HMS Curacoa (D41)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Curacoa.

Curacoa at anchor, 1941
History
United Kingdom
NameCuracoa
NamesakeCuraçao
OrderedMarch–April 1916
BuilderPembroke Dockyard
Laid down13 July 1916
Launched5 May 1917
Commissioned18 February 1918
ReclassifiedConverted to anti-aircraft cruiser, 1939–1940
IdentificationPennant number: A7 (Jan 18);[2] 62 (Apr 18); 41 (Nov 19); I.41 (1936); D.41 (1940) [3]
Nickname(s)Cocoa Boat[1]
FateSunk in collision with RMS Queen Mary, 2 October 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeC-class light cruiser
Displacement4,190 long tons (4,260 t)
Length450 ft 3 in (137.2 m) (o/a)
Beam43 ft 5 in (13.2 m)
Draught14 ft 8 in (4.5 m) (mean)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Complement460
Armament
Armour
General characteristics (where different)
TypeAnti-aircraft cruiser
Displacement5,403 long tons (5,490 t) (deep load)
Armament

HMS Curacoa was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She was one of the five ships of the Ceres sub-class and spent much of her career as a flagship. The ship was assigned to the Harwich Force during the war, but saw little action as she was completed less than a year before the war ended. Briefly assigned to the Atlantic Fleet in early 1919, Curacoa was deployed to the Baltic in May to support anti-Bolshevik forces during the British campaign in the Baltic during the Russian Civil War. Shortly thereafter the ship struck a naval mine and had to return home for repairs.

After spending the rest of 1919 and 1920 in reserve, she rejoined the Atlantic Fleet until 1928, aside from a temporary transfer to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1922–1923 to support British interests in Turkey during the Chanak Crisis. Curacoa was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1929.

In 1933, Curacoa became a training ship and in July 1939, two months before the start of the Second World War, she was converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser. She returned to service in January 1940 and, while providing escort in the Norwegian Campaign that April, was damaged by German aircraft. After repairs were completed that year, she escorted convoys in and around the British Isles for two years. In late 1942, during escort duty, she was accidentally sliced in half and sunk by the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary, with the loss of 337 men.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference d3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Colledge, J J (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 49.
  3. ^ Dodson, Aidan (2024). "The Development of the British Royal Navy's Pennant Numbers Between 1919 and 1940". Warship International. 61 (2): 134–66.