The Minister-class cruisers were a class of cruisers ordered by a joint commission of Australian and Canadian designers for service with the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy in response to the construction of various German, Italian and Japanese raiders/cruisers during the late interwar period.
Background[]
With intelligence pointing to the construction of multiple classes of ships following the collapse of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and upturn in Japanese shipbuilding, a joint commission of Australian and Canadian naval officials were granted exemption from the Second London Naval Treaty to construct four ships (two for each navy) which were specialized in hunting and destroying cruisers and raiders. They were also used extensively as squadron leaders for destroyers and cruisers. Due to the status of shipbuilding facilities in both nations, this class was constructed in Britain and did not come into service until early WWII, seen as too important to be delayed by wartime shortages, the ships were rushed through their fitting out and sea trials, with various accompanying problems.
Design[]
Designed around the classic battlecruiser mantra of chasing down any ship with a lesser armament and being able to disengage in unfavorable engagements, the Minister-class also featured a very large operational radius which assisted it in protected convoys and hunting enemy raiders.
With a top speed of 35 knots, there was very few ships capable of outrunning this cruiser. Unlike many battlecruisers, the Minister-class was relatively well armored for it's tonnage which alongside it's waterline splinter proofing, gave it a sufficient advantage against 6 inch, 8 inch and even 11 inch shell fire.
The only real shortcoming of the Minister-class was the limited number of main battery guns. While the 12 inch/50 Mark XIV guns proved to be more than satisfactory in service and the layout of the main battery shrunk the magazines on the ship while not negatively effecting firing angles, only carrying 6 guns was seen as a negative even if the rest of the ship made up for such a shortcoming.
A rather strange design choice was placing the flag facilities in the aft superstructure, far away from the main superstructure. This made the flag facilities rather questionable in their usefulness.
Ships[]
HMCS Macdonald[]
Laid down at Swan Hunter, Wallsend in March 1936, Macdonald was launched February 7, 1939 and commissioned on April 1, 1940. She undertook expedited sea trials until late May when she was pushed into service to hunt the Bismarck while en-route to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Joined in the sinking of Bismarck alongside Royal Navy element, oversaw final sinking alongside Dorsetshire.