HMS Hawkins was the lead ship of her class of five heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War, although the ship was not completed until 1919. She was assigned to the China Station until 1928 and was briefly assigned to the Atlantic Fleet in 1929–1930, always serving as a flagship, before being placed in reserve. Hawkins was recommissioned in 1932 for service on the East Indies Station, but returned to reserve three years later. The ship was disarmed in 1937–1938 and converted into a cadet training ship in 1938. When the Second World War began in 1939, the Royal Navy decided to reconvert her back into a heavy cruiser and her original armament was reinstalled. Hawkins reentered service in early 1940 and was assigned to the South Atlantic Division where she patrolled for Axis commerce raiders and escorted convoys. The following year, she was transferred to the Indian Ocean where she played a small role in the East African campaign in early 1941. At the end of the year, the ship returned home for a lengthy refit. Upon its completion in mid-1942, Hawkins was assigned to the Eastern Fleet and resumed her former roles of patrolling and escort duty for the next two years. The ship returned to the UK in early 1944 to participate in Operation Neptune, the naval portion of the invasion of Normandy in June. She bombarded German coastal defences on 6 June, but was paid off in July. The Royal Navy decided to convert her back into a training ship while she was under repair, but that work was cancelled in 1945. Hawkins was placed back in reserve that year and was used for bombing trials in 1947. The vessel was sold for scrap later that year. Design and description The Hawkins-class cruisers were designed to be able to hunt down commerce raiders in the open ocean, for which they needed a heavy armament, high speed and long range. Hawkins had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of at deep load. She displaced at normal load and at deep load. The ship had a metacentric height of fully loaded. Her crew consisted of 712 officers and ratings. Hawkins was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by a dozen Yarrow boilers, four of which were coal fired. The