HMS Manchester (1937)
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The second HMS Manchester was a Gloucester-class light cruiser built by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn. She was laid down in March 1936, launched in April the following year and commissioned in August 1938.

She first saw action during the ill-fated Norwegian Campaign in 1940. She won the lineage it's first battle honour during her involvement in the campaign. In 1941, Manchester, along with other Royal Navy warships, engaged an Italian cruiser squadron, in an engagement that became known as the Battle of Spartivento, in which she won the names second battle honour. She also gained battle honours during the arduous, and dangerous Arctic and Malta convoys in 1941-42. In 1942, while escorting a convoy off Tunisia, she was spotted by a German U-Boat, and was torpedoed and subsequently scuttled by her crew.

See HMS Manchester for other ships of the name.

HMS Manchester Statistics

• Displacement: 9,400 tons
• Length: 591ft
• Beam: 62ft
• Draught: 17ft
• Complement: 700
• Armament:
  • 12 x 6-inch guns
  • 8 x 4-inch guns
  • 8 x 2 pounder guns
  • 6 x 21-inch torpedo tubes
  • 3 aircraft
• Speed: 32.5 knots
• Propulsion: 4 shaft geared turbines, 82,500hp

Battle Honours

Norway 1940, Spartivento 1941, Malta 1942, Arctic 1942, Persian Gulf 1991

The original article can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Manchester_(1937).
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