launched:	12 April 1937
Commissioned:	4 August 1938
Fate:	Scuttled after being damaged by Italian MAS boats on 13 August 1942 off Cap Bon, Tunisia
General characteristics
Class and type:	Town-class light cruiser
Displacement:	11,930 tons full load
Length:	591 ft 6 in (180.29 m)
Beam:	64 ft 9 in (19.74 m)
Draught:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Four-shaft Parsons geared turbines Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers 82,500 shp (61.5 MW)
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:	7,320 nmi (13,560 km; 8,420 mi) at 13 kn (24 km/h)
Complement:	750
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 279 air warning radar Type 273 surface warning radar Type 284 fire control radar Type 285 fire control radar
Armament:	Original Configuration: 12 × 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XXIII guns in triple turrets (4x3) 8 × 4-inch (102 mm) Mk XVI guns (4x2) 8 x 0.50-inch (12.7 mm) AA machine guns 6 x 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3) (deck mounted) (later removed)
Aircraft carried:	Two Supermarine Walrus aircraft 1 catapult (Removed in the latter part of WWII)
Notes:	Pennant number C15

The second HMS Manchester was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, belonging to the Gloucester subclass. She was laid down by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn in March 1936, launched in April the following year and commissioned in August 1938. She had a relatively short, but active, career.

Manchester was serving in the East Indies with the 4th Cruiser Squadron at the outbreak of war, but was ordered home and arrived back Britain on 25 November 1939. She subsequently served with the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, on Northern Patrol duties, capturing the German merchantman Wahehe on 21 February 1940. She first saw action during the ill-fated Norwegian campaign in 1940, where she won her first battle honour. She was then based in the Humber for anti-invasion duties, but on 15 September sailed to the Mediterranean for Operation Collar. In 1940, Manchester, along with other Royal Navy warships, engaged an Italian cruiser squadron, in a naval action that became known as the battle of Cape Spartivento. During the engagement, Manchester was straddled by the main guns of the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto and hit by shell splinters.

Manchester returned to Britain on 13 December 1940 and spent the first four months of 1941 under refit, then patrolled the Iceland-Faroes passage during the Bismarck sortie. In July she returned to the Mediterranean for an important Malta convoy, but on 23 July she was hit on the port quarter by an Italian aerial torpedo and badly damaged. Temporary repairs were made at Gibraltar, and the ship then sailed for Philadelphia for complete repair. This was finished on 27 February 1942, after which she returned to Portsmouth, where final work was completed by the end of April. On her return to service she joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow during the first week of May, then carried out Russian convoy cover duties and the reinforcement of Spitzbergen.

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Wikipedia