HMS Dorsetshire (40)

HMS Dorsetshire in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1938.
History
United Kingdom
Name	Dorsetshire
Namesake	Dorset
Builder	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down	21 September 1927
Launched	29 January 1929
Commissioned	30 September 1930
Motto	"Pro Patria Et Comitatu" (For Country and County)
Fate	Sunk by Japanese air attack, 5 April 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	County-class heavy cruiser
Displacement	Standard: 10,035 long tons (10,196 t) Full load: 13,420 long tons (13,640 t)
Length	632 ft 9 in (192.86 m)
Beam	66 ft (20 m)
Draught	18 ft (5.5 m)
Installed power	8 × boilers 80,000 shp (59,660 kW)
Propulsion	4 × Parsons geared or Brown Curtis steam turbines 4 × screw propellers
Speed	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Range	12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	653
Armament	8 × 8 in (203 mm) Mk VIII guns 8 × QF 4 in (102 mm) dual purpose guns 24 × 2-pounder pom-pom anti-aircraft guns 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Side: 1 to 4 in (25 to 102 mm) Turrets: 1 in
Aircraft carried	2 × Supermarine Walrus floatplanes (operated by 700 Naval Air Squadron)
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult

HMS Dorsetshire (pennant number 40) was a County-class heavy cruiser of the British Royal Navy, named after the English county, now usually known as Dorset. The ship was a member of the Norfolk sub-class, of which Norfolk 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; 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 of eight 8 in (203 mm) guns, and had a top speed of 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph).

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 in late 1935. She remained there until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, when she was transferred to the South Atlantic. There, she reinforced the search for the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. 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 the crippled German battleship. She joined searches for the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper in August and the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis in November.

In March 1942, Dorsetshire was transferred to the Eastern Fleet 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—launched the Indian Ocean raid. On 5 April, Japanese aircraft spotted Dorsetshire and her sister Cornwall while en route to Colombo; a force of dive bombers 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.