HMS Jamaica ( 44 ) HMS " Jamaica " , a Crown Colony - class cruiser of the Royal Navy , was named after the island of Jamaica , which was a British possession when she was built in the late 1930s . The light cruiser spent almost her entire wartime career on Arctic convoy duties , except for a deployment south for the landings in North Africa in November 1942 . She participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea in 1942 and the Battle of North Cape in 1943 . " Jamaica " escorted several aircraft carrier s in 1944 as they flew off airstrikes that attacked the in northern Norway . Late in the year she had an extensive refit to prepare her for service with the British Pacific Fleet , but the war ended before she reached the Pacific . " Jamaica " spent the late 1940s in the Far East and on the North America and West Indies Station . When the Korean War began in 1950 she was ordered , in cooperation with the United States Navy , to bombard North Korean troops as they advanced down the eastern coast . The ship also provided fire support during the Inchon Landing later that year . " Jamaica " was refitted late in the year and returned to Great Britain in early 1951 where she was placed in reserve . She was recommissioned in 1954 for service with the Mediterranean Fleet . In 1955 " Jamaica " was used to play HMS " Exeter " in the film " Battle of the River Plate " , in company with her wartime partner HMS " Sheffield as HMS " Ajax " . In 1956 the ship participated in Operation Musketeer , the Anglo - French invasion of Egypt to seize control of the Suez Canal . " Jamaica " was paid off in 1958 and sold for scrap in 1960 . Description . " Jamaica " displaced about 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 four Admiralty 3 - drum water - tube boilers . " Jamaica " carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship ' s complement was 733 officers and men in peacetime and 900 during war . The ship mounted twelve 50 - calibre 6 - inch ( 152 mm ) guns in four three - gun turret s . Her secondary armament consisted of eight 4 - inch ( 102 mm ) anti - aircraft ( AA ) guns in four twin turrets . " Jamaica " mounted two quadruple 2 - pounder ( 40 mm ) light AA mounts ( " pom - poms " ) . Her short - range AA armament is not known . The ship carried two above - water triple torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes . " Jamaica " lacked a full waterline armor belt . The sides of her boiler and engine rooms and the magazine s were protected by of armour . The deck over the machinery spaces and magazines was reinforced to a thickness of . She carried an aircraft catapult and two Supermarine Sea Otter seaplane s . History . " Jamaica " was laid down on 28 April 1938 by Vickers - Armstrongs in Barrow - in - Furness , England as part of the 1938 Naval Programme and named for the Colony of Jamaica . The ship was launched on 16 November 1940 and completed on 29 June 1942 . After working up , the ship provided distant cover to Convoy PQ 18 in September . She was assigned to the Centre Task Force of Operation Torch in early November and was unsuccessfully attacked by the . The Arctic convoys had been suspended at PQ 18 , but were scheduled to resume on 15 December with Convoy JW 51A . HMS " Jamaica " and , with several escorting destroyers , formed Force R , under the command of Rear - Admiral Robert Burnett and were tasked to cover the convoy against any German surface ships . The convoy was not spotted by the Germans and arrived at the Kola Inlet without incident on 25 December . Battle of the Barents Sea . Force R sailed from Kola on 27 December to rendezvous with Convoy JW 51B in the Norwegian Sea , but the convoy had been blown southwards by a major storm . Several of its ships had been separated during storm and they confused the radar of Force R ' s ships as to the true location of the convoy . Thus Force R was north of the convoy on the morning of 31 December when the heavy cruiser attacked the convoy . " Admiral Hipper " was first held at bay by the British destroyer s , , and . Initially driven off , " Admiral Hipper " returned , only to be engaged by Force R shortly before noon and was hit by three 6 - inch shells from the cruisers . Two German destroyers , and , misidentified " Sheffield " as " Admiral Hipper " and attempted to form up on her . " Sheffield " sank " Friedrich Eckoldt " at a range of while " Jamaica " unsuccessfully engaged " Richard Beitzen " . Less than an hour later Force R spotted the pocket battleship " Lutzow " and " Admiral Hipper " and opened fire . Neither side scored any hits in the darkness before both sides turned away a few minutes later . Force R continued to track the German ships for several hours before they lost contact . Although the destroyer and the minesweeper were sunk by the Kriegsmarine , the convoy reached the Kola Inlet intact . Force R remained at sea to protect Convoy RA 51 that was returning to Great Britain until relieved by and . " Jamaica " was relieved of escort duties on her return in January 1943 and had her main gun barrels replaced in March . She rejoined the Home Fleet , but was refitted in Portsmouth from July to September . Sometime during the year she received six twin power - operated AA guns as well as four single guns . During November she protected the convoys RA 54B , JW 54A , JW 54B and RA 54B , but was not engaged . On 15 December she was assigned to Force 2 , the distant escort for Convoy JW 55A , with the battleship and four destroyers . Force 2 was commanded by Admiral Bruce Fraser , Commander - in - Chief of Home Fleet , in " Duke of York " . For the first time the British distant cover force escorted the convoy all the way to the Kola Inlet . Their passage was uneventful and Force 2 sailed on 18 December to refuel at Iceland . Before he reached his destination , Admiral Fraser received Ultra information that a sortie by the was likely to attack Convoy JW 55B , which was already at sea . Battle of North Cape . German aerial reconnaissance spotted the convoy on 22 December , and " Scharnhorst " , escorted by five destroyers of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla , sailed on 25 December to intercept it . The resulting engagement became known as the Battle of North Cape . The Germans were spotted on the morning of 26 December and were engaged by the covering force that consisted of the cruisers , HMS " Sheffield " , and four destroyers . Meanwhile HMS " Jamaica " and HMS " Duke Of York " approached from the south west , barring the " Scharnhorst " ’ s path of retreat . The German battleship turned for her base at Altafjord in the early afternoon after two brief encounters with the British cruisers . She was spotted by " Duke of York " s Type 273 radar at a range of and " Duke of York " opened fire half an hour later . " Jamaica " fired her first salvo a minute after , and hit " Scharnhorst " on her third broadside . She was forced to cease fire after 19 volley s as the German ship was faster in the heavy seas than the British ships , and was opening up the range despite heavy damage from the British shells . One shell from " Duke of York " s last volley penetrated into " Scharnhorst " s Number One boiler room and effectively destroyed it . This reduced the German ship ' s speed sufficiently for the British destroyers to catch up and make four torpedo hits using a pincer attack . This slowed the ship again , so that " Jamaica " and " Duke of York " also caught up and opened fire at a range of . They hit the German ship continually , but she was not sinking after 20 minutes of firing so " Jamaica " was ordered to torpedo her . Two torpedoes from her first volley of three missed and the third misfired , so the cruiser had to turn about to fire her other broadside of three , two of which appeared to hit . " Belfast " and the destroyers also fired torpedoes before " Scharnhorst " finally sank . Further convoys and the raids on the " Tirpitz " . In February – March 1944 , " Jamaica " served as part of the covering forces for Convoys JW 57 , JW 58 and RA 58 . She was detached from the latter to escort the aircraft carrier as she launched an air strike against the German battleship Tirpitz as part of Operation Tungsten . In July she formed part of the covering force for the carriers , and during an unsuccessful attack on the German battleship " Tirpitz " berthed in Kaafjord ( Operation Mascot ) . " Jamaica " escorted the Convoys JW 59 and RA 59 in August – September before starting a major refit in October that lasted until April 1945 . The ship ' s ' X ' turret ( third from the front ) was removed and replaced by two more 2 - pounder mounts while her radar suite was modernized . On 6 June the cruiser conveyed King George VI and the Queen on a visit the Channel Islands . " Jamaica " joined the 5th Cruiser Squadron at Colombo in October and replaced as the squadron flagship in April 1946 . The ship returned to Devonport for a refit in November 1947 and was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in August 1948 after its completion . She was sent to Hong Kong in April 1949 and remained in the Far East until the Korean War began in June 1950 . The Korean War . Fighting between North and South Korea had broken out on 25 June 1950 , whilst " Jamaica " was on passage to Japan . She , and her escort , were ordered to rendezvous with the American light cruiser off the east coast of Korea to bombard advancing North Korean troops . On 2 July a North Korean supply convoy was returning from Chumunjin when it was spotted by the Allied ships . The escorting motor torpedo boat s and motor gun boat s turned to fight , but three torpedo boats and both gun boats were sunk without inflicting any damage on the Allied ships . They resumed bombarding coastal targets . Six days later " Jamaica " was hit by a shell that killed six and wounded five . On 15 August the ship bombarded captured harbour facilities in Kunsan . The following month , " Jamaica " participated in the preparatory bombardment of the island of Wolmi - do before the main landing on 15 September . During the landing itself she supported the southern flank of the assault and she was tasked to support the 1st Marine Regiment afterwards . Two days after the landing " Jamaica " and the American heavy cruiser were attacked by a pair of Yakovlev piston - engined fighters at dawn . One aircraft succeeded in strafing the ship , killing one sailor , before it was shot down by the ship ' s guns . " Jamaica " was sent to refit in Singapore in October and then sailed for home after it was completed . She arrived in Plymouth in February 1952 and was placed in reserve . Post war . The ship was the flagship of the Reserve Fleet from May 1953 to 1954 when she was recommissioned for service with the Mediterranean Fleet . Assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron , she was refitted in Chatham Dockyard from June 1955 and rejoined her squadron . The ship participated in Operation Musketeer in November 1956 . The ship led the bombardment force covering the Royal Marine landings at Port Said , but she was not permitted to fire her main guns as the had banned naval gunfire support by guns larger than . " Jamaica " was placed in reserve again in September 1958 after a port visit to Kiel . She was sold on 14 November 1960 to BISCO . The ship arrived at Arnott Young ' s yards at Dalmuir on 20 December 1960 for scrapping . This was not completed until 15 August 1963 at Troon .