List of Cruiser Classes of The Royal Navy - Light Cruisers

Light Cruisers

The light armoured cruiser - light cruiser - succeeded the protected cruiser; improvements in machinery and armour rendering the latter obsolete. The Town class of 1910 were rated as second class protected cruisers, but were effectively light armoured cruisers with mixed coal and oil firing. The Arethusa class of 1913 were the first oil-only fired class. This meant that the arrangement of coal bunkers in the hull could no longer be relied upon as protection and the adoption of destroyer-type machinery resulted in a higher speed. This makes the Arethusas the first "true example" of the warship that came to be recognised as the light cruiser. In the London Naval Treaty of 1930, light cruisers were officially defined as cruisers having guns of 6.1 inch (155 mm) calibre or less, with a displacement not exceeding 10,000 tons.

• Town class
  • Bristol group 4,800 tons, 2-6in, 10-4in
    • Bristol (1910)
    • Glasgow (1910)
    • Gloucester (1910)
    • Liverpool (1910)
    • Newcastle (1910)
  • Weymouth group 5,250 tons, 8-6in
    • Weymouth (1911)
    • Dartmouth (1911)
    • Falmouth (1911)
    • Yarmouth (1912)
  • Chatham group 5,400 tons, 8-6in
    • Chatham (1912)
    • Dublin (1913)
    • Southampton (1912)
    • Brisbane (1916)
    • Melbourne (1913)
    • Sydney (1913)
  • Birmingham group 5,440 tons, 9-6in
    • Birmingham (1914)
    • Lowestoft (1914)
    • Nottingham (1914)
    • Adelaide (1922)
  • Birkenhead group 5,185 tons, 10-5.5in
    • Birkenhead (1915)
    • Chester (1916)
• Arethusa class, 3,750 tons, 2-6in, 6-4in
  • Arethusa (1914)
  • Aurora (1914)
  • Galatea (1914)
  • Inconstant (1915)
  • Penelope (1914)
  • Phaeton (1915)
  • Royalist (1915)
  • Undaunted (1914)
• C class
  • Caroline group 4,219 tons, 2-6in, 8-4in
    • Caroline (1914)
    • Carysfort (1914)
    • Cleopatra (1915)
    • Comus (1914)
    • Conquest (1915)
    • Cordelia (1914)
  • Calliope group 4,228 tons, 2-6in, 8-4in
    • Calliope (1914)
    • Champion (1915)
  • Cambrian group 4,320 tons, 2-6in, 8-4in
    • Cambrian (1916)
    • Canterbury (1915)
    • Castor (1915)
    • Constance (1915)
  • Centaur group 4,165 tons, 5-6in
    • Centaur (1916)
    • Concord (1916)
  • Caledon group 4,180 tons, 5-6in
    • Caledon (1916)
    • Calypso (1917) - torpedoed 1940
    • Cassandra (1916) - mined 1918
    • Caradoc (1916)
  • Ceres group 4,190 tons, 5-6in
    • Cardiff (1917)
    • Ceres (1917)
    • Coventry (1917) - sunk 1942
    • Curacoa (1917) - sunk in collision 1942
    • Curlew (1917) - bombed 1940
  • Carlisle group 4,290 tons, 5-6in
    • Cairo (1918) - torpedoed 1942
    • Calcutta (1919) - sunk in collision 1941
    • Capetown (1919)
    • Carlisle (1918)
    • Colombo (1918)
• Danae class 4,850 tons, 6-6in
  • Danae (1918)
  • Dauntless (1918)
  • Dragon (1918) - scuttled 1944
  • Delhi (1919)
  • Dunedin (1919) - torpedoed 1941
  • Durban (1921) - scuttled 1944
  • Despatch (1922)
  • Diomede (1922)
• Emerald class 7,580 tons, 7-6in
  • Emerald (1926)
  • Enterprise (1926)
• Leander class
  • Leander group 7,200 tons, 8-6in
    • Achilles (1933) - to India 1948 as Delhi
    • Ajax (1935)
    • Leander (1933)
    • Neptune (1934) - mined 1941
    • Orion (1934)
  • Amphion group 6,900 tons, 8-6in
    • Amphion (1936) - to Royal Australian Navy 1939 as Perth - torpedoed 1942
    • Apollo (1936) - to RAN 1938 as Hobart
    • Phaeton (1935) - to RAN 1935 as Sydney - sunk 1941
• Arethusa class 5,220 tons, 6-6in
  • Arethusa (1935)
  • Aurora (1937) - Sold on 19 May 1948 to the Nationalist Chinese Navy
  • Galatea (1935) - torpedoed 1941
  • Penelope (1936) - torpedoed 1944
• Town class
  • Southampton group 9,100 tons, 12-6in
    • Southampton (1937) - sunk 1941
    • Birmingham (1937)
    • Glasgow (1937)
    • Newcastle (1937)
    • Sheffield (1937)
  • Gloucester group 9,400 tons, 12-6in
    • Gloucester (1939) - bombed 1941
    • Liverpool (1938)
    • Manchester (1938) - sunk 1942
  • Edinburgh group 10,565 tons, 12-6-in
    • Edinburgh (1939) - sunk 1942
    • Belfast (1939) - Currently a museum ship in London
• Dido class
  • Dido group 5,600 tons, 10-5.25in
    • Bonaventure (1940) - torpedoed 1941
    • Dido (1940)
    • Hermione (1941) - torpedoed 1942
    • Naiad (1940) - torpedoed 1942
    • Phoebe (1940)
    • Euryalus (1941)
    • Sirius (1942)
    • Charybdis (1941) - torpedoed 1943
    • Cleopatra (1941)
    • Scylla (1942)
    • Argonaut (1942)
  • Bellona group 5,770 tons, 8-5.25in
    • Bellona (1943) - to Royal New Zealand Navy 1956
    • Black Prince (1943) - to RNZN 1948
    • Diadem (1943) - to Pakistan 1956 as Babur
    • Royalist (1943) - to RNZN 1956
    • Spartan (1943) - bombed 1944
• Crown Colony class
  • Fiji group 8,525 tons, 12-6in
    • Bermuda (1942)
    • Fiji (1940) - bombed 1941
    • Gambia (1942)
    • Jamaica (1942)
    • Kenya (1940)
    • Mauritius (1941)
    • Nigeria (1940) - to India as Mysore
    • Trinidad (1941) - bombed 1942
  • Ceylon group 8,875 tons, 9-6in
    • Ceylon (1943)
    • Newfoundland (1943)
    • Uganda (1943) - to Royal Canadian Navy as Quebec 1944
• Minotaur class 8,800 tons, 9-6in
  • Swiftsure (1944)
  • Minotaur (1945), to Royal Canadian Navy 1945 as Ontario
  • Superb (1945)
• Tiger class 11,700 tons, 4-6in, 6-3in
  • Tiger (1959)
  • Lion (1960)
  • Blake (1961)