The Royal Navy Town-class cruiser HMS Newcastle (C76) at anchor in Plymouth Sound (UK).

The first two Town-class were ordered from Vickers Armstrong and John Brown & Company on 1 June 1934 as part of the 1933 Construction Programme for the Royal Navy. Vickers laid down its ship, originally to be called Minotaur, at their High Walker shipyard on the River Tyne on 4 October 1934. The ship was renamed Newcastle later that year.^[1] Newcastle was launched, in a low-key ceremony owing to the death of King George V three days earlier, on 23 January 1936 by the Duchess of Northumberland.^[2] Sea trials, which were disrupted by bad weather, began on 30 November 1936 and continued until 11 December, with a speed of 32.3 kn (37.2 mph; 59.8 km/h) being reached during the eight-hour full power trial.^[3] Newcastle was accepted by the Royal Navy and commissioned on 5 March 1937