Description HMS Exeter. British York Class heavy cruiser HMS EXETER laid down on August 1 1928, launched on July 18 1929 and completed on July 23 1931. Lightly armoured with six 8in guns and eight 4in anti-aircraft guns, EXETER served before the Second World War in the South Atlantic, Mediterranean and West Indies. With the outbreak of war, in the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939 with HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles, EXETER engaged the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee, receiving direct hits from the G
