HMS Shropshire (73)

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, 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 guns in four twin turrets, four single QF 4 inch Mk V naval guns 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 guns (seven twin mountings and four single mountings) and two QF 2-pounder Mark VI eight-barrelled pom-poms. The 3-pounder guns were deleted, while two quadruple-tube launchers for 21-inch torpedoes and several depth charge 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 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, 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 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 takes the leopard's face from the arms 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 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 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. She also participated in the campaign against Italian Somaliland during 1941, bombarding both Mogadishu and Kismayu during the advance of the South African Army 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 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 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. 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 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