The Shadraf were supposed to be the next two heavy cruisers in the Maweth line. However the Treaty's expired and the design was recast to the level that Greenland and others had wanted from the start, 15,000+ tons. It was decided to stick with the 8" gun and increase the number of turrets to four. The secondary armament would increase to seven turrets, with four being able to fire to one side or the other. Only two ships were ordered as it turned out that the cost of them was close to what was paid out for the Marquad Class battlecruisers. With these ships under construction the Greenlandian Navy looked to see that the number of light cruisers that they had been blessed with at the end of World War One were now reaching retirement age and needed replacing with modern ships.
These two ships with the six Maweth class made up Cruiser Squadron One and Cruiser Squadron Two. Each Squadron was with one of the two Greenland Task Forces as escorts to the big carriers. When used for other duties they would be matched with a Marquad class battlecruiser to make a very potent cruiser Squadron.
When you start with a good ship, chances are any enhancements you make will only make your ship betterer. This definitely applied to the Shadraf class. From 1938 forward, the electronics suite just go bigger and betterer. The idea is to locate your enemy then kill it. By 1943 the Shadraf was more than capable of doing this. Air Search, Sea Search radars adorned the masts sending out pulses of electrons that would fry your brain if you were silly enough to stick your head too close. Predictors to aid the 40mm cannons had space found for them. The most space required was for all the extra people required to run all the new equipment. To provide this space and drop a bit of overweight, the torpedoes and aircraft handling facilities were removed in 1942-43. The hangar being split into extra accommodation and offices with a new deck house being built for the same purpose. Around that deck house the ships boat were redeployed to from behind the aft funnel. The new space behind the funnel was used for more AA guns and predictors.
Post war. I did think about either one of these two ships or one of the Marquad class being converted to missile cruisers, but either one would already be 25 years old by the time any conversion might have been done. Just too old. Mid 1950's and these ships would be headed for the breakers yards.
