The Ceres Class
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Ceres |
| Completed: | Five |
| Lost: | Three |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | C class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 4290 tons (standard) 5276 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 452 ft (138 m) overall |
| Beam: | 43.5 ft (13.3 m) |
| Draught: | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft Brown-Curtis geared turbines 6 boilers 40,000 shp |
| Speed: | 29.5 knots (55 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,900 nautical miles (10,930 km) at 10 knots (20 km/h) AA conversions: 3250 nm at 12kts |
| Complement: | 334 |
| Armament: |
Cardiff & Ceres: |
| Armour: | machinery spaces: 3 inch sides magazines: 2ΒΌ inch sides deck: 1 inch |
The Ceres class were ordered in March to April 1916 and commissioned between 1917 and 1918. They were very "wet" at the bow, which was remedied in the subsequent Carlisle sub-class with the addition of a "trawler bow". Their main armament consisted of five 6-inch (152 mm) guns, while their secondary armament consisted of two 3-inch (76 mm) guns, of which a further one was later added to Ceres herself. Four 3 pounder guns were also fitted.
Three ships underwent extensive rebuilds during the 1930s, becoming AA cruisers, resulting in all previous armament being removed. The ships were Coventry, Curacoa and Curlew, with Curacoa being the last of the three to be rebuilt in 1939; the other two ships having been converted in 1935. Coventry and Curlew were given ten 4-inch (102 mm) guns (two later being removed from Coventry) and sixteen 3-inch (76 mm) guns for their AA role. Curacoa had slightly different gun numbers, being armed with eight 4-inch (102 mm) guns and four 3-inch (76 mm) guns, and later on in WWII, four 20 mm Oerlikons. Cardiff and Ceres were to have undergone the same conversion, but this was prevented by the outbreak of war.
Read more about this topic: C Class Cruiser
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