Crown Colony - class cruiser The Crown Colony - class light cruiser s of the Royal Navy were named after Crown Colonies of the British Empire . The first eight are known as the " Fiji " class , while the last three to be built are commonly referred to as the " Ceylon " class and were built to a slightly modified design . Design . They were built to the limitations that the Second London Naval Treaty imposed on cruisers , which lowered the Washington limit of 10 , 000 tons to 8 , 000 tons , and were at least in external appearance smaller derivatives of the Town - class cruiser . The Colony class cruisers however like the following Minotaurs , essentially fit the same armament on a 1 , 000 ton less displacement and the Colony class and the follow on Swiftsure were very tight designs , built largely in war emergency conditions with little margin for any great updating postwar . The 62 ft beam imposing crippling limits . The armour scheme was revised from that of the Towns in that the main belt now protected the 6 inch ammunition spaces , although the belt itself was reduced to 3 . 5 inches and 3 . 25 inches in the machinery spaces . The 6 inch Mk XXIII turrets and ammunition spaces were laid out as per the " Edinburgh " group of the Town class , except the after turrets were a deck lower as in the " Southampton " and " Gloucester " groups . The long turret version of the triple 6 inch gun fitted to the Colony class were 25 tons heavier than the 150 ton turret on the Group 1 & 2 Towns and further cramped the design . The supply of ammunition to the guns was also improved , dispensing with the complicated conveyor system . The Crown Colonys were instantly recognisable as they had a transom stern and straight funnels and masts ; those of the Towns being raked . Due to the size of the Crown Colony class , a number of the ships had their ' X ' turret removed to allow the shipping of additional light anti - aircraft guns . Ships of the Fiji group were equipped with the HACS AA fire control system for the secondary armament while the Ceylon group used the Fuze Keeping Clock for AA fire control . Both groups used the Admiralty Fire Control Table for surface fire control of the main armament and the Admiralty Fire Control Clock for surface fire control of the secondary armament . By the late 1940s most of the Colony class had the updated 274 lock and follow surface fire control radar , which massively increased the chance of hits from the opening salvoes . In the 1950 ' s ( except during the Korean war and Suez operation ) no more than one of the MKXIII turrets was ever manned , with B and Y turrets mothballed due to the huge manning requirements of the turrets . This allowed for more liveable peacetime conditions by operating with a crew of 610 - 750 rather than the wartime crew 1 , 000 - 1 , 100 . Modifications . The addition of radar sets meant that the aircraft were now surplus to requirements , allowing the removal of the aircraft and catapult . Not only did this provide additional accommodation spaces for enlarged wartime crews , but there was no longer the need to carry large quantities of volatile aviation fuel ; in 1940 , " Liverpool " had her bows blown off when a torpedo detonated the 5 , 700 gallons of aviation fuel stored forwards and was out of action for a year . " Fiji " and " Kenya " never received the catapult , " Nigeria " had hers removed in 1941 and the other ships had theirs removed between 1942 and 1944 . The " Ceylon " group were completed without ' X ' 6 inch turret , and between 1944 and 1945 , those of " Bermuda " , " Jamaica " , " Mauritius " and " Kenya " were also removed . This allowed the carriage of additional light A / A weapons , a quadruple QF 2 pdr pom - pom mounting Mark VII generally being carried in ' X ' position . " Bermuda " , " Jamaica " and " Mauritius " had 2 additional quadruple pom - poms added ( for a total of five ) and between 2 and 4 single pom - poms in powered mountings Mark XV . In " Kenya " , all pom - poms were removed , and were replaced with 5 twin and 8 single 40 mm / 60 Bofors A / A . By the end of the war , " Newfoundland " had one and " Uganda " had 2 American pattern quadruple 40 mm / 60 Bofors mounts Mark III and " Nigeria " had 4 single mounts Mark III . Generally , 6 to 24 20 mm Oerlikon guns were also added in a mixture of single mounts Mark IIIA and twin powered mounts Mark V . Postwar modifications of the class were very limited with improved lock and follow surface fire control and Newfoundland , Ceylon , Bermuda , Gambia and possibly Kenya being fitted with US supplied Mk 63 radar to control the twin 4 inch guns . These ships would been altered for water sprays to wash off nuclear fallout and received the 960 standard long range air search . Newfoundland received a greater degree of electrical updating , rewiring and more more comprehensive a / a fire control and was the only Colony updated close to the standard planned for the Improved Dido ' s which were intended for hot war with eventual reboilering , while the Colony class were only refitted for GFS and Colonial patrol and presence . Mid 1950 ' s refitting to the Ceylon , Gambia and Bermuda was very austere and mainly consisted of increasing automation and the life of the geared steam turbines and reducing manning below decks and simplification of the CIWS to 4 - 6 twin L / 60 Bofors . Service . They served with distinction during the Second World War . " Jamaica " took part in a number of operations , including driving off the heavy cruisers " Hipper " and " Lützow " in 1942 , the sinking of the " Scharnhorst " in 1943 , and escorting carrier air attacks on the " Tirpitz " in 1944 . " Fiji " was lost in 1941 , and " Trinidad " the following year . The survivors continued in service after the war , taking part in further actions , such as the Korean War . " Ceylon " was later sold to Peru , being renamed " Coronel Bolognesi " , along with " Newfoundland " , which was renamed " Almirante Grau " . These two ships were decommissioned by 1982 . was also sold , to India being renamed " INS Mysore " . The ship was heavily used from the time of her transfer until the late 1970 ' s , but then converted to a harbour traning ship by 1979 . She was decommissioned by 1984 and then scrapped in 1985 , and as such she was the longest lived ( 41 years ) member of her class . All ships of the Crown Colony - class were decommissioned from active service with the Royal Navy 1962 and began being sold for scrap , though HMS Bermuda was fully operational during 1961 and sometimes ventured to sea in 1962 as flagship of the reserve fleet . Gambia had being reduced to reserve in December 1960 and Ceylon and Newfoundland sold to Peru a year earlier . During the 1950s the larger Towns were usually regarded as more habitable and comfortable in patrolling in the tropics and far east , though they were being retired by and then sold for scrap by 1960 , except for " Sheffield " ( being retired from sea - going service in 1958 and maintained as a reserve headquarters ship ) and " Belfast " which stayed in active seaworthy service until 1963 . Sheffield and Belfast were in semi maintained reserved , and were probably capable of reactivation as late as 1964 - 66 . This cannot be said of the last Colony class cruisers , which were seriously deteriorating due to being in an unmaintained extended reserve status many years before the last ship ; " HMS Gambia " , was sold for scrap in 1968 . None of them were the last cruisers of the Royal Navy however . That honour went to " Blake " , a modified " Tiger " - class cruiser , which was decommissioned in 1980 : the last classic WW2 cruiser design to serve in the Royal Navy .