HMS Shropshire
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS Shropshire was a Royal Navy (RN) heavy cruiser of the London sub-class of Template:Sclass2s. 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 Template:HMAS. 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 Template:Sclass2s.<ref name=Cassells119>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 119</ref> The cruiser had a displacement of 9,830 tons at standard load, was Template:Convert long overall, Template:Convert long between perpendiculars, and had a beam of Template:Convert.<ref name=Cassells119/>
The propulsion system consisted of eight Yarrow-type boilers, which fed Parsons geared turbines.<ref name=Cassells120/> These generated 80,000 shaft horsepower, which was fed to the ship's four Template:Convert diameter propellers.<ref name=Cassells120/> The cruiser could reach speeds of up to Template:Convert, with Template:Convert as the designated economical speed.<ref name=Cassells119/> At economical speed, she could travel Template:Convert.<ref name=Cassells120/>
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.<ref name=Cassells119/> During the 1930s, two 0.5-inch machine guns were added to the point defence armament.<ref name=Cassells119/>
Shortly before transfer to the RAN in 1943, Shropshire underwent a refit.<ref name=Cassells119/> 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.<ref name=Cassells119/> The 3-pounder guns were deleted, while two quadruple-tube launchers for 21-inch torpedoes and several depth charge chutes were installed.<ref name=Cassells119/> During the same refit, the cruiser ceased operating its seaplane, and the aircraft catapult was removed.<ref name=Cassells120/>
In 1945, during a refit in Sydney, ShropshireTemplate:'s armament changed again.<ref name=Cassells120>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 120</ref> 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.<ref name=Cassells120/> By February 1946, six of the Bofors guns had been removed, with the cruiser's armament settling into its final configuration.<ref name=Cassells120/>
Construction
Construction of the cruiser was ordered on 17 March 1926.<ref name=Cassells121/> Shropshire was laid down at the shipyard of William Beardmore and Company, at Dalmuir, Scotland on 24 February 1927.<ref name=Cassells120/> She was launched by Violet Herbert, Countess of Powis, on 5 July 1928.<ref name=Cassells120/> Completed on 12 September 1929, the cruiser was commissioned into the RN on 24 September 1929.<ref name=Cassells120/>
The ship's name was chosen by First Lord of the Admiralty William Bridgeman, whose constituency was located in the county of Shropshire.<ref name=Cassells119/> Shropshire is the only ship of the RN or RAN to carry the name.<ref name=Cassells121>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 121</ref> The ship's badge takes the leopard's face from the arms of the Shropshire County Council.<ref name=Cassells125/>
Operational history
RN service
After post-commissioning workups, Shropshire was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the British Mediterranean Fleet in November 1929.<ref name=Cassells121/> During 1935 and 1936, the cruiser was involved in the British response to the Abyssinia Crisis.<ref name=Cassells121/> Shropshire was also present for the Spanish Civil War, and between 22 August and 16 September 1936, supported the evacuation of refugees from Barcelona.<ref name=Cassells121/> 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.<ref name=Cassells121/>
On 9 December 1939, Shropshire intercepted the German merchant Adolf Leonhardt, which was scuttled by her own crew.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=AL>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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<ref name=Cassells121/> between Cape Town-Durban-Mombassa and Aden.Template:Citation needed She also participated in the campaign against Italian Somaliland during 1941,<ref name=Cassells121/> 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.Template:Citation needed 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 1941Template:Citation needed 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.<ref name=Cassells121/>
The cruiser earned the RN battle honours "Atlantic 1941" and "Arctic 1941" for her wartime service.<ref name=Cassells125>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 125</ref>
Transfer to RAN
Following the loss of the Australian heavy cruiser Template:HMAS, 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.<ref name=Cassells128>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 128</ref> King George VI announced on 10 September 1943 that the ship would be renamed Canberra.<ref name=Cassells128/> However, around the same time, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt chose to commemorate the Australian warship's loss by renaming the under-construction Template:Sclass Pittsburgh as Template:USS.<ref name=Cassells129>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 129</ref>
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.<ref name=Cassells128.9>Cassells, The Capital Ships, pp. 128–9</ref> Protests in favour of retaining ShropshireTemplate:'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 ShropshireTemplate:'s history and links to the community were being discarded without thought.<ref name=Cassells128.9/> One letter proposed, that the ship be named "HMAS Canberra (the gift of HMS) Shropshire" in order to retain the old name.<ref name=Cassells129/> The Australian government decided to retain ShropshireTemplate:'s old name after learning that the US offer had come directly from President Roosevelt.<ref name=Cassells129/>
Shropshire underwent refit at Chatham from December 1942 until 20 June 1943.<ref name=Cassells121/> 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.<ref name=Cassells125/> The refit was not completed until 25 June.<ref name=Cassells121/>
RAN service
Shropshire left the United Kingdom in August, as part of the escort for a convoy to Gibraltar.<ref name=Cassells121/> After this, she continued on to Australia, and arrived in Sydney on 2 October.<ref name=Cassells121/> 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.<ref name=Cassells121/> In March 1944, Shropshire was involved in the Admiralty Islands campaign.<ref name=Cassells121/> During April, the cruiser participated in the landing at Hollandia.<ref name=Cassells121/> In May, while operating in the Wakde-Sarmi-Biak area, a bomb was accidentally dropped by a United States aircraft between Shropshire and Template:HMAS.<ref name=Cassells121/> 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.<ref name=Cassells121/>
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.<ref name=Cassells121/> Shropshire was reassigned to Task Force 77, and participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October.<ref name=Cassells121/> 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 Template:HMAS close enough for debris to hit Shropshire.<ref name=Cassells121/> Shropshire fired in anger for the last time during the Corregidor landings, then briefly returned to Australia.<ref name=Cassells121/>
Shropshire returned to the Philippines in time for the Japanese surrender of the islands, then proceeded to Japan, and was present at Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945 for the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.<ref name=Cassells121/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The cruiser's wartime service with the RAN was recognised with five battle honours: "New Guinea 1943–44", "Leyte Gulf 1944", Lingayen Gulf 1945", "Borneo 1945", and "Pacific 1945".<ref name=newhonours>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=honourslist>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Only five personnel died during the ship's RAN service, but although all five occurred during World War II, none were the result of enemy action; one drowned, and the other four were the result of accidents.<ref name=Cassells128/>
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The cruiser remained in Japanese waters until 17 November, when she sailed for Sydney.<ref name=Cassells121/> In May 1946, Shropshire transported the Australian contingent to England for the British Empire victory celebrations.<ref name=Cassells124>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 124</ref> The ship returned home in August.<ref name=Cassells124/> From January until March 1947, Shropshire was again in Japanese waters.<ref name=Cassells125/>
Decommissioning and fate
After returning to Sydney in March 1947, Shropshire was prepared for decommissioning, although she was not paid off into reserve until 10 November 1949.<ref name=Cassells125/> The ship was sold to Thos. W. Ward of Sheffield, England, acting on behalf of the British Iron & Steel Corporation, on 16 July 1954, for £82,500 sterling.<ref name=Cassells125/> On 9 October 1954, the Dutch tug Oostzee began the voyage from Sydney to Dalmuir, Scotland.<ref name=Cassells125/> Breaking commenced in Dalmuir on 20 January 1955, with the ship's hull then transported to Troon, where scrapping resumed on 19 September.<ref name=Cassells125/>
A silver bugle presented to the ship by the King's Shropshire Light Infantry was kept by the RAN after ShropshireTemplate:'s decommissioning, and was later placed on display at the Russell Offices (which houses the Department of Defence) until at least the mid-1980s.<ref>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 130</ref>