M 761 - HMS Swiftsure

This is the Tri-ang Minic Ships model of HMS Swiftsure one of a proposed class of eight Light Cruisers, known as the Minotaur Class, which were ordered under the 1941 and 1942 Warship Construction Programmes. The design was modified after the first two ships, HMS Swifture and HMS Minotaur, were laid down in 1941 as a result of which these two ships became known as the "Group 1" ships.

The "Group 2" ships, sometimes referred to as the Superb Class, included HMS Superb of which Tri-ang Minic Ships also produced a model. The models of HMS Swiftsure and HMS Superb were identical distinguished only by the model number and name marked on the underside.

HMS Swiftsure was the only one of the Group 1 ships to commission in the Royal Navy HMS Minotaur being transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed HMCS Ontario. She saw brief service in the Far East toward the end of World War II and then spent most of her operational life as a squadron flagship in the West Indies, East Indies and Home Fleet.

A planned modernisation of HMS Swiftsure in the late 1950's was cancelled due to cost as well as the belated commissioning of the Group 2 ships of this class HMS Lion, HMS Tiger and HMS Blake.

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