HMS Cornwall (56)

Cornwall at anchor, 1929
History
United Kingdom
Name	Cornwall
Namesake	Cornwall
Builder	Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth)
Laid down	9 October 1924
Launched	11 March 1926
Completed	8 May 1928
Identification	Pennant number: 56
Fate	Sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft, 5 April 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	County-class heavy cruiser
Displacement	9,850 long tons (10,010 t) (standard) 13,520 long tons (13,740 t) (deep load)
Length	630 ft (192.0 m)
Beam	68 ft 5 in (20.9 m)
Draught	20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Installed power	80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts, Parsons geared steam turbines 8 Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers
Speed	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Range	13,300 nmi (24,600 km; 15,300 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	784
Armament	4 × twin 8-inch (203 mm) guns 4 × single QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns 4 × single 2-pounder (40 mm) AA guns 2 × quadruple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 1 in (25 mm) Decks: 1.375–1.5 in (34.9–38.1 mm) Barbettes: 1 in (25 mm) Turrets: 1 in (25 mm) Bulkheads: 1 in (25 mm) Magazines: 2–4.375 in (50.8–111.1 mm)

HMS Cornwall, pennant number 56, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Kent sub-class built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. The ship spent most of her pre-World War II career assigned to the China Station. Shortly after the war began in August 1939, she was assigned to search for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean. Cornwall was transferred to the South Atlantic in late 1939 where she escorted convoys before returning to the Indian Ocean in 1941. She then sank the German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin in May. After the start of the Pacific War in December 1941, she began escorting convoys until she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in March 1942. The ship was sunk on 5 April by dive bombers from three Japanese aircraft carriers during the Indian Ocean Raid.