HMS Cornwall (56)

HMS Cornwall (56) was a County class heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. She was built at Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, UK).

History
In a single ship action of 8 May 1941 Cornwall sank the German commerce raider Pinguin but was hit in the stern. She returned to Durban for repairs, which were completed on 10 June 1941. On 25 November 1941, Cornwall intercepted the Vichy-French merchant Surcouf off the east coast of Somalia and brought her to Aden. The Surcouf was en route to Djibouti with food.

In early April 1942, Cornwall and her sister ship HMS Dorsetshire were detached from the fleet to escort the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes to Trincomalee on Ceylon for repairs. On 4 April, the Japanese carrier fleet was spotted, and the two cruisers left the harbour, and after a hurried refuelling at sea, set out for Addu Atoll shortly after midnight. On 5 April 1942, the two cruisers were sighted by a spotter plane from the Japanese cruiser Tone about 200 miles (370 km) southwest of Ceylon.

As part of the engagement known as the Easter Sunday Raid, a wave of dive bombers led by Lieutenant Commander Egusa took off from Japanese carriers to attack the Cornwall and Dorsetshire, 320 km southwest of Ceylon, and sank the two ships. British losses were 424 men killed; 1,120 survivors spent hours in the water.