HMS Thorndyke

**HMS Thorndyke** is a Town-class (Edinburgh-subclass) light cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in WWII. It is the official warship of Nerland.

## History

HMS Thorndyke was ordered around 1935 to the Town-class light cruisers but to the specifications of the Edinburgh-subclass, joining HMS Edinburgh and HMS Belfast. The new light cruiser was laid down at John Brown shipyard in Glasgow around 1936 and was commissioned into the Royal Navy two years later. HMS Thorndyke was based at Scapa Flow for most of WWII before being transferred to the Pacific in 1944. In 1945 during an island-hopping mission, HMS Thorndyke and its fleet were attacked by a Japanese taskforce which included the battleship Yamato. In an effort try and fend off the larger fleet before air cover would arrive to back them up, HMS Thorndyke and three "obsolete" destroyers charged at the fleet while laying a smokescreen to hide theirs and allow them to escape the powerful Japanese battleship. Half an hour into the battle, HMS Thorndyke and one of the destroyers were the only Allied vessels still exchanging fire with the IJN with the light cruiser being ripped apart by Yamato's 18.1inch guns at short range.

At the 45 minute mark, HMS Thorndyke was struck by a single torpedo fired by an IJN destroyer and developed a list to its starboard side, while still exchanging fire with her rear turrets until they were silenced by heavy cruiser fire, reducing the light cruiser to only torpedo but due to the list and the amount of damage from Japanese vessels, the torpedo tubes were rendered useless and it left the old tradition of ramming as the only option left. In an attempt to finish as many as possible before sinking, HMS Thorndyke rammed two destroyers in half before being struck by another torpedo in the stern. Battle damaged and flooding quickly, HMS Thorndyke succumbed to her wounds, sinking as aircraft for the carriers HMS Victorious and Indomitable arrived, causing the IJN fleet to flee back north.

## Basis

HMS Thorndyke is based off a Town-class light cruiser, especially the Edinburgh-subclass. The class was built with constrains of the 1930 London Naval Treaty and was split into three subclass, Southampton, Gloucester and Edinburgh with five, three and two built in their respective subclasses, making a total of ten constructed in total. The were in service from 1937, throughout WWII until 1960 when replaced by newer guided missile destroyers. Four of the ten were lost during WWII and the remainder were decommissioned. One, HMS Belfast, is preserved in near Tower Bridge in London as a museum ship.

## Filming model

HMS Thorndyke's model is built from an Airfix 1:600 kit of HMS Belfast. A digital model by Wargaming for the video game World of Warships is used in HMS Thorndyke's combat sequence.

## Trivia

HMS Thorndyke is a pure fictional warship. No warship of this name has existed.

* Due to this, the fictional build count for the Town-class is eleven instead of ten in real life.

HMS Thorndyke being sent to the Pacific is a reference to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF), a massive task force made from British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand warships during the closing stages of WWII in the Pacific Ocean against the Imperial Japanese Navy.

One of Mathew's old drivers was sailor aboard HMS Thorndyke during WWII. He lost his life in the vessel's final battle.

HMS Thorndyke's final battle could be based on last stand of the Australian sloop HMAS Yarra (U77) when it tried to fend off an entire Japanese force and allow the convoy it was escorting to escape in June 1942. HMAS Yarra was blown apart by three IJN cruisers with only 13 survivors (36 originally but 23 would later perish).