HMS Jamaica (44)

	Jamaica at anchor, 18 September 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name	Jamaica
Namesake	Jamaica
Ordered	1938 Naval Programme
Builder	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down	28 April 1939
Launched	16 November 1940
Commissioned	29 June 1942
Decommissioned	20 November 1957
Stricken	1960
Identification	Pennant number: 44
Motto	Non sibi sed patriae; (Latin: "Not for oneself, but for one's country");
Nickname(s)	'The Fighting J', 'The Galloping Ghost of the North Korean Coast'
Fate	Sold for scrap, 14 November 1960
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Fiji-class light cruiser
Displacement	8,631 long tons (8,770 t) (standard)
Length	555 ft 6 in (169.3 m)
Beam	62 ft (18.9 m)
Draught	19 ft 10 in (6 m)
Installed power	4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers; 80,000 shp (60,000 kW);
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbine sets
Speed	32.25 knots (59.73 km/h; 37.11 mph)
Range	6,250 nmi (11,580 km; 7,190 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	733 (peacetime), 900 (wartime)
Armament	4 × triple 6 in (152 mm) guns; 4 × twin 4 in (102 mm) DP guns; 2 × quadruple 2-pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) AA guns; 10 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns; 2 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes;
Armour	Engine and boiler rooms: 3.25 in (83 mm); Decks: 2–3.5 in (51–89 mm); Magazines: 2–3.5 in (51–89 mm); Gun turrets: 1–2 in (25–51 mm);
Aircraft carried	2 × seaplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult, 2 × hangars

HMS Jamaica, a Fiji-class cruiser of the Royal Navy, was named after the island of Jamaica, which was a British Crown Colony when she was built in the late 1930s. The light cruiser spent almost her entire wartime career on Arctic convoy duties, except for a deployment south for the landings in North Africa in November 1942. She participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea in 1942 and the Battle of North Cape in 1943. Jamaica escorted several aircraft carriers in 1944 as they flew off airstrikes that attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in northern Norway. Late in the year she had an extensive refit to prepare her for service with the British Pacific Fleet, but the war ended before she reached the Pacific.

Jamaica spent the late 1940s in the Far East and on the North America and West Indies Station. When the Korean War began in 1950 she was ordered, in cooperation with the United States Navy, to bombard North Korean troops as they advanced down the eastern coast. The ship also provided fire support during the Inchon Landing later that year. Jamaica was refitted late in the year and returned to Great Britain in early 1951 where she was placed in reserve.

She was recommissioned in 1954 for service with the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1955 Jamaica was used to play the cruiser HMS Exeter in the film Battle of the River Plate, in company with her wartime partner HMS Sheffield as HMS Ajax. In 1956 the ship participated in Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt to seize control of the Suez Canal. Jamaica was paid off in 1958 and sold for scrap in 1960.

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