The Minotaur class, also known as the Swiftsure class after the lead ship was sold to Canada and renamed, were a group of light cruisers of the British Royal Navy built during the Second World War. They were designed as a modified version of the incorporating war modifications and authorised in 1941. However, in spite of the heavy toll of cruisers in that year and the following one, the building of this new class had a relatively low priority and only three of the planned twelve were completed by end of World War II. They played no significant part in the Second World War, though Swiftsure, as flagship of the British Pacific Cruiser Squadron, was selected by Admiral Cecil Harcourt to hoist his flag for the Japanese surrender at Hong Kong. Superb was completed to a slightly different design than the first two ships, work on another three was cancelled and the last three were eventually built to a different design as the . Design The class was originally to have consisted of twelve ships, six were laid down in 1941–1942 and the seventh unit, Hawke, in 1943. Four of the ordered cruisers were cancelled almost immediately, three in March 1942 being replaced by the first light fleet carrier order, which used half the Fiji/Swiftsure power train in split form and another Swiftsure/Minotaur probably Mars was cancelled in November 1942 and a eighth cruiser Bellerpophon, was actually started in early 1944, and then stopped and cancelled with its already constructed boilers and turbines being installed in the light fleet carriers Colossus and Perseus (ex Edgar) being constructed in the same Vickers Armstrong yard as Bellerephon had been started as a Swiftsure. It appears Bellerephon was then reordered as a Neptune-class cruiser. but by the end of World War II only Minotaur, , and were complete, whilst the others were laid up. Minotaur was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed Ontario. While the basic specifications and original armament were only a slight enlargement of the Fiji class with an extra twin 4-inch turret, the Minotaurs did represent a substantial advance towards more sophisticated weapon control and integration of command and control and AIO and developments towards operation room control of fighting ships. By 1944 the seven Minotaurs under construction represented four distinct groups, which were so significantly different that they should probably be regarded as four separate classes of