History
United Kingdom
Name	HMSCoventry
Builder	Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne
Laid down	4 August 1916
Launched	6 July 1917
Commissioned	21 February 1918
Reclassified	Converted toanti-aircraft cruiser before theSecond World War
Identification	Pennant number: 4C (18 Jan);[1] 61 (18 Apr); 43 (19 Nov); I.43 (1936); D.43 (1940) [2]
Fate	Damaged and scuttled 14 September 1942
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	C-classlight cruiser
Displacement	4,190 tons
Length	450 ft (140 m)
Beam	43.6 ft (13.3 m)
Draught	14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion	Two Brown-Curtis geared turbines Six Yarrow boilers Two propellers 40,000 shp
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h)
Range	carried 300 tons (950 tons maximum) of fuel oil
Complement	327
Armament	(as built): 5 ×6-inch (152 mm) (152 mm) guns 2 ×3-inch (76 mm) (76 mm) guns 2 ×2-pounder (40 mm) guns 8 ×21-inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes (At outbreak of World War 2): 10 ×4-inch (102 mm) (102 mm) guns on high-angle mounts 1 × octupleQF 2-pdr (1.6 in (40 mm)) AA guns 8 × 12.7mm machine guns on two quad mounts
Armour	3 inch side (amidships) 2¼-1½ inch side (bows) 2 inch side (stern) 1 inch upper decks (amidships) 1 inch deck over rudder

HMSCoventry was aC-classlight cruiser of theRoyal Navy, named after theEnglish city ofCoventry. She was part of theCeres group of the C-class of cruisers.

Coventry was initially going to be called HMSCorsair. She was laid down on 4 August 1916, launched 6 July 1917 and completed for naval service in February 1918. HMSCoventry was in the 5th Light Cruiser squadron from February 1918 till May 1919, and served in theBaltic in this time. Commissioned with the pennant (D43) in May 1919 she was accepted into the Atlantic fleet, until in 1920 when HMSCoventry became the HQ ship for naval Inter allied Disarmament Commission. She went into refit in late 1920 and once the refit was completed she joined the 2nd Light cruiser squadron and she became flagship to the Rear-Admiral [D], Mediterranean FleetAndrew Cunningham. Atorpedoexplosion while inGibraltar in March 1923 caused the death of two of her crew, Chief Stoker Burt and ERA Jackson.

In 1935,Coventry went into Portsmouth Dockyard to be refitted as an anti-aircraft cruiser. This refit involved the removal of her 6-inch guns and torpedo tubes, and the fitting of 10 QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single high-angle mountings and 2 octuple-mounted2-pounder 'pom-pom' guns. The after one of these was replaced in 1936/7 by two quadruple Mark I mounts for the0.5 inch (12.7 mm) Vickers Mark IIImachine gun.^[3] At the outbreak ofWorld War II HMSCoventry was serving with the Home Fleet between 1939 and 1940, and was damaged on 1 January 1940 in a German air attack on theShetland Islands, north ofScotland. She was assigned to the Mediterranean fleet in 1940, and was torpedoed and damaged by theItalian submarineNeghelli in the eastern Mediterranean.Coventry also participated in theBattle of Cape Spartivento.^[4]

On 18 May 1941 the firstVictoria Cross of theMediterranean campaign was awarded posthumously to Petty OfficerAlfred Edward Sephton for "great courage and endurance" while on HMSCoventry as she was being attacked on 17 May 1941 by German Stuka dive bombers while offCrete.Coventry had gone to the assistance of hospital shipAba,^[5] which was being attacked by German dive-bombers. When the enemy engagedCoventry, raking her with machine-gun fire, Petty Officer Sephton was mortally wounded, a bullet actually passing through his body and injuring an able seaman beside him. Although in great pain and partially blinded, he stuck to his instruments and carried out his duties until the attack was over. He died of his injuries next day. Petty Officer Sephton was buried at sea. His VC was on display atCoventry Cathedral but was stolen on 25 September 1990.

HMSCoventry was heavily damaged in the Eastern Mediterranean, northwest ofAlexandria, Egypt, by 16 GermanJunkers Ju 88s of I./Lehrgeschwader 1 under the command ofJoachim Helbig, whilst participating inOperation Agreement. 8./StG 3 also took part in the attack. The ship was on fire and had to be scuttled byHMS Zulu.

• Chadwick, Frank (1999) 'Gash Boat HMS Coventry 1939-1942' Western Isles Publishing Company Ltd Stornoway. ISBN 0 906437 16 4
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020).Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-5267-9327-0.
• Dunn, Steve R. (2022).The Harwich Striking Force: The Royal Navy's Front Line in the North Sea, 1914-1918. Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-3990-1596-7.
• Friedman, Norman (2010).British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After. Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
• Lenton, H. T. (1998).British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
• Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gray, Randal (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104.ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980).British Cruisers of World War Two. Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-922-7.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Whitley, M. J. (1995).Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Cassell.ISBN 1-86019-874-0.

• A naval art history website.
• Information on the wreck
• List of cruisers of wwi
• IWM Interview with survivor George Woodley

32°48′N28°17′E / 32.800°N 28.283°E /32.800; 28.283

• C-class cruisers
• 1917 ships
• World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom
• Cruisers sunk by aircraft
• World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
• Maritime incidents in September 1942
• Ships built by Swan Hunter
• Ships sunk by German aircraft
• Scuttled vessels

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