Kent was built by
Chatham Dockyard and
laid down on 15 November 1924. She was launched on 16 March 1926 and commissioned 25 June 1928. The ship was assigned to the
5th Cruiser Squadron on the
China Station and spent the bulk of the interbellum period there. In 1929–30 she received a
High-Angle Control System, used to direct her anti-aircraft guns, and an
aircraft catapult was also fitted. Her AA armament was reinforced by the addition of two single 4-inch guns
abreast the forward
funnel in 1932–33. In January 1934, while serving as the flagship of
Admiral Sir Frederick Dreyer, she attended the Far Eastern Naval Conference in
Singapore together with
Terror,
Veteran,
Wren and
Eagle. At the conclusion of the conference, Dreyer transferred his flag to the
Suffolk and
Kent was dispatched to the United Kingdom for a refit. During the 1934 refit two quadruple
Vickers .50-calibre (12.7 mm) Mark III machine guns were added. under the shadow of the cruiser's 8 inch guns. Whenever possible the game is played for exercise each afternoon both at sea and in port. In November 1939 she joined with the French heavy cruiser and the Australian
destroyers and to hunt for the German pocket battleship
Admiral Graf Spee in the East Indies and then was reassigned to escort troop convoys in the Indian Ocean in January 1940. Following the declaration of war by
Italy, she was transferred to the
Mediterranean Fleet, arriving at
Alexandria in August 1940 with the
3rd Cruiser Squadron. On 17 August 1940,
Kent, the
battleships , , and twelve destroyers bombarded Italian positions near
Bardia and
Fort Capuzzo. Two weeks later the ship participated in
Operation Hats, escorting a convoy from Alexandria to
Malta. On 15 September 1940 the battleship , the aircraft carrier ,
Kent, the
anti-aircraft cruisers and , and seven destroyers left Alexandria bound for
Benghazi. During the night of 16/17 September 1940, aircraft from the
Illustrious mined the harbour of Benghazi. They also attacked shipping in the harbour with torpedoes and bombs, sinking two destroyers and two merchant ships.
Kent and two destroyers were detached to bombard
Bardia while returning to Alexandria. During the night of 17/18 September 1940 the ship was hit in the stern by a torpedo from Italian
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers from the 279th Independent Torpedo Squadron () led by
Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia. She was towed back to base by the destroyers with great difficulty.
Kent was given temporary repairs at Alexandria from 19 September to 18 October to allow her to return to the
United Kingdom. Extensive repairs at
Devonport Dockyard followed from 1 January to 20 September 1941. During this time six
Oerlikon 20 mm light AA guns were added and the ship received a variety of
radars. These included
Type 284 radar for surface gunnery control,
Type 285 anti-aircraft gunnery radar, and a
Type 281 air warning radar. When her repairs were completed in September 1941, she spent several months
working up. On 8 December
Kent sailed from
Scapa Flow carrying the British
Foreign Secretary,
Anthony Eden, and the Soviet Ambassador to Great Britain,
Ivan Maisky. She reached
Murmansk on 12 December where the diplomats disembarked to meet with
Joseph Stalin.
Kent sortied on 17 December, with two Soviet destroyers, in a failed attempt to intercept the German
8th Destroyer Flotilla that was engaging two British minesweepers attempting to rendezvous with
Convoy PQ 6. The ship brought Eden back home by 29 December. The cruiser was assigned to the Home Fleet and escorted convoys to and from North Russia. She briefly escorted Convoy QP 8 on the return leg from Russia in March 1942 and provided distant cover for
Convoy QP 10 the following month.
Kent attempted to rendezvous with the damaged
light cruiser west of
Bear Island as she returned from Murmansk in May, but
Trinidad was sunk by German aircraft before that could happen. On 21 May the ship joined
Convoy PQ 16 as part of the close escort. After her return from the Soviet Union, the ship was refitted in
Liverpool from 18 July to 7 November. Her catapult and quadruple .50-calibre machine guns were removed and six more single 20 mm Oerlikon guns were added. During a brief refit between 22 September and 4 October at Chatham Dockyard, the ship exchanged six single 20 mm guns for three twin 20 mm gun mounts. On 17 July 1944, the ship was formed part of the covering force protecting three British aircraft carriers flying off aircraft to attack the during
Operation Mascot.
Kent escorted three aircraft carriers that attacked the German airfield at
Kristiansand on 10 August. She escorted two carriers on 12 September while their aircraft attacked German shipping near
Stadlandet. On the night of 13/14 November 1944, as flagship of Rear-Admiral
Rhoderick McGrigor during
Operation Counterblast, the ship, with the light cruiser and four destroyers, attacked Convoy KS.357 off Listerfjord, south-east of
Egersund,
Norway. The convoy consisted of four freighters escorted by the
minesweepers M.416,
M.427 and four
submarine chasers. Opening fire at 2300 hrs, the cruisers and destroyers sank two of the freighters and all the escorts above except one unidentified vessel. With the Naval War in the Atlantic winding down, the ship's age and material condition, and a shortage of crews to man her;
Kent was paid off in January 1945 and remained in reserve for several years until she was used as a target. The ship was struck off the Naval List (the first of the Countys to go) and allocated to
BISCO on 22 January 1948 and arrived at
Troon on 31 January to be broken up by West of Scotland Shipbreakers. ==Footnotes==