After wartime service, Cumberland lost her original eight-inch turrets and was converted for gunnery training and trials. She tested prototype automatic six-inch and three-inch mountings associated with the later Tiger-class cruisers. Cumberland also played herself in the film Battle of the River Plate and supported trials connected with atomic and hydrogen-bomb systems. She remained in service until 1958 and was not finally broken up until 1959. The conversion kept an older cruiser hull useful as a weapons testbed after its original combat role had ended.
Notable Point · 38:07-39:31
Cumberland’s second life as a trials ship
Post-war Cumberland became a testbed for automatic gun turrets and naval weapons trials.