Tag Archives: HMS Cumberland (57)

‘Pre-Wetting’ the old Girl

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Some 70 years ago this week, 28 September 1955.

“Pre-wetting” tests on the County (Kent)-class heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland (57), at the time, the nearly 30-year-old WWII veteran was the Royal Navy’s “trials cruiser,” in the Mediterranean during Atomic trials.

IWM (TR 7056)

Pre-wetting is a method of protecting warships against radioactive particles while operating in a fallout area, the outer fringe of the region affected by an underwater nuclear explosion.

“It involves the continual washing of all weather surfaces of the ship during and after contamination, as experiments showed that fission matter was less likely to adhere to a surface while it is being subjected to salt water washdown.”

British guinea pig ship’s atomic test. 28 September 1955, aerial photographs off Malta. The trials cruiser HMS Cumberland during atomic countermeasure tests in the Mediterranean. A small quantity of radioactive liquid representing atomic bomb fallout was sprayed onto the ship’s structure to test the efficiency of the washdown system. This system involves the continual washing of all weather surfaces of the ship during and after exposure. IWM (A 33050)

IWM (A 33008)

IWM (A 33349)

IWM (A 33351)

Cumberland, which narrowly missed out on chasing down the “pocket battleship” Graf Spee in 1939, went on to earn battle honors for the Arctic (1942-43), North Africa (1942), Sabang (1944), and Burma (1945).

She was placed in Reserve in May 1959 and sold to BISCO for breaking up by J Cashmere at Newport where the ship arrived under tow on 3 November that year. Her name was carried on by the 11th Cumberland since 1695, a Type 22 frigate (F85) commissioned in 1989 and decommissioned in 2011.

The Big E Takes Napoli

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Some 70 years ago today.

The hulking 46,000-ton Audacious-class aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (R05) and her escort, the aging County-class heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland (57) of Graf Spee near-miss fame, visit Naples, 5 August 1955. The warships called at the Italian port city for a week’s operational visit in line with NATO.

HMS Eagle, seen from her helicopter, shows the ship’s company fallen in on her flight deck as she steams into Naples Bay. Her wing shows 12 Seahawks of No. 804 squadron, the Wyverns likely of No. 830 Squadron, a few AEW Skyraiders of 849 Squadron, and at least one Westland WS-51 Dragonfly. She carries a recently-modified 5.5-degree angled flight deck, later changed to 8.5 degrees in 1964. Also note the 8×2 QF 4.5-inch Mk III guns in BD ‘RP10’ Mk II mounts. IWM (A 33319A)

“Twelve Sea Hawks of 804 Squadron form an avenue demonstrating British Naval Air Power in the Mediterranean.” IWM (A 33321)

HMS Eagle, HMS Cumberland in Naples, August 1955. One of the last three-funneled heavy cruisers, Cumberland would pay off just three years after this photo. IWM A 33318A

A period Kodachrome of Eagle’s airwing circa 1955, including Skyraiders, Seahawks, and Wyverns.

Laid down in 1942, Eagle only entered service in March 1952 (the 15th Royal Navy ship to carry the name) and was primarily known for her service in the Suez Crisis four years later and later the Aden Emergency.

HMS Eagle at Fremantle, Western Australi,a around 1968, with her late 8.5-degree deck and Buccaneers

She was paid off in 1972 to allow her hulk to be stripped of parts to keep her sister, HMS Ark Royal, in service for a few more years.

The “Big E” was scrapped in 1978.