HMS Kent (54)

History
United Kingdom
Name	Kent
Namesake	Kent
Builder	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down	15 November 1924
Launched	16 March 1926
Commissioned	25 June 1928
Identification	Pennant number: 54
Fate	Sold for scrap, 22 January 1948
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	County-class heavy cruiser
Displacement	9,850 long tons (10,010 t) (standard load) 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) Turret: 1 in (25 mm) Bulkheads: 1 in (25 mm) Magazines: 2–4.375 in (50.8–111.1 mm)

HMS Kent, pennant number 54, was a County-class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the late 1920s. She was the lead ship of the Kent subclass. After completion the ship was sent to the China Station where she remained until the beginning of the Second World War, aside from a major refit in 1937–38. Kent hunted the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the East Indies in late 1939 and then was reassigned to troop convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean in early 1940. She was transferred to the Mediterranean in mid-1940, but was torpedoed shortly after arriving. The ship was under repair for a year and was then assigned to Home Fleet where she escorted convoys to and from North Russia for the next several years. In mid-1944 Kent escorted British aircraft carriers as their aircraft made attacks on German shipping and airfields in Norway. A few months later she was flagship of a force that intercepted a German convoy in Norwegian waters and sank two freighters and five escorts. The ship was paid off in early 1945 and placed in reserve until she was used as a target. Kent was sold for scrap in 1948.