HMS Kent ( 54 ) HMS " Kent " ( 54 ) was a heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the late 1920s . She was the lead ship of the " Kent " subclass . After completion the ship was sent to the China Station where she remained until the beginning of the Second World War , aside from a major refit in 1937 – 38 . " Kent " hunted the German pocket battleship in the East Indies in late 1939 and then was reassigned to troop convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean in early 1940 . She was transferred to the Mediterranean in mid - 1940 , but was torpedoed shortly after arriving . The ship was under repair for a year and was then assigned to Home Fleet where she escorted convoys to and from North Russia for the next several years . In mid - 1944 " Kent " escorted British aircraft carrier s as their aircraft made attacks on German shipping and airfields in Norway . A few months later was flagship of a force that intercepted a German convoy in Norwegian waters and sank two freighters and five escorts . The ship was paid off in early 1945 and placed in reserve until she was used as a target . " Kent " was sold for scrap in 1948 . Description . " Kent " displaced at standard load and at deep load . The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines , driving four shafts , which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by eight Admiralty 3 - drum water - tube boilers . " Kent " carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship ' s complement was 784 officers and men . The ship mounted eight 50 - calibre 8 - inch ( 203 mm ) guns in four twin gun turret s . Her secondary armament consisted of four QF Mk V anti - aircraft ( AA ) guns in single mounts . " Kent " mounted four single 2 - pounder ( 40 mm ) light AA guns ( " pom - poms " ) . The ship carried two quadruple torpedo tube above - water mounts for torpedoes . " Kent " was only lightly protected with little more than a single inch of plating protecting vital machinery . Her magazine s were the exception and were protected by of armour . Space and weight was reserved for one aircraft catapult and its seaplane , but they were not fitted until after she was completed . History . " Kent " was built by Chatham Dockyard and laid down on 15 November 1924 . She was launched on 16 March 1926 and commissioned 25 June 1928 . The ship was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron on the China Station and spent the bulk of the interbellum period there . In 1929 – 30 she received a High - Angle Control System , used to direct her anti - aircraft guns , and an aircraft catapult was also fitted . Her AA armament was reinforced by the addition of two single 4 - inch guns abreast the forward funnel in 1932 – 33 . Two quadruple Vickers . 50 - calibre ( 12 . 7 mm ) Mark III machine gun s were added in 1934 . In 1937 , " Kent " returned to Chatham and underwent a major refit , which included a Krupp cemented armour belt abreast the engine and boiler rooms as well as the dynamo room and the fire control transmitting station . This belt extended down from the lower deck . Four inches of armour were also added to protect the sides of the boiler room fan compartments . The ship ' s aft director was moved to a pedestal abaft the searchlight tower that replaced the original aft control station . Two octuple - barrel 2 - pounder mounts were added abreast the searchlight tower . The changes raised the ship ' s displacement by and cost an estimated £161 , 000 . Unlike her sister ships , no aircraft hangar was added because that would have pushed her over the Washington Treaty limits , but her catapult was replaced with a more powerful one capable of handling the heavier Supermarine Walrus flying boat . In November 1939 she joined with the French heavy cruiser and the Australian destroyer s and to hunt for the German pocket battleship " Admiral Graf Spee " in the East Indies and then was reassigned to escort troop convoys in the Indian Ocean in January 1940 . Following the declaration of war by Italy , she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet , arriving at Alexandria in August 1940 with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron . On 17 August 1940 , " Kent " , the battleship s , , and twelve destroyers bombarded Italian positions near Bardia and Fort Capuzzo . Two weeks later the ship participated in Operation Hats , escorting a convoy from Alexandria to Malta . On 15 September 1940 the battleship , the aircraft carrier , " Kent " , the anti - aircraft cruiser s and , and seven destroyers left Alexandria bound for Benghazi . During the night of 16 / 17 September 1940 , aircraft from the " Illustrious " mined the harbour of Benghazi . They also attacked shipping in the harbour with torpedoes and bombs , sinking two destroyers and two merchant ships . " Kent " and two destroyers were detached to bombard Bardia while returning to Alexandria . During the night of 17 / 18 September 1940 the ship was hit in the stern by a torpedo from Italian Savoia - Marchetti SM . 79 bomber s from the 279th Independent Torpedo Squadron ( ) led by Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia . She was towed back to base by the destroyers with great difficulty . " Kent " was given temporary repairs at Alexandria from 19 September to 18 October to allow her to return to the United Kingdom . Extensive repairs at Devonport Dockyard followed from 1 January to 20 September 1941 . During this time six Oerlikon 20 mm light AA guns were added and the ship received a variety of radar s . These included Type 284 radar for surface gunnery control , Type 285 anti - aircraft gunnery radar , and a Type 281 air warning radar . When her repairs were completed in September 1941 , she spent several months working up . On 8 December " Kent " sailed from Scapa Flow carrying the British Foreign Secretary , Anthony Eden , and the Soviet Ambassador to Great Britain , Ivan Maisky . She reached Murmansk on 12 December where the diplomats disembarked to meet with Joseph Stalin . " Kent " sortie d on 17 December , with two Soviet destroyers , in a failed attempt to intercept the German 8th Destroyer Flotilla that was engaging two British minesweepers attempting to rendezvous with Convoy PQ 6 . The ship brought Eden back home by 29 December . The cruiser was assigned to the Home Fleet and escorted convoys to and from North Russia . She briefly escorted Convoy QP 8 on the return leg from Russia in March 1942 and provided distant cover for Convoy QP 10 the following month . " Kent " attempted to rendezvous with the damaged light cruiser west of Bear Island as she returned from Murmansk in May , but " Trinidad " was sunk by German aircraft before that could happen . On 21 May the ship joined Convoy PQ 16 as part of the close escort . After her return from the Soviet Union , the ship was refitted in Liverpool from 18 July to 7 November . Her catapult and quadruple . 50 - calibre machine guns were removed and six more single 20 mm Oerlikon guns were added . In early January 1943 the cruiser provided cover for Convoy RA 51 and , several weeks later , Convoy JW 52 . While on the latter mission , " Kent " was unsuccessfully attacked by the . During a brief refit between 22 September and 4 October at Chatham Dockyard , the ship exchanged six single 20 mm guns for three twin 20 mm gun mounts . In November she provided cover to Convoys RA 54A , JW 54A and JW 54B . The ship covered the outbound Convoys JW 56A , JW 56B and the returning Convoy RA 56 in January – February 1944 . The following month " Kent " was part of the covering force for Convoy JW 57 . On 17 July 1944 , the ship was formed part of the covering force protecting three British aircraft carriers flying off aircraft to attack the during Operation Mascot . " Kent " escorted three aircraft carriers that attacked the German airfield at Kristiansand on 10 August . She escorted two carriers on 12 September while their aircraft attacked German shipping near Stadlandet . On the night of 13 / 14 November 1944 , as flagship of Rear - Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor during Operation Counterblast , the ship , with the light cruiser and four destroyers , attacked Convoy KS . 357 off Listerfjord , south - east of Egersund , Norway . The convoy consisted of four freighters escorted by the minesweepers " M . 416 " , " M . 427 " and four submarine chaser s . Opening fire at 2300 hrs , the cruisers and destroyers sank two of the freighters and all the escorts above except one unidentified vessel . With the Naval War in the Atlantic winding down , the ship ' s age and material condition , and a shortage of crews to man her ; " Kent " was paid off in January 1945 and remained in reserve for several years until she was used as a target . The ship was struck off the Naval List ( the first of the " County " s to go ) and allocated to BISCO on 22 January 1948 and arrived at Troon on 31 January to be broken up by West of Scotland Shipbreakers .