HMS Dorsetshire (1929)
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HMS ''Dorsetshire'' (
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
40) was a
heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
of the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, named after the English county, now usually known as
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
. The ship was a member of the ''Norfolk'' sub-class, of which was the only other unit; the County class comprised a further eleven ships in two other sub-classes. ''Dorsetshire'' was built at the
Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...
; her keel was laid in September 1927, she was launched in January 1929, and was completed in September 1930. ''Dorsetshire'' was armed with a
main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
of eight guns, and had a top speed of . ''Dorsetshire'' served initially in the Atlantic Fleet in the early 1930s, before moving to become the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Africa in 1933, and then to the
China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...
in late 1935. She remained there until the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in September 1939, when she was transferred to the South Atlantic. There, she reinforced the search for the German heavy cruiser . In late May 1941, ''Dorsetshire'' took part in the final engagement with the battleship ''Bismarck'', which ended when ''Dorsetshire'' was ordered to close and
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
the crippled German battleship. She joined searches for the heavy cruiser in August and the
auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
in November. In March 1942, ''Dorsetshire'' was transferred to the
Eastern Fleet Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...
to support British forces in the recently opened Pacific Theatre of the war. At the end of the month, the Japanese fast carrier task force—the ''
Kido Butai The , also known as the ''Kidō Butai'' ("Mobile Force"), was a name used for a combined carrier battle group comprising most of the aircraft carriers and carrier air groups of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the first eight months of the P ...
''—launched the
Indian Ocean raid The Indian Ocean raid, also known as Operation C or Battle of Ceylon in Japanese, was a naval sortie carried out by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 31 March to 10 April 1942. Japanese aircraft carriers under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo ...
. On 5 April, Japanese aircraft spotted ''Dorsetshire'' and her sister while en route to
Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
; a force of
dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
s then attacked the two ships and sank them. More than 1,100 men were rescued the next day, out of a combined crew of over 1,500.


Description

''Dorsetshire'' was at maximum
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, an ...
, and had a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a draught of . She displaced at standard displacement, in compliance with the tonnage restriction of the
Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
, and up to at full combat load. ''Dorsetshire'' was propelled by four
Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s that drove four
screw propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s. Steam was provided by eight oil-fired 3-drum
water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...
s. The turbines were rated at and produced a top speed of . The ship had a capacity of of fuel oil as built, which provided a cruising radius of at a speed of . She had a crew of 710 officers and enlisted men.Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 28 ''Dorsetshire'' was armed with a main battery of eight BL Mk VIII 50-cal. guns in four twin turrets, in two superfiring pairs forward and aft. As built, the cruiser had a secondary battery that included four
dual-purpose gun A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...
s (DP) in single mounts. She also carried four QF 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns, also in single mounts. Her armament was rounded out by eight
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s mounted in two quadruple launchers. In 1931, ''Dorsetshire'' began to carry a
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
; a
catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored p ...
was installed the following year to allow her to launch the aircraft while underway. In 1937, her secondary battery was overhauled. Eight QF 4-inch Mk XVI DP guns in twin turrets replaced the single mounts, and the single 2-pounders were replaced with eight twin-mounts. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, her anti-aircraft battery was strengthened by the addition of nine guns.


Service history


Pre-war

''Dorsetshire'' was laid down at the
Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...
on 21 September 1927 and was launched on 21 January 1929. After completing
fitting-out Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...
work on 30 September 1930 she was commissioned into the Royal Navy. Upon commissioning, ''Dorsetshire'' became the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. In 1931, she was part of the Atlantic Fleet during the
Invergordon Mutiny The Invergordon Mutiny was an industrial action by around 1,000 sailors in the British Atlantic Fleet that took place on 15–16 September 1931. For two days, ships of the Royal Navy at Invergordon were in open mutiny, in one of the few mili ...
. During the incident, some of her men initially refused to assemble for duty but after an hour and a half, the ship's officers had restored order and no further unrest troubled ''Dorsetshire'' during the mutiny. From 1933–1935, she served as the flagship for the Commander-in-Chief, Africa; she was replaced by . By September 1935, ''Dorsetshire'' was assigned to the China Station. From 1–4 February 1937, ''Dorsetshire'', the
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
and the cruiser participated in an exercise to test the defences of Singapore against a hypothetical Japanese attack.


Second World War

At the start of the Second World War in September 1939, ''Dorsetshire'' was still on the China Station.Konstam, p. 31 In October, ''Dorsetshire''—with other Royal Navy ships—was sent to South American waters in pursuit of the German heavy cruiser , which was attacking British merchant traffic in the area. ''Dorsetshire'' was assigned with her
sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
and the aircraft carrier . ''Dorsetshire'' had just arrived in Simonstown, South Africa, from Colombo on 9 December, with orders to proceed to
Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...
and then to
Port Stanley Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a populat ...
in the
Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
to relieve . After departing Simonstown, she received the order to join the hunt for ''Admiral Graf Spee''.Grove, p. 33 She left South Africa on 13 December in company with the cruiser and was in transit on 17 December when the Germans scuttled ''Admiral Graf Spee'' following the
Battle of the River Plate The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser , commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, commande ...
. ''Exeter'' had been badly damaged in the battle with ''Admiral Graf Spee'', and ''Dorsetshire'' escorted her back to Britain in January 1940, before returning to South American waters to search for German supply ships. On 11 February, her reconnaissance aircraft spotted the German supply freighter ''Wakama'' off the coast of Brazil, which was promptly scuttled by her crew. ''Dorsetshire'' arrived on the scene shortly thereafter, picked up ten officers and thirty-five crewmen and sank ''Wakama'' to prevent her from being a navigational hazard. The following month, the President of Panama,
Augusto Samuel Boyd Augusto Samuel Boyd Briceño (1 August 1879 in Panama City – 17 June 1957 www.encaribe.org) was a politician from Panama. Background He was elected as the first presidential designate by the National Assembly for the terms 1936–1 ...
, sent a formal complaint to the British government protesting against ''Dorsetshire''s violation of the
Pan-American Security Zone During the early years of World War II before the United States became a formal belligerent, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a region of the Atlantic, adjacent to the Americas as the Pan-American Security Zone. Within this zone, United Sta ...
in the ''Wakama'' incident. In May, ''Dorsetshire'' underwent a short refit in Simonstown, before returning to Britain for a more thorough overhaul. On 23 June, she set out from Freetown to watch the French
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
, which left
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
for
Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
two days later. While ''en route'', ''Dorsetshire'' rendezvoused with the aircraft carrier ''Hermes'' off Dakar. ''Richelieu'' was ordered to return to Dakar by Admiral
François Darlan Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan (7 August 1881 – 24 December 1942) was a French admiral and political figure. Born in Nérac, Darlan graduated from the ''École navale'' in 1902 and quickly advanced through the ranks following his service d ...
later that day and she arrived on 27 June. ''Dorsetshire'' continued to monitor the French Navy off Dakar and on 3 July, the French
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s and attempted to intercept her. ''Dorsetshire'' was able to evade their attacks through high-speed manoeuvres. On 5 July, ''Hermes'' and the Australian cruiser joined her there. On 7 July, the squadron was ordered to issue an ultimatum to the French fleet, to either surrender and be interned under British control or to scuttle their ships; the French refused, so a fast
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
was sent in to drop
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 ...
s under the stern of ''Richelieu'' to disable her screws. On 4 September, she was dry-docked at
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
and on the 20th she arrived back in Simonstown. She sailed for
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
the next day. Operating in the Indian Ocean, on 18 November she bombarded Zante in
Italian Somaliland Italian Somalia ( it, Somalia Italiana; ar, الصومال الإيطالي, Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; so, Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th centur ...
. On 18 December she departed to join the search for the heavy cruiser , which had recently sunk the British refrigerator ship ''Duquesa'' in the
South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
. The British were unsuccessful in their search and ''Admiral Scheer'' remained at large.


''Bismarck''

In late May 1941, ''Dorsetshire'' was one of the ships deployed to hunt the German battleship in the North Atlantic. ''Dorsetshire'' had been escorting convoy SL74 from Sierra Leone to the UK on 26 May, when she received the order to leave the convoy and join the search for ''Bismarck''; she was some south of ''Bismarck''s location. ''Dorsetshire'' steamed at top speed, though heavy seas later in the night forced her to reduce to and later to . By 08:33, ''Dorsetshire'' encountered the destroyer , which had been engaging ''Bismarck'' throughout the night. The German battleship's gun flashes could be seen, only away, by 08:50. Shortly thereafter, ''Dorsetshire'' took part in ''Bismarck''s last battle; after the battleships and neutralised ''Bismarck''s main battery early in the engagement, ''Dorsetshire'' and other warships—including her sister —closed in to join the attack. ''Dorsetshire'' opened fire at a range of , but poor visibility forced her to check her fire for lengthy periods. In the course of the engagement, she fired 254 shells from her main battery. In the final moments of the battle, she was ordered to move closer and torpedo ''Bismarck'' and fired three torpedoes, two of which hit the crippled battleship. The Germans had by this time detonated scuttling charges, which with the damage inflicted by the British, caused ''Bismarck'' to rapidly sink at 10:40. Admiral
John Tovey Admiral of the Fleet John Cronyn Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, (7 March 1885 – 12 January 1971), sometimes known as Jack Tovey, was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he commanded the destroyer at the Battle of Jutland and then co ...
, the British commander, ordered ''Dorsetshire'' and the destroyer to pick up survivors. A reported U-boat sighting forced the two ships to break off the rescue effort. Historians
Holger Herwig Dr. Holger H. Herwig (born 1941) is a German-born Canadian historian and professor. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including the award-winning, ''The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918'' and ''The Origins of World ...
and
David Bercuson David Jay Bercuson (born 1945) is a Canadian labour, military, and political historian. Career Born on 31 August 1945 in Montreal, Quebec, he attended Sir George Williams University, graduated there in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in hi ...
state that only 110 men were rescued: 85 aboard ''Dorsetshire'' and 25 aboard ''Maori''. Historian
Angus Konstam Angus Konstam (born 2 January 1960) is a Scottish writer of popular history. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland and raised on the Orkney Islands, he has written more than a hundred books on maritime history, naval history, historical atlases, with a ...
, however, writes that his research indicated a total of 116 saved, 86 on Dorsetshire (one of whom died), 25 on Maori, 3 rescued by and a further 2 picked up by the German weather ship . ''Rodney'', ''King George V'' and the destroyers , and ''Cossack'' had meanwhile begun to steam north-west to return to Scapa Flow. After abandoning the rescue effort, ''Dorsetshire'' and ''Maori'' caught up with the rest of the fleet shortly after 12:00. Late that night, as the fleet steamed off Britain, ''Dorsetshire'' was detached to stop in the Tyne. She had suffered no casualties in the battle with ''Bismarck''.


Deployment to South Africa and the Indian Ocean

In late August, ''Dorsetshire'' participated in the search for the heavy cruiser . ''Dorsetshire'', ''Eagle'' and the light cruiser left Freetown on 29 August, though they were unable to locate the German raider. On 4 November, ''Dorsetshire'' and the auxiliary cruiser , were sent to investigate reports of a German surface raider in the South Atlantic but neither ship found anything. In November–December, WS-24, a convoy of 10 troop transport ships, steamed out from
Halifax, Canada Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...
en route to
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
, Iraq. After arriving in Cape Town on 9 December, ''Dorsetshire'' took over the escort duties and the convoy was diverted to Bombay, where it arrived on 24 December. ''Dorsetshire'' was deployed in November, to join the search for the German commerce raider , that had been attacking Allied shipping off the coast of Africa. Admiral
Algernon Willis Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Usborne Willis (17 May 1889 – 12 April 1976) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War and saw action at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. He also served in the Second World War as Commande ...
formed Task Force 3, with ''Dorsetshire'' and to patrol likely refuelling locations for ''Atlantis''. On 1 December, ''Dorsetshire'' intercepted the German supply ship ''Python'', based on
Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...
intelligence. The German ship was refuelling a pair of U-boats— and —in the South Atlantic. The U-boats dived while ''Python'' tried to flee. ''UA'' fired five torpedoes at ''Dorsetshire'' but all missed her due to her evasive manoeuvres. ''Dorsetshire'' fired a salvo to stop ''Python'' and the latter's crew abandoned the ship, after detonating scuttling charges. ''Dorsetshire'' left the Germans in their boats, since the U-boats still presented too much of a threat for the British to pick up the Germans.


Loss

In 1942, ''Dorsetshire'', under the command of
Augustus Agar Commodore Augustus Willington Shelton Agar, (4 January 1890 – 30 December 1968) was a Royal Navy officer in both the First and the Second World Wars. He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of th ...
, was assigned to the
Eastern Fleet Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...
in the Indian Ocean. In March, ''Dorsetshire'' was assigned to Force A, which was commanded by Admiral
James Somerville Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville, (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval supp ...
, with the battleship and the carriers and . Somerville received reports of an impending Japanese attack in the Indian Ocean—the
Indian Ocean raid The Indian Ocean raid, also known as Operation C or Battle of Ceylon in Japanese, was a naval sortie carried out by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 31 March to 10 April 1942. Japanese aircraft carriers under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo ...
—and so he put his fleet to sea on 31 March. Having not encountered any hostile forces by 4 April, he withdrew to refuel. ''Dorsetshire'' and her sister ship ''Cornwall'' were sent to Colombo to replenish their fuel. The next day, she and ''Cornwall'' were spotted by reconnaissance aircraft from the heavy cruiser . The two British cruisers were attacked by a force of 53
Aichi D3A The Aichi D3A Type 99 Carrier Bomber ( Allied reporting name "Val") is a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber. It was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was involved in almost all IJN actions, including the at ...
2 ''Val''
dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
s southwest of
Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. In the span of about eight minutes, ''Dorsetshire'' was hit by ten and bombs and several near misses; she sank stern first at about 13:50. One of the bombs detonated an ammunition magazine and contributed to her rapid sinking. ''Cornwall'' was hit eight times and sank bow first about ten minutes later. Between the two ships, 1,122 men out of a total of 1,546 were picked up by the cruiser and the destroyers and the next day.Rohwer, p. 155


Footnotes


References

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Further reading

*


External links


Official History map of the loss of Dorsetshire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsetshire (40) Kent-class cruisers County-class cruisers of the Royal Navy Ships built in Portsmouth 1929 ships World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean Maritime incidents in April 1942 Cruisers sunk by aircraft Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft Naval magazine explosions