HMS Dorsetshire (40)

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Dorsetshire
The Dorsetshire in 1938 in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge
The Dorsetshire in 1938 in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type Heavy cruiser
class Norfolk- class
Shipyard Portsmouth Dockyard , Portsmouth
Launch January 29, 1929
Whereabouts Sunk on April 5, 1942 by dive bombers of the Japanese aircraft carriers Hiryū , Akagi and Sōryū southwest of Colombo , Sri Lanka 1 ° 54 ′  N , 77 ° 54 ′  E Coordinates: 1 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  N , 77 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  E
Ship dimensions and crew
length
193 m ( Lüa )
width 20.12 m
Draft Max. 6.37 m
displacement Construction: 9,925–9,975 t
Maximum: 13,425 t
 
crew 710 men
Machine system
machine 4 Parsons steam turbines with 8 Admirality boilers
Machine
performance
80,000 hp
Top
speed
32.3 kn (60 km / h)
Armament
Armor

The HMS Dorsetshire ( Ship ID 40) was a heavy cruiser of the Norfolk-class in service with the British Royal Navy . The cruiser was the third ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the county of Dorsetshire . It entered service in September 1930 and remained in service until April 1942. Together with the battleships HMS King George V and HMS Rodney and the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk , the Dorsetshire was involved in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941 . On April 5, 1942, the Dorsetshire and her sister ship HMS Cornwall were sunk by bombs in the Indian Ocean southwest of Colombo by carrier aircraft of the Japanese Navy Air Force .

technology

Propulsion and hull

The Dorsetshire's hull length was 186 m at the waterline and 193 m above all . The ship was 20 m wide and had a draft of five meters. The standard water displacement was 10,035  ts and fully loaded at more than 13,775 ts. The waterline in the area of ​​the propulsion system was armored with 25 mm, the magazines with 25 to 102 mm. Gun turrets and barbeds each had an armor thickness of 25 mm.

The Dorsetshire was powered by four Parsons turbines with reduction gears, which were supplied from eight Admiralty steam boilers. The maximum speed was 32.5 knots , with the maximum continuous speed  being 31 knots. The total output of the turbines reached 80,000 hp. The fuel supply of 3,320 tons of heating oil made it possible to travel 12,000 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 12 knots  .

Armament

The main armament consisted of eight 8-inch Mk VIII naval guns in four Mk II twin turrets , two each on the fore and aft .

The heavy anti-aircraft defense , which also served as medium artillery , initially consisted of four Mk-V 4-inch guns in single mounts ; in 1936/37 the Mk V , which originated from the First World War , were replaced by eight modern  Mk XVI in four double mounts.

The light air defense originally consisted of four 40 mm Vickers Mk II (2-pounder) guns in single mounts and four 47 mm Vickers (3-pounder). In 1933 two quad mounts with 12.7 mm Fla-MG were added. In 1937 the 2-pounder single mounts were replaced by two eight-fold mountings of the Mark VIII type , so that there were now 16 40 mm Vickers 2-pounders on board. The 47 mm anti-aircraft weapons were removed in 1939 in favor of nine 20 mm Oerlikon cannons .

The cruiser's equipment also included eight 21-inch torpedo tubes in two sets of four and two double-decker flying boats of the Supermarine Walrus type launched from a single catapult .

history

Construction and first operations

The Norfolk class consisted of two so-called contract cruisers, which according to the Washington Fleet Treaty could displace a maximum of 10,000 ts and were not allowed to have guns larger than 8 inches. The only sister ship of the Dorsetshire was the HMS Norfolk . The superclass, the county class, with the other subclasses, however, included many other sister ships of the Dorsetshire .

The keel-laying at Portsmouth Naval Base was on September 21, 1927; the launch followed on January 29, 1929. Godmother was the Countess of Shaftesbury (Dorsetshire). After around three years of construction, the cruiser was put into service on September 30, 1930 and assigned as a flagship to the 2nd cruiser squadron of the Atlantic Fleet , to which it was subordinate until 1933. From 1933 to 1936 the Dorsetshire was stationed at Simon's Town Naval Base (South Africa) before the ship was overhauled in 1936 and assigned to the British Naval Association in the Far East, China Station , the following year . The China station was later expanded to become the Far East fleet .

Operations in the Indian Ocean and Far East 1939

After the Second Sino-Japanese War , which broke out on July 7, 1937 , the HMS Dorsetshire was used to protect British merchant shipping in this conflict region.

Captain Benjamin Charles Stanley Martin took command of the Dorsetshire on July 31, 1939 . On September 2, 1939, one of the first operations in World War II was the wiretapping of radio communications on the southern coast of Japan. A day later, a trade defense and surveillance operation began in the sea area between Japan and China. On September 16, the cruiser brought passengers from HMS Kent to Hong Kong ashore and then resumed patrol further north on September 22.

The Dorsetshire was relocated to the Indian Ocean on October 18 to protect the trade routes there. After arriving in Colombo ( Ceylon ) on October 25, the cruiser formed a combat unit with the cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Gloucester .

Just three days later, was Dorsetshire the Hunting Force I assigned. This association, consisting of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle , the cruiser Cornwall and the destroyers HMAS Waterhen and HMAS Vendetta of the Royal Australian Navy , was created specifically to pursue the German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee . The ironclad waged trade wars in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The damaged Admiral Graf Spee had to seek refuge in Montevideo ( Uruguay ) for repairs after a battle with the British cruisers HMS Exeter , HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles . Then the Dorsetshire was sent to the mouth of the Río de la Plata . Before their arrival, however, the commander of the Admiral Graf Spee , sea ​​captain Hans Langsdorff , had his ship sunk by his own crew.

In December 1939, both the Dorsetshire and Cornwall in South Africa took volunteers on board, most of whom came from the local Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Division.

Operations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, 1940

After the Dorsetshire had crossed further in the South Atlantic, she put the German supply ship Wakama coming from Rio de Janeiro before Cabo Frio on February 12, 1940 , which then sank itself. On March 2, 1940, the ship left the Falkland Islands with wounded from the cruiser Exeter on board, who were to be brought to South Africa via Tristan da Cunha . Nine days later, on March 11, 1940, Dorsetshire reached Cape Town . She was temporarily brought to the Selborne dry dock in Simon's Town for overhaul before heading back to the UK.

Of Freetown from the put Dorsetshire off to the French Vichy- battleship Richelieu at his escape on 25 June 1940 by Dakar to Casablanca to pursue. It was feared that the ship could fall into the hands of the German Navy . The Dorsetshire was one of several British units sent by the Royal Navy to track down the battleship. The crew of the Dorsetshire succeeded in sighting the Richelieu on the same day, whereupon the cruiser shaded the battleship. On June 26, 1940, the Richelieu was ordered back to Dakar by the Vichy-French High Command. The Dorsetshire then remained on observation position several weeks before Dakar, as French authorities refused to enter the port.

On September 4, the cruiser moored again in the South African port of Durban , where it stayed until its departure for Simon's Town on September 20. After a one-day stopover in Simon's Town, he cruised off the coast of Sierra Leone until November 1940 to monitor the sea route there.

In November 1940 the Dorsetshire was relocated to the Indian Ocean to bombard the port and salt loading facilities of Dante in the north of Italian Somaliland . About 200 artillery shells were fired at the port. Then the Dorsetshire was relocated to Cape Town again until, at the beginning of the new year, she received orders to look for the German armored ship Admiral Scheer , which was waging a trade war in the South Atlantic. In the course of this operation, the cruiser brought up the French freighter Mendoza on January 19, 1941 and escorted him to Takoradi ( Gold Coast ).

Search and sinking of the Bismarck

Dorsetshire with cropping camouflage in Scapa Flow harbor , August 1941

In May 1941, the Dorsetshire accompanied the Allied convoy SL 74 in the North Atlantic as an escort. During the crossing, the ship was withdrawn from the convoy and was ordered to take part in the search for the German battleship Bismarck, which had recently broken out into the Atlantic . Sinking it had the highest priority for the British Royal Navy after the loss of the battle cruiser HMS Hood in the battle on Denmark Strait on May 24, 1941. Almost the entire Home Fleet has now been mobilized to hunt the Bismarck . The endangerment of the convoy by the detachment of the Dorsetshire was accepted.

Rescue of survivors of the Bismarck , taken from the deck of the Dorsetshire

The cruiser joined a British naval association, consisting of the two battleships King George V and HMS Rodney and the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk , under Admiral John Tovey . On the morning of May 27, 1941, the combat group sighted Bismarck, who had meanwhile been unable to maneuver due to a torpedo hit in the steering gear . After the British battleships shot the Bismarck to the wreck, they had to be withdrawn due to an acute lack of fuel. The Dorsetshire remaining on site entrusted Admiral Tovey with the final torpedoing of the battleship. First the cruiser fired two torpedoes on the starboard side of the Bismarck , the detonation of which had no effect. After a change of position, a torpedo was now shot down on the port side of the battleship. The Bismarck then began to heel to port and capsize. To date it has not been conclusively established whether the Dorsetshire torpedo hit was the decisive factor in the sinking or whether the sinking was caused by self-sinking.

After the Bismarck sank quickly at around 10:35 a.m., the Dorsethire took part in the rescue of the German survivors. The crew of the cruiser only succeeded in rescuing 85 men from a total of 115 survivors, as they had to abort the rescue due to an erroneous warning about German submarines . In fact, on the morning of May 27, 1941, there was no submarine near the place of sinking. A total of 2106 German sailors died when the battleship was sunk.

Further operations in 1941

On August 8, 1941, Captain Augustus Willington Shelton Agar took command of the ship. Agar was awarded the Victoria Cross , the highest distinction among British and Commonwealth troops.

After the Dorsetshire left Freetown in September, the cruiser provided escort to the British troop convoy WS-10X on its way to the Middle East. He then returned to South Africa, where he awaited the WS-12X convoy from Halifax . On December 9, 1941, the convoy reached Cape Town and left on the same day together with the escorting cruiser with destination Singapore .

Shortly before the end of the year, the Dorsetshire surprised the German submarine supply ship Python west of St. Helena when it was supplying the German submarines UA and U 68 . They dived immediately and shot five torpedoes at the cruiser, but without getting a hit. The Python was abandoned by its crew and sunk by the Dorsetshire , with the entire crew being rescued by the German submarine U 68 . The Dorsetshire had previously left the area due to submarine danger without taking on crew members of the sunken ship.

Operations in the Indian Ocean 1942 and sinking

After the Dorsetshire had been assigned to escort duties between Durban and Bombay on January 2, she was escorted to a military convoy on January 13. After refueling in Aden on January 21, she resumed the journey on January 22 and accompanied the convoy on to Bombay. He arrived there on January 26th.

In early February the ship was moved to Singapore for convoy protection, but was ordered to Colombo on February 7th . It left this port three days later and escorted a convoy from Singapore from February 14 to 19. The cruiser remained in Colombo until February 21, when it again escorted a convoy to Singapore. Two days later, after being replaced by the cruiser HMS Glasgow , he was commanded to Trincomalee , where he arrived on February 24 and was part of a convoy to Rangoon on February 27 .

The Dorsetshire and her sister ship Cornwall in the attack by Japanese carrier aircraft on April 5, 1942, shortly before she was sunk

In March 1942, the Dorsetshire was part of the Eastern Fleet stationed in Ceylon . During the overhaul of the ship, Ceylon was bombed from the beginning of April by planes belonging to a combat group of Japanese aircraft carriers under Vice Admiral Nagumo . The goals included Trincomalee and Colombo, but also the destruction of the British East Asian fleet .

While the Dorsetshire tried together with her sister ship Cornwall to reach the remaining units of the Eastern Fleet off the Maldives, she was sighted on April 5, 1942 around noon by a reconnaissance aircraft of the Japanese cruiser Tone . After a radio warning of the approach of Japanese naval forces at 6:48 a.m., the cruiser was already running at top speed.

53 Aichi D3A dive bombers of the Japanese aircraft carriers Hiryū , Akagi and Sōryū attacked the two British ships under the command of Kapitänleutnant Egusa. The attack with 250 kg bombs began at 1:30 p.m. Within eight minutes, was Dorsetshire ten hit hard and fell at coordinates 2 °  N , 78 °  O . The Cornwall also sank after thirteen minutes and eight bomb hits. The British cruiser HMS Enterprise and the destroyers HMS Paladin and HMS Panther later rescued 1122 people and brought them to the Maldives. Among those rescued was the last commanding officer of the Dorsetshire , Captain Agar.

Overall, the operation was only a partial Japanese success, as not the entire British Eastern Fleet could be destroyed. The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes , the HMS Dorsetshire and the HMS Cornwall , the destroyers HMS Tenedos and HMAS Vampire as well as some auxiliary warships and merchant ships, whose tonnage totaled 112,312 GRT, were sunk.

reception

The Dorsetshire is depicted on a £ 25 silver coin belonging to the Legendary Fighting Ships series issued by the Royal Mint .

literature

Web links

Commons : HMS Dorsetshire (40)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Robert Gardiner, Roger Chesnau: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946. P. 28.
  2. HT Lenton: British and Empire Warships of the Second World War. P. 51.
  3. ^ Mark VIII at Naval Weapons. Retrieved April 29, 2010 (English).
  4. ^ Whitley, p. 104
  5. a b c d Gudmundur Helgasson: HMS Dorsetshire at u-boat.net. Retrieved August 3, 2010 .
  6. a b c d Gordon Smith: Chronicle of HMS Dorsetshire at Naval History. Retrieved April 14, 2010 .
  7. ^ Jürgen Rohwer and Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronology of the Naval War in December 1939 in the Württemberg State Library. Retrieved October 10, 2010 .
  8. ^ Jürgen Rohwer and Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronology of the naval war in June 1940 in the Württemberg State Library. Retrieved October 19, 2010 .
  9. ^ A b David Brown, Geoffrey Till: The Road to Oran. Anglo-French Naval Relations, September 1939-July 1940. pp. 119-130.
  10. Ron Dick, Ramsay Potts, Dan Patterson: World War II: World War Two (Aviation Century). P. 194.
  11. a b Jürgen Rohwer and Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronology of the Naval War in May 1941 in the Württemberg State Library. Retrieved October 19, 2010 .
  12. Horst Boog, Werner Rahn, Reinhard Stumpf, Bernd Wegner: The German Empire and the Second World War. 10 vol., Vol. 6, The global war: The expansion to the world war and the change of initiative 1941–1943. P. 381.
  13. ^ Paul S. Dull: A battle history of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945 . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2007, ISBN 978-1-59114-219-5 , pp. 108 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  14. ^ Jürgen Rohwer and Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronology of the Naval War in April 1942 in the Württemberg State Library. Retrieved October 19, 2010 .
  15. Entry ( Memento of the original from October 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Royal Mint website (accessed November 2, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.royalmint.com
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 11, 2011 .