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HMS ''Shropshire'' was a Royal Navy (RN) heavy cruiser of the ''London'' sub-class of s. She is the only warship to have been named after Shropshire, England. Completed in 1929, ''Shropshire'' served with the RN until 1942, when she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) following the loss of sister ship . Commissioned as HMAS ''Shropshire'', the ship remained in RAN service until 1949, and was sold for scrap in 1954.


Design

''Shropshire'' was one of four heavy cruisers built to the ''London'' design of the s.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 119 The cruiser had a displacement of 9,830 tons at standard load, was
long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...
, long between perpendiculars, and had a beam of . The propulsion system consisted of eight Yarrow-type boilers, which fed Parsons geared turbines. These generated 80,000 shaft horsepower, which was fed to the ship's four diameter propellers. The cruiser could reach speeds of up to , with as the designated economical speed. At economical speed, she could travel .


Armament

The cruiser's initial armament consisted of eight
BL 8 inch Mk VIII naval gun The BL 8 inch gun Mark VIIIMark VIII = Mark 8. Britain used Roman numerals to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Hence this was the eighth model of BL 8-inch naval gun. was the main battery gun used on the Royal Navy's ...
s in four twin
turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...
s, four single
QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun The QF 4 inch Mk V gunMk V = Mark 5. Britain used Roman numerals to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Mark V indicates this was the fifth model of QF 4-inch gun. was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted ...
s and four single QF 2 pounder naval guns (or pom-poms) for anti-aircraft defence, four 3-pounder guns, and a number of smaller calibre guns for point defence. During the 1930s, two 0.5-inch machine guns were added to the point defence armament. Shortly before transfer to the RAN in 1943, ''Shropshire'' underwent a refit. Although the main armament was unchanged, the 4-inch guns were upgraded to twin mountings, while the anti-aircraft armament was replaced with eighteen
20 mm Oerlikon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...
guns (seven twin mountings and four single mountings) and two
QF 2-pounder Mark VI The 2-pounder gun, officially the QF 2-pounder ( QF denoting "quick firing") and universally known as the pom-pom, was a British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy.British military of the period traditionally denoted s ...
eight-barrelled pom-poms. The 3-pounder guns were deleted, while two quadruple-tube launchers for 21-inch torpedoes and several
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
chutes were installed. During the same refit, the cruiser ceased operating its seaplane, and the aircraft catapult was removed. In 1945, during a refit in Sydney, ''Shropshire''s armament changed again.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 120 The torpedo tubes and depth charge throwers were stripped from the ship, and the entire Oerlikon outfit was replaced by fifteen single
40 mm Bofors Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...
guns. By February 1946, six of the Bofors guns had been removed, with the cruiser's armament settling into its final configuration.


Construction

Construction of the cruiser was ordered on 17 March 1926. ''Shropshire'' was laid down at the shipyard of William Beardmore and Company, at Dalmuir, Scotland on 24 February 1927. She was launched by
Violet Herbert, Countess of Powis Violet Ida Eveline Herbert, Countess of Powis and ''suo jure'' 16th Baroness Darcy de Knayth (1 June 1865 – 29 April 1929) was a British peeress in her own right. Early life Violet was born on 1 June 1865 in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, En ...
, on 5 July 1928. Completed on 12 September 1929, the cruiser was commissioned into the RN on 24 September 1929. The ship's name was chosen by First Lord of the Admiralty William Bridgeman, whose
constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
was located in the county of Shropshire. ''Shropshire'' is the only ship of the RN or RAN to carry the name.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 121 The
ship's badge Naval heraldry is a form of identification used by naval vessels from the end of the 19th century onwards, after distinguishing features such as figureheads and gilding were discouraged or banned by several navies. Naval heraldry commonly takes t ...
takes the
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
's face from the
arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...
of the Shropshire County Council.


Operational history


RN service

After post-commissioning workups, ''Shropshire'' was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the
British Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
in November 1929. During 1935 and 1936, the cruiser was involved in the British response to the Abyssinia Crisis. ''Shropshire'' was also present for the Spanish Civil War, and between 22 August and 16 September 1936, supported the evacuation of refugees from Barcelona. She remained in the Mediterranean (apart from returning to the United Kingdom for refits) until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, at which point the cruiser was reassigned to the South Atlantic for
trade protection Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
patrols. On 9 December 1939, ''Shropshire'' intercepted the German merchant '' Adolf Leonhardt'', which was scuttled by her own crew. The cruiser returned to Britain for a refit in early 1940, before proceeding to the Indian Ocean, where she was employed on convoy cover duties between Cape Town- Durban- Mombassa and
Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
. She also participated in the campaign against Italian Somaliland during 1941, bombarding both Mogadishu and
Kismayu Kismayo ( so, Kismaayo, Maay: ''Kismanyy'', ar, كيسمايو, ; it, Chisimaio) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situa ...
during the advance of the
South African Army The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. ...
from Kenya to Abyssinia, and sinking the Italian vessel ''Pensilvania'' off Mogadishu on 13 February. She remained in the South Atlantic, undergoing a refit at Simon's Town between March and June 1941, then came home in October 1941 for a further major refit at
Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
between October 1941 and March 1942 before returning to the South Atlantic until the end of the year, when she was recalled to Chatham prior to transfer to the RAN. The cruiser earned the RN battle honours "Atlantic 1941" and "Arctic 1941" for her wartime service.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 125


Transfer to RAN

Following the loss of the Australian heavy cruiser , a County-class cruiser of the ''Kent'' sub-class, at the Battle of Savo Island, it was announced that ''Shropshire'' would be transferred to the RAN as a gift.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 128 King George VI announced on 10 September 1943 that the ship would be renamed ''Canberra''. However, around the same time, United States President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
chose to commemorate the Australian warship's loss by renaming the under-construction ''Pittsburgh'' as .Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 129 The duplication of ship names with the United States Navy was against RAN policy, and it was initially felt that Australia had a greater claim to the name.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', pp. 128–9 Protests in favour of retaining ''Shropshire''s original name were received from the British elements of the ship's company, who felt that renaming a ship after one that had recently been sunk was inviting bad luck, and from citizens of the ship's namesake, which had adopted the cruiser in a Warship Week earlier that year, and thought that ''Shropshire''s history and links to the community were being discarded without thought. One letter proposed, that the ship be named "HMAS ''Canberra (the gift of HMS) Shropshire''" in order to retain the old name. The Australian government decided to retain ''Shropshire''s old name after learning that the US offer had come directly from President Roosevelt. ''Shropshire'' underwent refit at Chatham from December 1942 until 20 June 1943. Sources differ on the date of commissioning: although the commissioning ceremony was performed on 20 April, Captain John Augustine Collins successfully argued to have the ship recognised administratively as a commissioned Australian warship from 17 April, in order to keep Australian personnel (arriving that day) away from the RN rum issue. The refit was not completed until 25 June.


RAN service

''Shropshire'' left the United Kingdom in August, as part of the escort for a convoy to Gibraltar. After this, she continued on to Australia, and arrived in Sydney on 2 October. At the end of the month, she joined Task Force 74 at Brisbane, and supported the amphibious landings at Arawe and Cape Gloucester during December. In March 1944, ''Shropshire'' was involved in the Admiralty Islands campaign. During April, the cruiser participated in the
landing at Hollandia Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or ...
. In May, while operating in the Wakde-Sarmi-Biak area, a bomb was accidentally dropped by a United States aircraft between ''Shropshire'' and . Although the bomb missed both ships and appeared to cause no damage, the cruiser's engines began to malfunction four days later, and ''Shropshire'' returned to Australia for repairs. The ship returned to service on 12 July, and provided naval gunfire support for operations in Aitape and Cape Sansapore during July and August,
Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...
in September, and Leyte Gulf in early October. ''Shropshire'' was reassigned to Task Force 77, and participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October. The cruiser was involved in the Battle of Luzon during January 1945, during which she was attacked by two kamikaze aircraft: one narrowly missed, while the second was shot down by close enough for debris to hit ''Shropshire''. ''Shropshire''
fired in anger {{Short pages monitor