Shipbucket

Hello everyone!

The Weymouth-class - HMS Weymouth, HMS Dartmouth, HMS Yarmouth and HMS Falmouth - were the second group of the British Town-class light cruisers. They were the last British light cruisers without vertical armour and differed from the preceding Bristol-class by having a single-caliber armament of eight 152mm guns. The guns were a 50-caliber high velocity design that had disadvantages in terms of long-range accuracy compared with 45-caliber guns, so their use was discontinued after this class; otherwise, these ships were considered highly satisfactory. Although the four ships were built by four different private yards, there were virtually no discernible external differences above the waterline as built; this however might have something to do with photographic source material of poor quality and arbitrary labelling. Weymouth, Falmouth and Dartmouth had four shafts...



... only Yarmouth had twin-screw machinery. By 1914, the emergency conning station, which was open in the original design, had received a shelter.



In 1915, all four had their main topmasts removed, and by that time, they also had received rangefinders for their main guns fore and aft and a single 76mm HA gun between funnels No.2 and 3. HMS Dartmouth spent most of her service in the first world war in the Mediterranean...



... Falmouth and Yarmouth were with the Home Fleet most of the time. In 1916, all four received additional superstructure around the funnels and - if I read the period photographs correctly - an additional pair of searchlights. Falmouth was lost to a submarine torpedo in 1916, the only of her class to perish in the war.



HMS Weymouth was in the Mediterranean in 1915/6, but later that year joined the home fleet. She differed from her sisters by the greater extent to which her aft superstructure was modified; during her time in the Mediterranean, she was camouflaged somewhat like below (the only photograph I found of her in camo was only 150x250px, so more than a rough approximation was not possible)



In 1917, the three surviving units received director control for their main artillery, which necessitated stepping tripod legs to the foremast and restepping the fore topmast. The aft searchlights were relocated along the centreline.



In 1918, Weymouth and Dartmouth had a second 76mm HA gun mounted dead aft. Dartmouth had her CT removed as a weight-saving measure (that's what Conway says anyway; Friedman mentions all three retaining their CTs. I have not found a photograph of Dartmouth in 1918, so I just can't say; I tossed the dice and erased the CT).



Weymouth and Yarmouth were fitted with flying-off platforms forward in 1918. Weymouth apparently had her aft superstructure modified to the same shape as the other two in 1917 or 1918. According to period photographs, at least Weymouth got her main topmast back while she had her flying-off platform; for the others, I can't say, as Friedman claims all three did not get her main topmasts back before 1920, when the flying-off platforms were already gone again.



After the war, all three had their bridges rebuilt and extended; the flying-off platforms were removed, probably (but not certainly) before the main topmasts were re-installed on Yarmouth and Dartmouth.



Their main topmasts were re-installed between 1920 and 1924 at the latest, maybe earlier (see above); in this guise they served throughout the 1920s before they were scrapped towards the end of the decade. One of them received a prominent lattice tower while acting as a signals TS, but I have not found any reference as to how that looked; if anyone has a photograph, I draw it, but in the meantime, that's not really possible.



Any suggestions and additional sources are welcome!

Greetings
GD

VERY nice work!!!

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As usual, well-done Garlic

FANTASTIC work GD

Jolly fine show old chap. Well Done I say

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Nice ships, and excellent drawings... as ever in GD works!

Weymouth 1918 with flying off platform, you can see from the photo that the aft-mast is of the tall variety you show in the 1920 drawing. There is no date associated with the photo just the I.W.M. tag.

Great job Garlic, if u continue with that speed and quality, than you might have this year the English Ships participating in battle of Jutland ready.

Great drawings! My research indicates that this class had only two
torpedo tubes. Are they the small square hatch under the forward
superstructure - and below the waterline?

Hello again!

@Krakatoa: Thanks for that photograph, it disproves both Friedman and Conway who both claim that the flying-off platform was removed before the mainmast was restored to its old height; judging from the shape of the bridge, at least Weymouth seems to have gotten her main topmast back in 1918 already. You have some insults free for that one . Drawing is edited.

As I suspected, a lot of pictures that show a Weymouth-class ship are captioned 'HMS Weymouth', even if it is another one. I am quite sure now that the pics in Friedman's book on p.25 actually show Yarmouth, because she lacks the high searchlight tower aft; earlier photographs show that Weymouth's aft superstructure was more built up than that on the other ones. I also just found out that Friedman was wrong about Dartmouth's CT as well, because I stumbled upon a photo labeled HMS Dartmouth 1929 which clearly shows that the CT is missing.

Feels cool actually... knowing something that Friedman doesn't...

@ signal: yup. The shape of the TTs is somewhat generic, I have no photographic evidence of the underwater hulls of these ships.

Greetings
GD

Excellent work as ever.

There are a worrying amount of errors in Friedman's cruiser book, the more we delve the more we find. I know no-one is perfect and research can be tricky to confirm these kinds of details but in no way should he be treated as gospel.

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