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HMS Dorsetshire (40)

 
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HMS Dorsetshire (40)
 
 
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HMS Dorsetshire (pennant number
Pennant number

In the modern Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant numbers . The name pennant number arises from the fact that ships were originally allocated a pennant identifying a flotilla or particular type of vessel: for example, in the Royal Navy, the burgee for torpedo boats, :Image:I...
 40) was a heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre ....
 of the County class
County class cruiser

The County class was a ship class of heavy cruisers built for the United Kingdom Royal Navy in the years between World War I and World War II World Wars....
 of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
, named after the English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 county
County

A county is a land area of Local government government within a larger state. A county may have city and towns within its area....
 (now usually known as Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
). She was launched on 29 January 1929 at Portsmouth
Portsmouth

Portsmouth city status in the United Kingdom located in the Counties of England of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the UK's only island city and is located on Portsea Island....
 Dockyard, UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
. In World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, she was commanded by Captain Augustus Agar V.C.

commissioning she became the flagship
Flagship

A flagship is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, a designation given on account of being either the largest, fastest, newest, most heavily armed or, for publicity purposes, the most well known....
 of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. In 1931 she was part of the Atlantic Fleet
Atlantic Fleet

Atlantic Fleet may refer to:* Atlantic Fleet * Canadian Atlantic Fleet* United States Fleet Forces Command ...
 during the Invergordon Mutiny
Invergordon Mutiny

The Invergordon Mutiny was an industrial action by around a thousand sailors in the Atlantic Fleet , that took place on 15 September-16 September 1931....
 but the incident was brought to a close before her crew joined the mutiny
Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly-situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an existing authority....
.






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HMS Dorsetshire (pennant number
Pennant number

In the modern Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant numbers . The name pennant number arises from the fact that ships were originally allocated a pennant identifying a flotilla or particular type of vessel: for example, in the Royal Navy, the burgee for torpedo boats, :Image:I...
 40) was a heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre ....
 of the County class
County class cruiser

The County class was a ship class of heavy cruisers built for the United Kingdom Royal Navy in the years between World War I and World War II World Wars....
 of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
, named after the English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 county
County

A county is a land area of Local government government within a larger state. A county may have city and towns within its area....
 (now usually known as Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
). She was launched on 29 January 1929 at Portsmouth
Portsmouth

Portsmouth city status in the United Kingdom located in the Counties of England of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the UK's only island city and is located on Portsea Island....
 Dockyard, UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
. In World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, she was commanded by Captain Augustus Agar V.C.

Career


Interwar

Upon commissioning she became the flagship
Flagship

A flagship is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, a designation given on account of being either the largest, fastest, newest, most heavily armed or, for publicity purposes, the most well known....
 of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. In 1931 she was part of the Atlantic Fleet
Atlantic Fleet

Atlantic Fleet may refer to:* Atlantic Fleet * Canadian Atlantic Fleet* United States Fleet Forces Command ...
 during the Invergordon Mutiny
Invergordon Mutiny

The Invergordon Mutiny was an industrial action by around a thousand sailors in the Atlantic Fleet , that took place on 15 September-16 September 1931....
 but the incident was brought to a close before her crew joined the mutiny
Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly-situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an existing authority....
. From 1933 until 1936 she served on the Africa Station. In 1936 she received a refit, and the following year she joined the China Station
China Station

The China Station was a historical formation of the United Kingdom Royal Navy....
.

The Atlantic and South Africa

In December 1939, a couple months after war was declared, Dorsetshire, with other Royal Navy heavy units, was sent to Uruguay in pursuit of German
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 surface raider pocket battleship (heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre ....
) Admiral Graf Spee
German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee

The Admiral Graf Spee was one of the most famous Kriegsmarine warships of World War II, along with the German battleship Bismarck. Her size was limited to that of a cruiser by the Treaty of Versailles, but she was as heavily armed as a small battleship due to innovative weight-saving techniques employed in her construction....
, in the aftermath of the Battle of the River Plate
Battle of the River Plate

The Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in World War II. The Nazi Germany pocket battleship German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September....
. Dorsetshire left Simonstown, South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
 on 13 December, and was still in transit on 17 December when the Germans scuttled the Graf Spee.

She operated in the Atlantic for a short while, and in February 1940, she intercepted the German supply freighter Wakama, which was promptly scuttled by her crew. On 2 March 1940 Devonshire left the Falklands with wounded sailors from the cruiser HMS Exeter
HMS Exeter (68)

HMS Exeter was a York class cruiser heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the HMNB Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon....
, enroute to Cape Town
Cape Town

Cape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the City of Cape Town. It is the provincial Capital of the Western Cape, as well as the legislature capital of South Africa, where the Parliament of South Africa and many government offices are located....
 via Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2,816 km from South Africa and 3,360 km from South America....
, where the islanders were supplied with stores. On the 11th, the wounded and the prisoners from the German freighter were put ashore.

Devonshire then returned to the UK, arriving at Plymouth
Plymouth

Plymouth is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers River Plym to the east and River Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound....
 on 25 May. She spent less than a week here, departing again for Freetown
Freetown

Freetown is the Capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of Sierra Leone and with a population of 1,070,200 ....
 at the end of the month. In June, she set out from Freetown to follow the French battleship Richelieu
French battleship Richelieu (1939)

The Richelieu was a battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of Richelieu class battleship. She was named after the seventeenth century statesman Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, and served during World War II....
 which had left Dakar
Dakar

Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cap-Vert, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast. It is Senegal's largest city. Its position, on the western edge of Africa , is an advantageous departure point for trans-Atlantic and European trade; this fact aided its growth into a major regional seaport....
 for Casablanca
Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Greater Casablanca region.With a population of 3.1 million ??????)...
. The Richelieu was eventually ordered to return to Dakar by her admiral, François Darlan
François Darlan

Fran?ois Darlan was a France naval officer. Darlan rose through the French Navy, ultimately becoming Admiral of the Fleet, and was a major figure of the Vichy France regime during World War II....
. Dorsetshire continued to monitor French Naval Forces off Dakar throughout July. On 4 September, she was dry-docked at Durban
Durban

Durban is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality . It is the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal and is famous as the busiest port in Africa....
, and on the 20th she arrived back in Simonstown. She sailed for Sierra Leone the next day.

Now operating in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, in November she bombarded Zante in Italian Somaliland
Italian Somaliland

Italian Somaliland was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy from the 1880s until 1941 in the territory of the modern-day Horn of Africa nation of Somalia....
. In December she was back in dock at Simonstown, before departing later that month to search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer
German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer

Admiral Scheer was a Deutschland class cruiser heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II.The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer....
, which had recently sunk a British refrigerator ship in the South Atlantic. On 18 January 1941, she captured the Vichy French freighter Mendoza and escorted the ship to Takaradi. By March, she was once again at Simonstown.

The Bismarck and Singapore

In late May 1941, the Dorsetshire was one of the ships which engaged the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck

Hide header=|Header caption=|Ship class=|Ship displacement=41,700 tonnes standard 50,900 tonnes full load|Ship length= overall waterline...
 in the North Atlantic. On 27 May, the Dorsetshire was ordered to torpedo
Torpedo

Note: Prior to 1900, in naval usage "torpedo" could also refer to what today is called a naval mine. For that usage, see naval mine.The modern torpedo is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity t...
 the Bismarck, which had by that point been crippled by repeated aircraft and naval attacks. The Bismarck's crew however had already begun the process of scuttling the ship, which then sank rapidly. The Dorsetshire was able to recover only 110 of the Bismarck's crew from the ocean, before being forced to leave to evade a suspected U-boat
U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized#Loanwords version of the German language word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II....
.

In September, the Dorsetshire departed Freetown to cover the five-ship convoy WS-10X which arrived in South Africa from the U.K. with troops in route to the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
. During November/December, a convoy of 10 troop transport ships steamed out from Halifax, Canada
City of Halifax

The City of Halifax was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and county seat of Halifax County, Nova Scotia, and was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996....
 en-route to Bombay, India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. On 9 December WS-12X arrived in Cape Town, and departed with the Dorsetshire as an escort. This convoy was labelled “12X” instead of “13” in deference to nautical superstition, but to no avail. The entire 18th Division landed at Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
, but it barely had time to get into action before the capitulation of Singapore
Battle of Singapore

The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II of World War II when the Empire of Japan invasion the Allies of World War II stronghold of Singapore....
. The units involved were the 53rd, 54th, and 55th brigades.

Eastern Fleet and sinking

On 21 November 1941, the Dorsetshire was involved in sinking the German commerce raider Atlantis
German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis

The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis , known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 16 and to the Royal Navy as Raider-C, was a converted Germany Auxiliary cruiserShe was commanded by Bernhard Rogge, who received the Iron Cross....
 (the "Raider C") that had preyed on Allied shipping. The Dorsetshire also chanced upon the German supply ship Python on 1 December 1941, which was refueling U-boat
U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized#Loanwords version of the German language word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II....
s in the South Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
. The U-boats dove, and one of them fired some torpedoes at the Dorsetshire, but missing her. The crew of the Python scuttled their ship.

In 1942, the Dorsetshire was assigned to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
. In the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy

The origins of the Imperial Japanese Navy trace back to early interactions with nations on the Asia, beginning in the early history of Japan#Feudal Japan and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of cultural diffusion with European power during the Age of Discovery....
's Indian Ocean raid
Indian Ocean raid

The Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Kido Butai of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942 against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean....
, the Dorsetshire and her sister ship the HMS Cornwall
HMS Cornwall (56)

HMS Cornwall was a County class cruiser heavy cruiser of the Kent subclass of the Royal Navy. She was built at HMNB Devonport , with the keel being laid down on 9 October 1924....
 were attacked by Japanese Navy dive-bombers 320 km southwest of Ceylon on 5 April 1942. The Dorsetshire was hit by ten bombs and sank stern first at about 13:50 hours. The Cornwall was hit eight times and sank bow first about ten minutes later. Of the Dorsetshire's crew, 234 men were killed in the attack; more than 500 survived in the water or on rafts, being picked up by the cruiser HMS Enterprise (D52)
HMS Enterprise (D52)

HMS Enterprise was one of two Emerald class cruiser light cruisers of the Royal Navy. She was built by John Brown & Company, with the keel being laid down on 28 June 1918....
 and the destroyers HMS Paladin (G69)
HMS Paladin (G69)

HMS Paladin was a O and P class destroyer destroyer of the United Kingdom Royal Navy that saw service during World War II.Following the sinking of the heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire , on April 5 1942, Paladin took part in the rescue operations, and assisted in the recovery of approximately 1,120 men from both crew...
 and HMS Panther (G41)
HMS Panther (G41)

HMS Panther was a P class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down on 5 March 1940 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched on 28 May of the following year....
 the next day. Captain Agar was among the survivors.

See also


  • Augustus Agar for a more detailed discussion of the circumstances surrounding Dorsetshire’s last days.


External links