HMS Suffolk (55)

HMS Suffolk on the Tyne
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Suffolk
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard, UK
Laid down:	30 September 1924
Launched:	16 February 1926
Commissioned:	31 May 1928
Decommissioned:	25 March 1948
Identification:	Pennant number 55
Motto:	Nous maintiendrons: 'We shall maintain'
Honours and awards:	Norway 1940 Bismarck Action Arctic 1941-2 Burma 1945
Fate:	Scrapped, vessel was allocated to BISCO on 25 March 1948 and was scrapped at J Cashmore's (Newport, Wales)1948.
Badge:	On a Field Green a castle Gold hanging therefrom a key Silver.
General characteristics
Class and type:	County-class heavy cruiser
Displacement:	9,750 tons (9,010 t)
Tons burthen:	13,450 tons (13,670 t)
Length:	630 ft (190 m)
Beam:	68 ft 3 in (20.80 m)
Draught:	16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
Propulsion:	Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers Four shaft Brown Curtis geared turbines 80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Range:	3,100 nmi (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 31.5 kn (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph) 13,300 nmi (24,600 km; 15,300 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) 3,400 tons (3,450 t) fuel oil
Complement:	700
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 (4x2) 8-inch (203 mm) dual guns 8 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V single AA guns 8 (2x4) 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-poms quad guns 8 (2x4) 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) quadruple machine guns 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) quadruple torpedo tubes. 1937 – 1941 configuration: 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) dual guns, 6 × 4-inch (102 mm) single AA guns, 2 × 2 pdr eight barrel quad guns, 2 × 0.5-inch MG quadruple guns. 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) quad torpedo tubes. 1941 – 1942 configuration: 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) dual guns, 6 × 4-inch (102 mm) single AA guns, 2 × 4-inch (102 mm) dual AA guns, 4 × 20 mm (0.8 in) single guns, 2 × 2 pdr eight barrel quad guns, 2 × 0.5-inch MG quadruple guns. 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) quad torpedo tubes. 1942 – 1944 configuration: 8 × 8 in (203 mm) dual guns, 6 × 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns, 2 × 4 in (102 mm) dual AA guns, 6 × 20 mm (0.8 in) single guns, 5 × 20 mm (0.8 in) dual power-operated guns, 2 × 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) eight barrel quad guns, 2 × 21 in (533 mm) quad Torpedo Tubes.
Armour:	Magazine box protection: 1–4 in (25–102 mm) Deck: 1.375 in (34.9 mm) Side-plating, turrets and bulkheads: 1 in (25 mm) Belt: 4.5 in (114 mm) 4 internal boiler room sides (added 1936–1940)
Aircraft carried:	Three aircraft with one catapult, removed in 1943.

HMS Suffolk, pennant number 55, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy, and part of the Kent subclass. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard, Portsmouth, UK), with the keel being laid down on 30 September 1924. She was launched on 16 February 1926, and commissioned on 31 May 1928.

Suffolk, like her sisters, served on the China Station, save for reconstruction, until the outbreak of the Second World War. She came home in 1939 and then patrolled the Denmark Strait in October 1939. In April 1940 Suffolk participated in the Norwegian Campaign. On 13 April 1940 the ship arrived at Tórshavn to commence the British pre-emptive occupation of the Faroe Islands. On 14 April 1940 Suffolk sank the German tanker Skagerrak northwest of Bodø, Norway.

On 17 April 1940, Suffolk and four destroyers, HMS Kipling, HMS Juno, HMS Janus and HMS Hereward, were sent to bombard the airfield at Sola, Norway. The operation had little effect and the retaliation from German bombers severely damaged the aft of the ship, forcing her to return to Scapa Flow.

Suffolk was out of action from April 1940 until February 1941 while she was repaired at the Clyde.

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