HMS Royalist (89)

Royalist anchored at Greenock, Scotland, in September 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name	Royalist
Builder	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock
Laid down	21 March 1940
Launched	30 May 1942
Commissioned	10 September 1943
Recommissioned	1967
Decommissioned	November 1967
Out of service	In reserve from 1946 to 1956 Loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1956 to 1966
Identification	Pennant number: 89
Fate	Sold for scrap, November 1967
New Zealand
Name	HMNZS Royalist
Commissioned	1956
Decommissioned	1966
Out of service	Returned to Royal Navy control 1967
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Dido-class light cruiser
Displacement	5,950 tons standard 7,200 tons full load
Length	485 ft (148 m) pp 512 ft (156 m) oa
Beam	50 ft 6 in (15.39 m)
Draught	14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power	62,000 shp (46 MW)
Propulsion	4 geared steam turbines Four shafts Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Speed	32.25 knots (59.73 km/h; 37.11 mph)
Range	1,303 nmi (2,414 km) at 30 kn (56 km/h) 3,685 nmi (6,824 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h)
Complement	530
Armament	8 × QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) guns, 6 × dual 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns, 3 × quadruple 2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom", 2 × triple 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 3 in (76 mm), Deck: 1 in (25 mm), Magazines: 2 in (51 mm) Bulkheads: 1 in (25 mm)

HMS Royalist was a Bellona-class (improved Dido-class) light cruiser of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) during the Second World War and early Cold War.

After her commissioning in 1943, Royalist was modified with extra facilities and crew for operating as a flagship in aircraft carrier operations. Initially, she operated in the North Sea before transferring to the Mediterranean for the invasion of southern France. Royalist remained in the Aegean Sea until the end of 1944 before sailing to the Far East in 1945 where the ship served until the end of the war.

Royalist was then put into reserve until 1953, when the Navy decided to proceed with plans to refit the ship. The high cost of reconstruction and new governmental policy forced the RN to transfer the vessel to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) in 1956. In return, New Zealand covered the reconstruction costs of Royalist. After ten years of service with the RNZN, which included involvement in the Suez Crisis and the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, she was scrapped in 1967.