The Minotaur class, or Design Z, was a proposed class of light cruisers planned for the British Royal Navy shortly after the Second World War. Design Z had several proposed configurations with differing armament and propulsion arrangements. The designs were large ships that were planned to be armed with ten dual purpose guns and an extensive array of secondary guns. Six ships of the class were planned in 1947 but they were ultimately cancelled before construction could begin, owing to the post-war economic difficulties of the United Kingdom and shifting naval priorities.
Development
The Design Z proposals for light cruisers were evolutions of the Design Y ( ) that were planned during the final years of the Second World War. It was intended to take advantage of improved hull subdivision, maximise commonality with the United States Navy and more advanced AA/DP automatic 3-inch and 6-inch twin gun designs of 1945 than the more incremental guns and turrets and design for the Neptunes. Like the 1944 N2, the Minotaur, Design Z was borne from increased crew size and the serious habitability problems with the modern but cramped Fiji (Crown Colony)-class cruiser the derived 1943 Minotaur-class and the Dido-class cruiser (and improved Dido) anti-aircraft classes post war, This demanded either much smaller gun turrets and smaller higher performance guns as in N2 or much larger cruiser designs - Neptune or Minotaur and its 1947 Z derivative. The Director Gunnery and Anti-Air Division (DGD) further proposed that future cruisers should be armed with dual-purpose and guns as on the American then under construction. In 1946, following orders from the Deputy First Sea Lord to rework existing cruiser designs for improved habitability, the Director of Naval Construction (DNC) developed a series of designs that would mount the new twin 6-inch Mk 26 mounts; these designs were designated as different versions of Design Z.
In a June 1946 meeting that compared the Neptune design with the various Design Z versions, the First Sea Lord deemed version D with five twin 6-inch Mk 26 mounts and eight twin 3-inch mounts to be acceptable; the design had three superfiring Mk 26 mounts forward and two aft. This design was given the name Minotaur (the previous HMS Minotaur, lead ship of the 1943 9,000 ton class, had been transferred before completion to Canada and renamed HMCS Ontario and the class were named after HMS Swiftsure instead), to distinguish it from the Neptune designs and replaced the latter in the building programme. The Minotaur design would displace standard and deep load.
In 1947, the DNC compared the Minotaur design with USS Worcester; the comparison file also included several Design Z alternatives and refinements to Minotaur. Design Z4C combined engine and boiler rooms, while designs ZA and ZB were two smaller alternatives with the same general characteristics of armament, protection, and speed, but with reduced space. Design ZA also had the front two turrets mounted at the same level and reduced the overall length, which then required an increase in propulsive power from to to make the required .