![]() Minotaur was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed Ontario. ![]() ![]() but by the end of World War II only Minotaur, Swiftsure, and Superb were complete, whilst the others were laid up. It appears Bellerophon was then reordered as a Neptune-class cruiser. An eighth cruiser, Bellerophon, started in early 1944, and then stopped and cancelled its already constructed boilers and turbines were installed in the light fleet carriers Colossus and Perseus (ex Edgar) being constructed in the same Vickers Armstrong yard as Bellerophon had been started. Four of the ordered cruisers were cancelled almost immediately, three in March 1942 being replaced by the first light fleet carrier order and another, probably Mars, was cancelled in November 1942. The class was originally to have consisted of twelve ships, six were laid down in 1941–1942 and the seventh unit, Hawke, in 1943. Superb was completed to a slightly different design than the first two ships, work on another three was cancelled and the last three were eventually built to a different design as the Tiger class. They played no significant part in the Second World War, though Swiftsure, as flagship of the British Pacific Cruiser Squadron, was selected by Admiral Cecil Harcourt to hoist his flag for the Japanese surrender at Hong Kong. However, in spite of the heavy toll of cruisers in that year and the following one, the building of this new class had a relatively low priority and only three of the planned twelve were completed by end of World War II. They were designed as a modified version of the Fiji class incorporating war modifications and authorised in 1941. The Minotaur class, also known as the Swiftsure class after the lead ship was sold to Canada and renamed, were a group of light cruisers of the British Royal Navy built during the Second World War. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |