HMS cruiser Sussex  

HMS Sussex was a unit of the second group of 'County' class heavy cruisers (also known as the London class) built under the limitations imposed by the Washington Disarmament Treaty of 1922. She was accordingly limited to a standard displacement of 10,000 tons, and had a maximum gun-calibre of 8 inches.

Like the other 'Counties' the Londons were handsome ships, with high freeboard and three tall funnels. Their chief weakness was their lack of side armour, as Sir William Berry had been allowed to do little more than tamper with the previous design by Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt (the Kent group). The chief improvement made by Berry was to replace the external 'bulges' with internal compartmentation against torpedo-attack, which increased their speed by a 1/2-knot.

Whatever criticisms are made about the protection of the 'Counties' and they stand out as the worst bargains made by the Navy in many a year, they relied on a highly sophisticated armament. The 8-inch gun was designed for high-angle fire, and was capable of an impressive rate of fire, five rounds per minute. Had the mounting been successful it would have gone a long way towards redressing the balance in any comparison with foreign heavy cruisers, but unfortunately the twin turrets gave trouble for some years before all the faults were eliminated.
Despite these problems it should be borne- in mind that a mounting elevating to 700 and capable of firing five 8-inch rounds per minute was many years ahead of its time.

On the credit side, the 'Counties' had the invaluable assets of a seaworthy hull, good endurance and a well-arranged armament. Whatever they lacked in comparison with American and Japanese cru isers they proved to be tough opponents in battle. Furthermore, their size gave them an ample margin of stability which allowed a large number of wartime changes to armament and equipment.

From 1936 money became available to modernise the 'Counties', as Great Britain began the slow business of re-arming after years of neglect. The five Kents were given an armour belt, enhanced anti-aircraft armament and more elaborate equipment for handling aircraft. Unfortunately the outbreak of war prevented any similar work being done on more than one of the six remaining 'Counties', and London emerged in 1941 as the most drastically modernised cruiser of all. The others underwent piecemeal modifications as the War progressed, but Sussex owed her moderni$ation to heavy damage from enemy action.

While undergoing routine repairs to her machinery by Fairfields in York Hill Basin on the Clyde, she was hit by a German bomb on 22 November 1940. Being unmanned and filled with inflammable stores she was very soon gutted by fire  and wrecked by an explosion. In order to avoid further damage to the ship, or even a bigger explosion which would damage nearby buildings, the order was given to flood the cruiser, and so Sussex capsized and sank in the basin with hundreds of tons of water in her .

Repairs to all this extensive damage took over twenty months, and the work was carried out by Alexander Stephen & Son, with the assistance of John Brown.
Sussex did not recommission until August 1942, when she joined the Home Fleet. The following year she went to the Far East, and then had a further major refit lasting from June 1944 to March 1945. After a spell of duty in the5th Cruiser Squadron she went into reserve in 1946, until sold for scrapping on 3 January 1950. She arrived at Dalmuir on 23 February that year, and scrapping was completed early in 1955.

The drawing shows Sussex as she appeared after her refit, in August 1942. She has been refitted with tripod masts in place of the former pole masts forward and aft. Her single 4-inch anti-aircraft guns were replaced by four twin 4-inch mountings, and the four-barrelled 2-pounder pom-poms added just before the War were replaced by eight-barrelled mountings in new positions to port and starboard .

The most sweeping changes were made by the addition of gunnery and search radar sets. The 'lantern' housing the aerial for the Type 273 surface search radar can be seen between the forward turrets and the bridge structure, while the large rectangular frames at the mastheads belong to the Type 281 air warning sets. Note the high-angle directors on the bridge and after superstructure, both fitted with Type 285 aerials, and the Type 282 barrage directors disposed on either side of the after control position to direct the two pom-poms. The frames carried on brackets projecting from the forward edge of the upper and lower bridges are Medium Frequency Direction-finding coils (MF/DF).

During the remainder of the War Sussex remained basically similar, but the eleven 10-20-mm. Oerlikon close-range anti-aircraft guns shown were gradually increased. The radar lantern was found to be masked by the turrets and bridgework, and so was soon moved aft to the control position. In 1944-45 the need for extra guns and control equipment led to the removal of the after superimposed 8-inch gun turret, and the catapult and Walrus aircraft. The quadruple torpedo-tubes were also removed during this refit.

Whatever else is said about the Sussex and her sisters, they presented a handsome, balanced silhouette. The three lofty funnels were matched by high freeboard and the symmetrical layout. In short, the 'Ruddy Haystacks' looked somehow typical of British. cruisers, and recaptured something of the look of the armoured cruisers built 30 years before.