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HMS Cumberland - World Naval Ships Directory

HMS Cumberland

Name : HMS Cumberland
Laid Down : 18th October 1924
Launched : 16th March 1926
Completed : 23rd January 1928
Type : Cruiser
Class : Kent
Builder : Vickers Armstrong
Country : UK
Pennants : 57, C177, C57
Fate : Scrapped 1959

HMS Cumberland built at Vickers Armstrong at Barrow and launched 16th March 1926. Served in the South Atlantic 1939-1941, Home Fleet 1941-44, Eastern Fleet 1944-45 and East Indies in 1945. HMS Cumberland converted to a trials vessel in 1949 and finally scrapped in Newport on 3rd November 1959. Displacement: 9,750 tons Speed: 31.5kt Complement: 679 increasing to 710 as Flagship. Armament: Eight 8 inch guns in twin turrets. Four 4 inch anti-aircraft guns in single mountings and eight 2pdr anti-aircraft guns in single mountings plus eight 0.5 machine guns in pairs. Eight 21 inch torpedo tubes. 1 aircraft and rotating catapult.

She entered service in the Royal Navy on 8 December 1927, serving on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron until 1935, when she underwent a refit at Chatham until 1936, which added more armour and a fixed catapult and hangar for two Walrus aircraft. Torpedo tubes were removed, the four single 4" guns replaced by four twin 4" mountings and the single 2pdr guns replaced by two quadruple 2pdr mountings. The hull had to be cut down aft in order to balance the weight increase.

At the start of the Second World War in 1939, CUMBERLAND was part of Force G, the South American Division. At the start of December she was undergoing self-refit in the Falkland Islands, thus depriving the force of their strongest unit. Without her, HMS EXETER, AJAX and ACHILLES engaged the German raider ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. CUMBERLAND received a garbled indication that they had sighted the enemy and moved north to reinforce, arriving at the River Plate on 14 December, after high-speed steaming for 34 hours. The ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE had entered neutral Montevideo and remained trapped there, as CUMBERLAND along with AJAX and ACHILLES patrolled the estuary, resulting in the ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE’s crew scuttling her on 17 December.

In October 1941 CUMBERLAND joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron Home Fleet escorting the Russian Convoys until January 1944 when she transferred to the Far East, as part of 4th Cruiser Squadron in the Eastern Fleet. She returned to the United Kingdom in November 1945 and transported troops until June 1946, when she went into reserve until 1949.

She then refitted at Devonport (1949-1951) as a trials cruiser, and from 1951 to 1959 she tested new weapons, radars and other new equipment. By the late 1950s, with almost every other pre-war ship scrapped, she was the oldest active warship in the Navy. For the 1956 film The Battle of the River Plate, CUMBERLAND played herself (being partly disarmed). She left active service for a second time in January 1959 and arrived at Newport on 3 November 1959 for breaking up by Cashmore.

HMS Cumberland Photos for Sale
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HMS Cumberland, 1928.


HMS Cumberland, 1938.


HMS Cumberland, November 1945.


HMS Cumberland, June 1957.


HMS Cumberland, laid up, May 1959.


HMS Cumberland, 1943.


Crew of HMS Cumberland photographed at the China Station during the 1930s


HMS Cumberland pictured in August 1932.


HMS Cumberland


Crew of HMS Cumberland in the 1930s


Painting HMS Cumberland, 1930s.


HMS Cumberland.


HMS Cumberland.


HMS Cumberland at Wei-Hai-Wei.


HMS Cumberland.


HMS Cumberland


HMS Cumberland


A landing party from HMS Cumberland.

Other images featuring this ship :





HMS Bermuda

HMS Cumberland behind. Plymouth, 8th July 1948.




HMS Ark Royal with HMS Cumberland and HMS Gambia.

Timeline Entries :


18th October 1924 - Laid down Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.)
16th March 1926 - Launched
16th March 1926 - Pennant Number 57
23rd February 1928 - Commissioned
20th April 1932 - Refitting at Hong Kong
1st October 1932 - Capt. B. Egerton in Command
1st October 1932 - 5th Cruiser Squadron, China Station
22nd February 1933 - Recommissioned
15th March 1933 - Arrived Portsmouth and sailed for Gibralrar and China
7th April 1933 - Arrived Colombo
15th April 1933 - Arrived Singapore
19th April 1933 - Sailed Singapore for Hong Kong
24th April 1933 - Arrived Hong Kong
6th August 1933 - Sailed Hankow for Wusang
11th August 1933 - Arrived Wei Hai Wei
11th August 1933 - Capt, C.H.G. Benson in Command
14th August 1933 - Sailed Tsingtao for Wei Hai Wei
26th October 1933 - Sailed Yokohama for Kobe
10th November 1933 - Sailed Myajima for Hong Kong
15th December 1933 - Sailed Shanghai for Hong Kong
15th December 1933 - Capt. C.H.G. Benson in Command
29th March 1934 - Sailed Hong Kong for Amoy
29th March 1934 - Capt. C.H.G. Benson in Command
30th March 1934 - Arrived Amoy
3rd April 1934 - Sailed Amoy
6th April 1934 - Arrived Nimrod Sound
7th April 1934 - Sailed Amoy for Shanghai
9th April 1934 - Sailed Nimrod Sound
10th April 1934 - Arrived Shanghai
10th April 1934 - Arrived Shanghai
24th April 1934 - Sailed Shanghai
24th April 1934 - Sailed Shanghai for Tsingtao
26th April 1934 - Arrived Tsingtao
30th April 1934 - On the China Station
1st May 1934 - Sailed Tsingtao to Wei Hai Wei
10th May 1934 - At Wei Hai Wei
July 1934 - Jul 1934 At Wei Hai Wei
30th July 1934 - Arrived Peitaho
19th October 1934 - Arrived Wei Hai Wei
19th October 1934 - 5th Cruiser Squadron
19th October 1934 - Arrived Wei Hai Wei
22nd October 1934 - Sailed Wei Hai Wei for Shanghai
15th November 1934 - Sailed Shanghai
1st December 1934 - Arrived Saigon
7th December 1934 - Sailed Saigon
9th December 1934 - Arrived Singapore
18th December 1934 - Sailed Singapore for Colombo
18th December 1934 - Sailed Singapore
22nd December 1934 - Arrived Colombo
23rd December 1934 - Arrived Colombo
27th December 1934 - Sailed Colombo
1st January 1935 - Arrived Aden
2nd January 1935 - Sailed Aden for Port Said
2nd January 1935 - Arrived Aden
3rd January 1935 - Sailed Aden
6th January 1935 - Arrived Port Said
7th January 1935 - Arrived Port Said
8th January 1935 - Sailed Port Said
11th January 1935 - Arrived Malta
13th January 1935 - Sailed Malta
16th January 1935 - Arrived Gibraltar
17th January 1935 - Sailed Gibraltar
20th January 1935 - Arrived Sheerness
26th December 1935 - Sailed Colombo for Aden
9th September 1936 - Arrived Gibraltar
11th September 1936 - Sailed Gibraltar
25th September 1936 - Sailed Aden
25th September 1936 - Sailed Aden
3rd June 1937 - Arrived Wei Hai Wei
23rd July 1937 - Sailed Wei Hai Wei
2nd August 1937 - Sailed Chinwangtao
4th August 1937 - Arrived Tsingtao
4th August 1937 - Arrived Tsingtao
13th August 1937 - Sailed Tsingtao for Wei Hai Wei
10th October 1937 - Arrived Swatoe and sailed for Hong Kong
January 1938 - 4th Cruiser Squadron, China Station
23rd February 1938 - Commissioned
10th March 1938 - Arrived Hong Kong
1st April 1938 - Sailed Hong Kong for Shanghai
12th September 1938 - Arrived Wei Hai Wei
1st November 1938 - Capt. J.C. Leach in Command
1st November 1938 - Arrived Spithead
2nd November 1938 - Arrived Sheerness and refit at Chatham
15th February 1939 - Capt. Walter Herman Gordon Fallowfield in Command
30th March 1939 - Sailed Portland for Portsmouth
31st March 1939 - Arrived Portland
27th April 1939 - Arrived Sheerness
7th June 1939 - Arrived Portland
29th July 1939 - Sailed Sheerness
August 1939 - 2nd Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet
1st August 1939 - Arrived Invergordon
24th August 1939 - Arrived Scapa Flow
26th August 1939 - Sailed Scapa Flow for Plymouth
28th August 1939 - Arrived Plymouth
31st August 1939 - Sailed Plymouth for Freetown
31st August 1939 - Sailed Devonport for South America via Freetown
31st August 1939 - Sailed Plymouth en route to the South America Station.
2nd September 1939 - South American Division, Port Stanley in the Falklands
2nd October 1939 - Operating as a Hunter Force
2nd October 1939 - After a sweep in the area of Ascension Island, arrived at Freetown.
3rd October 1939 - Sailed Freetown for South America
27th October 1939 - Joined Exeter and Achilles
10th November 1939 - Sailed Buenos Aires patrolling en route to Capetown
18th November 1939 - Diverted to Rio de Janeiro
22nd November 1939 - Sailed Rio de Janeiro Rio de la Plata
23rd November 1939 - Force G. Along the east coast of South America
1st December 1939 - At Rio de la Plata
2nd December 1939 - When relieved, Patrolled southward before entering Port Stanley
5th December 1939 - Intercepted German steamer Ussukuma
7th December 1939 - On patrol in the Falkland Island area
9th December 1939 - Arrived Falkland Islands. Left late that morning to Rio de la Plata
12th December 1939 - In the Falklands, boiler cleaning and refitting on short notice
14th December 1939 - Joined HMS Ajax and off Montevideo
24th December 1939 - Arrived Falkland Islands
29th December 1939 - Sailed Port William, Falklands for Simonstown, via Tristan da Cunha
11th January 1940 - Arrived Simonstown for docking and refit
February 1940 - Capt. the Hon. Guy Herbrand Edward Russell in Command
10th February 1940 - Completed Docking and refit at Simonstown
13th February 1940 - Force H
4th March 1940 - Saileded Freetown.
4th December 1941 - Capt. Alexander Henry Maxwell-Hyslop in Command
21st May 1943 - Arrived Scapa Flow
1st June 1943 - Anchored Eyla Bay
7th June 1943 - Sailed Eyla Bay
14th June 1943 - Arrived Scapa Flow
23rd December 1943 - Capt. William York La Roche Beverley, RN
10th July 1944 - Capt. Philip King Enright in Command
8th April 1945 - Sailed Trincomalee for North West coast of Sumatra
October 1952 - At Invergordon
30th September 1954 - Exercise Morning Mist
11th June 1956 - Sailed Plymouth for trials in the Mediterranean
26th September 1956 - Arrived Plymouth after completing trials in the Mediterranean
26th September 1956 - Capt W.J. Lamb in Command
1st October 1956 - Taken in hand at Plymouth
18th July 1958 - Sailed Gibraltar for Malta
3rd November 1959 - Broken up at Cashmore, Newport

HMS Cumberland Artwork Collection
Click the images below to view the fantastic artwork we have available to purchase!



Richelieu and HMS Cumberland 1945 by Ivan Berryman.

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Database Currently Holds : 6284 ships and 6289 crew!

Last edited : 12:46, July 20, 2011
By : tjstoneman


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