HMS Kenya 1943 
by Jerry Lloyd 
Kenya_01

1/700 HMS Kenya 1943 (L'Arsenal)

HMS Kenya was laid down in June 1938 as a colony class cruiser, a smaller and cheaper version of the Town class, her top speed was 33 knots downhill and she was built by Alexander Stephens of Glasgow as the first ship to join the Royal Navy called Kenya, she was commissioned in August 1940 with around 300 of her crew being formed from the ships company of HMS Exeter which was under refit at the time, her main armament was 12 x 6 inch Mk 23 guns which fired at a rate of 6 to 8 rounds per minute up to a range of 14 and a half miles, she was originally known as "The Pink Lady" being painted in Mountbatten pink, my model converted from a L'Arsenal kit of HMS Jamaica shows her in early 1943 after she had a big refit following battle damage in the Med from August 1942 which lasted for 5 months returning to service in December 1942, the windows below the open bridge show that an Admirals bridge has replaced the Captains day cabin and she became the first of her class to land her 2 Walrus aircraft much to the relief of her crew who regarded them as petrol bombs, her catapult was removed and the space used for boat stowage with a crane moved from alongside her rear funnel, new radars were type 281 air search (range 120 miles) type 285s (8 miles) on her high angle control directors and type 282 (3 miles) on her pom-pom directors and 2 x 282 barrage directors (radar rangefinders) for her 3 x twin 20mm, her new paint job was now MS4a and MS4 and her 4 x twin 4inch guns became remote controlled (but still loaded manually) also her searchlights became automatic. she went into reserve in 1953 recommissioned in 1955 back to reserve in 1959 to be finally scrapped in 1962.
Jerry Lloyd

Gallery updated 1/5/2018

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