The Elizabethans

摘要

Named after famous Elizabethan seafarers, ships of the Hawkins class of heavy cruisers became known as the Elizabethans. This class was an important stage in cruiser development between the two World Wars. Conrad Waters describes the ships which made up the class and outlines the operational career and fate of each vessel. In any account of Royal Navy operations during the Second World War, the exploits of the heavy cruisers of the County class feature prominently. The first British cruisers laid down under the constraints of the 1922 Washington Treaty on naval arms limitation, the County class proved to be a rugged and capable design. There has, however, been much less written on their predecessors, the five members of the Elizabethans, officially the Hawkins class, from which the basic characteristics of the Washington Treaty cruisers were derived.