Caledon

Construction

Place of Construction: Cammell Laird Shipbuilding Company
Laid down: 17 March 1916
Launched: 25 November 1916
Commissioned: 6 March 1917

Specifications

4,180 tons displacement, standard
147.5m length
14.02m beam
4.67m draft

Machinery

6 boilers, 2 turbines

Performance

29knts at 40,000shp
5,900nm at 10knts

Armor

Main belt: 57.15mm, 76.2mm over machinery spaces
Decks: 25.4mm
Conning Tower: 76.2mm

Armament

Five (5x1) 152mm guns, two (2x1) 76.2mm guns, two (2x1) 40mm, and eight (4x2) 533mm torpedo tubes

History

Design

HMS Caledon and her sister ships were ordered in 1915 as repeats of the original C class cruiser design. These ships were designed with excellent seagoing characteristics which allowed them to operate in the rough North Atlantic waters. The cruisers carried main guns of similar caliber to contemporary warships but in fewer number. However, the center-line arrangement of the main armament allowed for all guns to be fired on a full broadside. Additionally, the armor of the C class cruisers was centered mostly around the main belt with only limited armor around the ends of the ship and on the decks.

Caledon and her sister ships were nearly identical to the preceding subclasses when built, except they were fitted with newer turbines and deck mounted torpedo tubes instead of underwater launchers.

By the beginning of World War II, Caledon was considered old and outdated. Rather than modernize and refit her for service as a proper light cruiser, she was converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser. Caledon’s original main battery and torpedo tubes were removed and her superstructure was altered to accommodate the new armament. Numerous Bofors guns and other 20mm guns were mounted during her first and second refits with more added as the war continued. Caledon's sister ships Calypso and Caradoc did not receive extensive modifications after their construction was complete.

Service

Caledon joined the Grand Fleet in March of 1917 and was assigned to the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November of 1917, where she was damaged by a 12in shell but survived. Remaining in commission, she served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during the interwar period until she was placed in the Naval Reserve in 1931.

Recommissioned in 1939, Caledon was posted to the North Atlantic until mid-1940 when she was transferred to the Mediterranean for convoy duty and as support for British operations in Somaliland. In 1941, Caledon was transferred to the Eastern Fleet and operated in the Indian Ocean until 1942, when she returned to the UK for conversion into an anti-aircraft cruiser. Following conversion, in 1943, Caledon was again sent to the Mediterranean for convoy duty, and participated in Operation Dragoon in 1944. She survived the war and was eventually paid off for scrapping in 1948.

Calypso joined the Grand Fleet with Caledon and also participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. She was also damaged, a shell destroying her bridge and killing all present, including her commander. After the war, Calypso was assigned to patrol duties and anti-Bolshevik operations in the Baltic, capturing two destroyers, Avtroil and Spartak, in December of 1918. She was placed in reserve in 1932.

Recommissioned in 1939, Calypso was also assigned to the Northern Patrol along with Caledon. From September to November of 1939, Calypso captured three German merchants and participated in the hunt for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. In 1940, she was also sent to the Mediterranean, where she was sunk by an Italian submarine in June of 1940.

Caradoc, while also assigned with her sisters to the Grand Fleet, escaped damage in World War I. She was present and participated in the capture of Avtroil and Spartak with Calypso in December of 1918, serving her interwar years in the Mediterranean, China, and the Americas until she was transferred to the reserve in 1930.

Caradoc was reactivated along with her remaining three sisters in 1939. Her first mission of note was the transport of gold to Halifax as payment for war materials. Transferred to the Caribbean until 1942, Caradoc captured two German merchants before sailing to New York for refit in late 1941. Having finished her refit in February of 1942, Caradoc sailed to the Indian Ocean to join the Eastern Fleet. There she served in various administrative capacities until the end of the war in 1945. Caradoc was paid off and sold for scrapping in 1946.

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  HMS Caledon in 1944 after refit

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  Caledon-class light cruiser HMS Cassandra underway at sea

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  Caledon-class light cruiser HMS Caradoc in May 1942 after her U.S. refit

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  HMS Caradoc in the Baltic Sea near Liepāja, Latvia, December 1918

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  HMS Caledon's crew scraping ice off, December 1918

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  HMS Caledon after a collision with the Italian vessel SS Antares

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  Caledon-class light cruiser HMS Calypso laying down a smoke screen

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  HMS Caradoc bombarding Bolshevik positions in Estonia in December 1918

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  HMS Caledon in dock

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