HMS Kent (54)

History
United Kingdom
NameKent
NamesakeKent
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid down15 November 1924
Launched16 March 1926
Commissioned25 June 1928
IdentificationPennant number: 54
FateSold for scrap, 22 January 1948
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeCounty-class heavy cruiser
Displacement
  • 9,850 long tons (10,010 t) (standard load)
  • 13,520 long tons (13,740 t) (deep load)
Length630 ft (192.0 m)
Beam68 ft 5 in (20.9 m)
Draught20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Installed power80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Range13,300 nmi (24,600 km; 15,300 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement784
Armament
Armour

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.