World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseDorsetshire was commissioned in 1930, and immediately became the flagship of the Royal Navy 2nd Cruiser Squadron. In 1931, during the Invergordon Mutiny, the event was concluded before her crew joined in. Between 1933 and 1936, she served on the Africa Station. After a refit in 1936, she served on the China Station until the start of the European War.

ww2dbaseShortly the start of the European War, Dorsetshire was sent to the southern Atlantic Ocean in Dec 1939 in pursuit of German surface raider Admiral Graf Spee, although Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled while Dorsetshire was still en route. In Feb 1940, she intercepted the German supply ship Wakama, leading to Wakama's scuttling. On 25 May, she arrived at Plymouth, England, United Kingdom, remaining there until end of the month for re-supplying. In Jun and Jul, while operating operating out of the British naval base at Freetown in Western Africa, she monitored French naval activities in the region of Dakar, including escorting the French battleship Richelieu from Dakar to Casablanca. Between 4 and 20 Sep, she was dry-docked at Durban, South Africa. In Nov 1940, she bombarded Zante in Italian Somaliland in Nov. In Dec, she hunted for the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer in the South Atlantic. On 18 Jan 1941, she captured the Vichy French freighter Mendoza.

ww2dbaseIn May 1941, Dorsetshire was among the warships sent to hunt for the German battleship Bismarck. On 27 May, she was sent to torpedo the German battleship, but by the time she arrived, Bismarck's crew were already scuttling the ship. Instead of attacking, Dorsetshire's mission became that of rescue; she pulled 110 of Bismarck's crew from the waters before having to exit the area due to possible German submarine threat.

ww2dbaseIn Sep 1941, Dorsetshire escorted convoy WS-10X which brought troops from the United Kingdom to South Africa. In Nov and Dec, she escorted a convoy of 10 transports for part of the way between Halifax, Canada to Bombay, India; en route, she sank the German raider Atlantic on 21 Nov and forced the crew of German supply ship Python to scuttle the ship on 1 Dec while Python refueled German submarines.

ww2dbaseIn 1942, Dorsetshire was assigned to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. On 5 Apr, she and sister ship Cornwall were attacked by Japanese dive bombers 320 kilometers southwest of Ceylon during the great Japanese Navy raid into the Indian Ocean. After being hit by ten bombs, she sank at the stern at about 1350, followed by Cornwall about ten minutes later. 234 of Dorsetshire's crew were killed and about 500 survived. The survivors were picked up by cruiser Enterprise, destroyer Paladin, and destroy Panther on the next day.

Heavy Cruiser Dorsetshire Interactive Map

Photographs

Dorsetshire Operational Timeline

Visitor Submitted Comments

Show older comments