World_War_II HMS_Dorsetshire_(40)

1 world war ii

1.1 bismarck
1.2 deployment south africa , indian ocean
1.3 loss

world war ii

at start of world war ii in september 1939, dorsetshire still on china station. in october, dorsetshire—with other royal navy ships—was sent south american waters in pursuit of german heavy cruiser admiral graf spee, attacking british merchant traffic in area. dorsetshire assigned sister ship cornwall , aircraft carrier eagle. dorsetshire had arrived in simonstown, south africa, colombo on 9 december, orders proceed tristan da cunha , port stanley in falkland islands relieve exeter. after departing simonstown received order join hunt admiral graf spee. left south africa on 13 december in company cruiser shropshire , in transit on 17 december when germans scuttled admiral graf spee following battle of river plate.

exeter had been badly damaged in battle admiral graf spee, , dorsetshire escorted britain in january 1940, before returning south american waters search german supply ships. on 11 february, reconnaissance aircraft spotted german supply freighter wakama twelve miles off coast of brazil, promptly scuttled crew. dorsetshire arrived on scene shortly thereafter, picked ten officers , thirty-five crewmen , sank wakama prevent being navigational hazard. following month, president of panama, augusto samuel boyd, sent formal complaint british government protesting against dorsetshire s violation of pan-american security zone in wakama incident.

dorsetshire (left distance) , hermes (center) underway in june 1940

in may, dorsetshire underwent short refit in simonstown, before returning britain more thorough overhaul. on 23 june, set out freetown watch french battleship richelieu, left dakar casablanca 2 days later. while en route, dorsetshire rendezvoused aircraft carrier hermes off dakar. richelieu ordered return dakar admiral françois darlan later day , arrived on 27 june. dorsetshire continued monitor french navy off dakar , on 3 july, french submarines le héros , le glorieux attempted intercept her. dorsetshire able evade attacks through high-speed manoeuvres. on 5 july, hermes , australian cruiser hmas australia joined there. on 7 july, squadron ordered issue ultimatum french fleet, either surrender , interned under british control or scuttle ships; french refused, fast sloop sent in drop depth charges under stern of richelieu disable screws.

on 4 september, dry-docked @ durban , on 20th arrived in simonstown. sailed sierra leone next day. operating in indian ocean, on 18 november bombarded zante in italian somaliland. on 18 december departed join search heavy cruiser admiral scheer, had sunk british refrigerator ship duquesa in south atlantic. british unsuccessful in search , admiral scheer remained @ large.

bismarck

survivors bismarck pulled aboard dorsetshire on 27 may 1941.

in late may 1941, dorsetshire 1 of ships deployed hunt german battleship bismarck in north atlantic. dorsetshire had been escorting convoy sierra leone on 26 may, when received order leave convoy , join search bismarck; 360 nautical miles (670 km; 410 mi) south of bismarck s location. dorsetshire steamed @ top speed, though heavy seas later in night forced reduce 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) , later 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). 08:33, dorsetshire encountered destroyer cossack, had been engaging bismarck throughout night. german battleship s gun flashes seen, 6 miles away, 08:50.

shortly thereafter, dorsetshire took part in bismarck s last battle; after battleships hms rodney , king george v neutralised bismarck s main battery in engagement, dorsetshire , other warships—including sister norfolk—closed in join attack. dorsetshire opened fire @ range of 20,000 yards (18,000 m) poor visibility forced check fire lengthy periods. in course of engagement, fired 254 shells main battery. in final moments of battle, ordered move closer , torpedo bismarck , fired 3 torpedoes, 2 of hit crippled battleship. germans had time detonated scuttling charges, damage inflicted british, caused bismarck rapidly sink @ 10:40.

admiral john tovey, british commander, ordered dorsetshire , destroyer maori pick survivors. reported u-boat sighting forced 2 ships break off rescue effort, after picking 110 men: 85 aboard dorsetshire , 25 aboard maori. rodney, king george v , destroyers sikh, zulu , cossack had meanwhile begun steam north-west return scapa flow. after abandoning rescue effort, dorsetshire , maori caught rest of fleet shortly after 12:00. late night, fleet steamed off britain, dorsetshire detached stop in tyne. had suffered no casualties in battle bismarck.

deployment south africa , indian ocean

dorsetshire @ anchor in scapa flow in august 1941

in late august, dorsetshire participated in search heavy cruiser admiral hipper. dorsetshire, eagle , light cruiser newcastle left freetown on 29 august, though unable locate german raider. on 4 november, dorsetshire , auxiliary cruiser canton, sent investigate reports of german surface raider in south atlantic neither ship found anything. in november–december, ws-24, convoy of 10 troop transport ships, steamed out halifax, canada en route basra, iraq. after arriving in cape town on 9 december, dorsetshire took on escort duties , convoy diverted bombay, arrived on 24 december.

dorsetshire deployed in november, join search german commerce raider atlantis, had been attacking allied shipping off coast of africa. admiral algernon willis formed task force 3, dorsetshire , hms devonshire patrol refuelling locations atlantis. on 1 december, dorsetshire intercepted german supply ship python, based on ultra intelligence. german ship refuelling pair of u-boats—u-a , u-68—in south atlantic. u-boats dived while python tried flee. u-a fired 5 torpedoes @ dorsetshire missed due evasive manoeuvres. dorsetshire fired salvo stop python , latter s crew abandoned ship, after detonating scuttling charges. dorsetshire left germans in boats, since u-boats still presented of threat british pick germans.

loss

dorsetshire , cornwall under heavy air attack japanese carrier dive bombers on 5 april 1942. photographed japanese aircraft.

in 1942, dorsetshire, under command of augustus agar, assigned eastern fleet in indian ocean. in march, dorsetshire assigned force a, commanded admiral james somerville, battleship warspite , carriers indomitable , formidable. somerville received reports of impending japanese attack in indian ocean—the indian ocean raid—and put fleet sea on 31 march. having not encountered hostile forces 4 april, withdrew refuel. dorsetshire , sister ship cornwall sent colombo replenish fuel.

the next day, , cornwall spotted reconnaissance aircraft heavy cruiser tone. 2 british cruisers attacked force of fifty-three aichi d3a val dive bombers 320 km (200 mi) southwest of ceylon. in span of 8 minutes, dorsetshire hit ten 250 lb (110 kg) , 550 lb (250 kg) bombs , several near misses; sank stern first @ 13:50. 1 of bombs detonated ammunition magazine , contributed rapid sinking. cornwall hit 8 times , sank bow first ten minutes later. between 2 ships, 1,122 men out of total of 1,546 picked cruiser enterprise , destroyers paladin , panther next day.

a model depicting hms dorsetshire undergoing refit in no. 14 dry dock, portsmouth, norman a. ough, held imperial war museum.