ROYAL NAVY SOUTH ATLANTIC COMMAND - ROYAL NAVY S T 12 SHIPS
9)SUSSEX (HEAVY CRUISER)
Photo. www.naval-history.net
Completed: 1929
Displacement: 9,750 tons standard, 13,315 tons full load
Length: 633 ft
Beam: 66 ft
Draught: 21 ft
Propulsion: Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers, Four shaft Parsons geared turbines, 80,000 shp (60 MN)
Armament: 8x 8 in (203 mm) dual guns, 4x 4 in (102 mm) single AA guns, 4x 2 pdr (40 mm) single pom-poms, 2x 2 pdr (40 mm) quad pom-poms, 2x 0.5 in quadruple Vickers machine gun mount, 2x quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Speed: 32 kts
Range: 4,715 km (2,930 miles) at 31.5 knots, 20,116 km (12,500 miles) at 12 knots; 3,210 tons fuel oil
Complement: 820
Aircraft: One aircraft, later three. One catapult
HMS Sussex was one of the London sub-class of the County-class heavy cruisers in the Royal Navy. Wartime career of HMS Sussex in the south Atlantic began since the war outset when she operated with Force H during the search for the enemy German raider Admiral Graf Spee. On 2 December she and the battlecruiser HMS Renown intercepted the German passenger ship Watussi off the south African coast.
Before the German ship could be captured she was scuttled by her own crew. 196 crewmembers and passengers were rescued with no losses. Following the scuttling of the Graf Spee in December 1939, she returned to the UK. Sussex was broken up February 1950 in England.
