HMS Black Prince
Ship Number
1049
Vessel Type
Dido Class Cruiser
Built
Belfast
Yard
Musgrave Yard
Slip Number
12
Launch Date
August 27, 1942
Launched By
Lady Dixon Dbe
Delivered
November 20, 1943
Owner
Admiralty
Weight
5950 grt
BP Length
485 feet
Breadth
49-10 feet
No. of Screws
Quadruple
Speed (approx)
32.25 knots
Propulsion
Parsons geared turbines Four shafts Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers 62,000 shp (46 MW)
Official No.
Registered
Fate
Scrapped
HMS Black Prince

[Under tow on the River Tyne, July 1944]
Pennant number 81
 
She served on Arctic convoys and then came south in preparation for the invasion of Europe, being employed on offensive sweeps against German coastal convoy traffic.
 
On the night of 25/26 April 1944, accompanied by destroyers, she was involved in the action which sank the torpedo boat T29 and damaged T24 and T27 off the north Brittany coast.
 
During the Normandy landings she was part of Force A in support of Utah Beach. In August she moved to the Mediterranean for the invasion of the south of France, and then served in Aegean waters until October. By the following month Black Prince had joined the East Indies Fleet, where she covered the carrier raids against Japanese oil installations and airfields in Sumatra and Malaya. On 16 January 1945 she sailed as part of the British Pacific Fleet, seeing action off Okinawa and in the final bombardments of the Japanese mainland before withdrawing to reoccupy Hong Kong in September. After the Japanese surrender she remained in the Far East and was lent to the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1946.
 
She reverted to RN control, still in an unmodernised condition, on 1 April 1961.
 
Sold for scrapping in March 1962, she left Auckland on 5 April 1962 in tow for breaking up at Mitsui & Co, Osaka, Japan, arriving there in May.