HMS Gambia (48)

Gambia
History
United Kingdom
Name	Gambia
Namesake	Gambia Colony and Protectorate
Builder	Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear
Laid down	24 July 1939
Launched	30 November 1940
Commissioned	21 February 1942
Out of service	Transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy, 22 September 1943
Identification	Pennant number: 48
New Zealand
Name	Gambia
Commissioned	22 September 1943
Out of service	Returned to the Royal Navy, 27 March 1946
United Kingdom
Name	Gambia
Recommissioned	1 July 1946
Decommissioned	December 1960
In service	Returned to the Royal Navy, 27 March 1946
Fate	Scrapped, 5 December 1968
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Fiji-class light cruiser
Displacement	8,631 long tons (8,770 t) (standard)
Length	555 ft 6 in (169.3 m)
Beam	62 ft (18.9 m)
Draught	19 ft 10 in (6 m)
Installed power	4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbine sets
Speed	32.25 knots (59.73 km/h; 37.11 mph)
Range	6,250 nmi (11,580 km; 7,190 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	733 (peacetime), 900 (wartime)
Armament	4 × triple 6 in (152 mm) guns 4 × twin 4 in (102 mm) DP guns 2 × quadruple, 2 × single 2-pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) AA guns 6 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns 2 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Engine and boiler rooms: 3.25 in (83 mm) Decks: 2–3.5 in (51–89 mm) Magazines: 2–3.5 in (51–89 mm) Gun turrets: 1–2 in (25–51 mm)
Aircraft carried	2 × seaplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult, 2 × hangars

HMS Gambia (pennant number 48, later C48) was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was in the service of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) as HMNZS Gambia from 1943 to 1946. She was named after the then Crown colony of the Gambia, and has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.