Ship Modelers Database
HMS Cavalier (R73)
Preserved museum ship
HMS Cavalier (R73, later D73) is a C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and is the last surviving Royal Navy destroyer that served in the Second World War. She has been preserved as a museum and memorial ship since 1977 and has resided in No. 2 Dry Dock at Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent since 1998.
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Wikipedia: C-class Destroyer (1943) Class OverviewWebsite
Class-level article with detailed specifications, armament fit changes, and a build/fate table for all eight 'Ca' flotilla ships, useful for comparing Cavalier to sister ships.
- Wikipedia: HMS Cavalier (R73)Website
Overview article with construction dates, career summary, and preservation history useful for general ship background.
Museums & archives
- National Historic Ships UK: HMS Cavalier Register EntryMuseum
Official National Historic Fleet register entry with construction details, key dates, and bibliography of further reading on the ship.
History
Specifications
Built by J. Samuel White and Company at East Cowes, she was laid down 28 March 1943, launched 7 April 1944, and commissioned 22 November 1944. She displaced 1,710 tons standard (2,520 tons full load), measured 363 ft (111 m) overall with a beam of 35.75 ft (10.9 m), and was powered by Admiralty 3-drum boilers and Parsons geared turbines giving 40,000 shp for a top speed of 37 knots. Original armament comprised four 4.5-inch guns, Bofors and Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, and two quintuple torpedo tube mounts; she was later modernised with Squid anti-submarine mortars and a Seacat surface-to-air missile launcher.
Service history
After commissioning she joined the 6th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet and took part in operations off Norway, including escorting an Arctic convoy from the Kola Inlet in February 1945 alongside HMS Myngs and HMS Scorpion. She later served in the Far East, including gunfire support during the Battle of Surabaya, before being decommissioned in 1972.
Notable facts
A special warrant allows Cavalier to retain the "HMS" prefix and fly the White Ensign despite no longer being in commission, a privilege shared only with the museum cruiser HMS Belfast. After decommissioning she moved between Southampton, Brighton, and the River Tyne before a shipbuilding exhibition plan fell through and she was nearly scrapped; the reformed Cavalier Trust ultimately saved her for display at Chatham in 1998. In 2007 she was formally dedicated as the national war memorial to the 142 Royal Navy destroyers lost in WWII and the roughly 11,000 men killed aboard them, marked by a bronze monument unveiled by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.