Fiji-class cruiser

Nigeria in 1943
Class overview
NameFiji class
Operators
Preceded byDido class,Town class
Succeeded byMinotaur class
Subclasses
  • Fiji
  • Ceylon
Built1938–1943
In commission1940–1985
Completed11
Lost2
Scrapped9
General characteristics
Class and typeLight cruiser
Displacement
  • 8,530 long tons (8,670 t) standard
  • 10,450 long tons (10,620 t) full load
  • Later 10,830–11,090 long tons (11,000–11,270 t) full load
Length
  • 555 ft 6 in (169.32 m) (o/a)
  • 538 ft (164 m) (p/p)
Beam62 ft (19 m)
Draught16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Installed power
Propulsion4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Range10,100 nmi (18,700 km; 11,600 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement
  • 730
  • 920 war time
Armament
Armour
  • Belt 3+123+14 in (89–83 mm)
  • Bulkheads 2–1+12 in (51–38 mm)
  • Turrets 2–1 in (51–25 mm)
  • Ring bulkheads 1 in (25 mm) max
Aircraft carriedTwo Supermarine Walrus aircraft (removed by 1944, never fitted in Fiji or Kenya)

The Fiji-class cruisers were a class of eleven light cruisers of the Royal Navy that saw extensive service throughout the Second World War. Each ship of the class was named after a Crown colony or other constituent territory of the British Commonwealth and Empire. The class was also known as the Colony class,[1] or Crown Colony class.[2] Developed as more compact versions of the preceding Town-class cruisers, the last three were built to a slightly modified design and were sometimes also called the Ceylon class.

  1. ^ US Office of Naval Intelligence, Index to Warships of the British Commonwealth (ONI-201), December 1944
  2. ^ The Naval Review vol. 36, p. 65 (1948)