HMS Sheffield (C24)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Sheffield.

Sheffield underway in 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Sheffield
Namesake	Sheffield
Builder	Vickers-Armstrongs, High Walker
Yard number	5
Laid down	31 January 1935
Launched	23 July 1936
Commissioned	25 August 1937
Identification	Pennant number: C24
Nickname(s)	Shiny Sheff
Honours and awards	Norway 1940 Spartivento 1940 Atlantic 1941-43 Bismarck Action 1941 Mediterranean 1941 Malta convoys 1941 Arctic 1941-43 North Africa 1942 Barents Sea 1942 Biscay 1943 Salerno 1943 North Cape 1943
Fate	Scrapped at Faslane, 1967
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Town-class light cruiser
Displacement	9,100 tons standard 11,350 tons full load
Length	591.0 ft (180.1 m) overall 558.0 ft (170.1 m) p/p
Beam	62.25 ft (18.97 m)
Draught	17.0 ft (5.2 m)
Installed power	75,000 shp
Propulsion	Four screws Parsons geared turbines Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h)
Complement	748
Sensors and processing systems	Type 79Y radar from August 1938
Armament	12 × 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XXIII guns [triple mounts] 8 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) guns [double mounts] 4 × 3-pounder 8 x QF 2-pounder (40 mm) guns [quadruple mounts] Torpedo tubes: 6 × 21-inch (533 mm)

HMS Sheffield was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers of the Royal Navy. She was active in all major naval European theatres of the Second World War : in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Arctic Ocean. She was the only ship assisting in the sinking of both German battleships sunk at sea.

Characteristics

Vickers-Armstrongs built Sheffield at High Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne. Her keel was laid on 31 January 1935, she was launched on 23 July 1936 and she was completed on 25 August 1937.

A prototype Type 79 radar system was placed into service in August 1938 on the Sheffield. It was the first vessel in the Royal Navy to be so equipped. By end of 1942 Sheffield was equipped with a Type 273 surface search radar, a Type 281 air warning radar, Type 282 radars for the 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns, Type 283 radar for automatic barrage firing in anti-aircraft modus of the main guns, Type 284 radar for surface target direction and Type 285 radar for the heavy anti-aircraft guns.

Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the more traditional brass. This was an attempt to reduce the amount of cleaning required on the part of the crew. Her nickname, the "Shiny Sheff", stemmed from this.

War service

Even before the outbreak of war, Sheffield was as part of the 18th Cruiser Squadron, together with the Home Fleet patrolling the waters between Iceland, Scotland and Norway, in search for German merchants ships trying to reach home port before the declaration of war. From 6 Sept till 10th September the cruisers Sheffield and Aurora operated with the Home fleet consisting of the battleships Rodney and Nelson, and the battlecruiser Repulse and 10 destroyers along the Norwegian coast against German blockade runners.

In April 1940, she was engaged in the Norwegian Campaign. After a short spell carrying out anti-invasion duties in the English Channel, she joined Force H, based in Gibraltar. During that time, she operated in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic until the year's end, and took part in Operation White and the battle of Cape Spartivento. In 1941, she participated in Operation Grog, the shelling of Genoa, in operations against Vichy convoys and supporting air reinforcements to Malta.

The crew of the after director tower Sheffield, pointing to the splinter holes caused by a near miss from Bismarck

After the desastrous Battle of the Denmark Strait in which the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen sank the British battlecruiser Hood and damaged the battleship Prince of Wales, Force H left Gibraltar on 24 May with the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown, Sheffield and 6 destroyers in order to counter the German ships' breakout attempt into the Atlantic from the South. After learning through intelligence that the damaged Bismarck was heading for France, Fairey Swordfish aircraft from Ark Royal and a RAF Coastal Command Consolidated PBY Catalina were able to locate Bismarck on 26 May. Whilst Ark Royal was recovering her Swordfish aircraft and arming them for a torpedo attack, Sheffield was ordered ahead to make contact with Bismarck but the aircrew were not informed of that and told that no friendly ships were in the vicinity of Bismarck. As a result, the Swordfish, which were armed with torpedoes equipped with Magnetic pistols, accidentally attacked Sheffield. Some of the magnetic detonators failed to work properly and about half of the torpedoes exploded prematurely, whilst Sheffield was able to dodge the other torpedoes. A second attack by the Swordfish was ordered with torpedoes equipped with contact detonators. This time the aircrew were told to make contact with Sheffield before attacking. In the deteriorating weather some of the aircraft did not find Bismarck and returned to Sheffield, asking for a bearing to the enemy. After the Swordfish had rendered her unmanoeuvrable with a hit on the rudder compartment, Bismarck fired six salvoes at Sheffield. The first salvo went a mile astray but the subsequent salvoes were straddling her, causing splinter damage and killing three crewman. Sheffield retreated under a smoke screen and lost contact with the Bismarck. Still she was able to vector five destroyers under the command of Philip Vian to the Bismarck which took over the task of shadowing the enemy. Force H remained in the vicinity untill the next morning when Bismarck was finally sunk.

Ice forms on a 20-inch signal projector during an Arctic convoy to Russia

On 8 June Sheffield left Gibraltar again together with Force H in order to avoid expected air attacks from the Vichy French Air Force as reprisal for the invasion of Syria. Sheffield detached from Force H to return to Britain and on her way she located and sank one of Bismarck's tankers, Friedrich Breme on 12 June. In October 1941 Sheffield participated together with the cruiser Kenya in the search for German blockade runners, which have been located by ULTRA. Only Kenya was able to intercept and sink a German supply ship, the Kota Penang on 3 October.

In March 1942, Sheffield participated briefly in the operations around Arctic convoy PQ 12 : Sheffield sailed in order to replace the heavy cruiser Berwick which had engine trouble, in the Home Fleet, just when the Operation Sportpalast centered around the German battleship Tirpitz threatened the convoy. But Sheffield hit a mine off Iceland on 3 March 1942 and was under repair until July. In September 1942 Sheffield is stationed at Spitsbergen as part of a force for the relief and resupply of the escort for Convoy PQ 18. Arctic convoys were then suspended to free up forces for the Allied landings in North Africa (Operation Torch) in November. Sheffield joined "Force O" under the command of rear admiral Harcourt, which was part of the Eastern Task Force responsible for the landings in Algiers.

View of an Arctic convoy from Sheffield

In December 1942, the Arctic convoys were resumed. Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, insisted that these convoys were given protection against an attack by the German surface fleet stationned in Norway, by giving them cover of a cruiser force all the way to North Russia. The Home fleet usually sailed as well but remained very distant and never went too far North. For this purpose Sheffield and Jamaica formed "Force R", under the command of Rear-Admiral Robert Burnett (in Sheffield). Force R escorted the first convoy JW 51A into the Kola Bay on 24 december and left on 27 december to meet the next convoy JW 51B. The convoy was attacked by a strong German surface force. In the ensuing action (Battle of the Barents Sea), the Germans withdrew and Sheffield sank the German destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt, while also damaging the cruiser Admiral Hipper, Eckoldt mistaking Sheffield for Hipper. During this engagement, the destroyer Achates and the minesweeper Bramble were sunk by gunfire of the two German vessels.

In February 1943, Sheffield moved to operate in the Bay of Biscay and, in July and August, she supported the landings at Salerno (Operation Avalanche). Returning yet again to the Arctic, she took part in the sinking of the battleship Scharnhorst off the north coast of Norway, in late December.

In 1944, Sheffield was an escort for the Royal Navy carrier force that executed a series of air attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz, between April and August. These had limited success and responsibility was passed to the Royal Air Force.

A lengthy refit in Boston and in Britain kept Sheffield out of action until after the end of the war.

Post-war

HMS Sheffield at City of Hamilton, Bermuda for 10 June, 1948, King's Birthday ceremony.

The refit was completed in May 1946 and Sheffield arrived at her new base, the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, on the 30 August, 1946, for duties as flagship on the America and West Indies Station. Her commanding officer, Captain K. G. Harkness, D.S.C., was also the Chief Staff Officer to the Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Sir Irvine Glennie. She departed Bermuda, and the station, on 26 October, 1948, for England, replaced as flagship on the America and West Indies Station by HMS Glasgow.

Bell in Sheffield Cathedral

On 12 October, 1951, Sheffield returned to Bermuda again as flagship of the America and West Indies Station, replacing HMS Superb. From June 1952 to May 1953, her commanding officer was Capt. John Inglis, who was to become director of Naval Intelligence in July 1954. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. On 18 October, 1954, she was replaced as flagship of the America and West Indies Station by HMS Superb, leaving Bermuda the same day to decommission at Portsmouth.

Flagship of the reserve fleet in the 1960s

There were further refits in 1949/50,1954 and 1956-7 when her bridge was enclosed, a lattice foremast added, and a comprehensive anti nuclear and biological washdown installed in 1959–60. Her final light anti-aircraft outfit consisted of eight twin Bofors Mk 5 and 2 single Bofors Mk 7. In 1955, she played the part of the cruiser Ajax in the war film The Battle of the River Plate. She went into reserve in January 1959, but as the refit of HMS Swiftsure was stopped due to structural weakness and the Town cruisers considered far more comfortable and able to carry far more light AA, Sheffield was the final World War II cruiser to be refitted for possible use as a GFS monitor. She became flagship of the Reserve Fleet and served again at sea in 1960 and then as an accommodation ship until September 1964, when she was placed on the disposal list. She was widely considered as a historic and great British warship, justifying preservation and a cruiser which maintained far more the character and fit of a World War II cruiser compared with the more modified HMS Belfast. However, by 1966, examination showed Sheffield had deteriorated too much in unmaintained reserve in Fareham Creek and could not be preserved.

Her equipment was removed at Rosyth in 1967 and she was then broken up at Faslane in the same year. The stainless steel ship's bell, which was made by Hadfield's of Sheffield, was preserved and today hangs in Sheffield Cathedral along with her battle ensign.

References

• Friedman, Norman (2010). British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
• Kemp, Paul (1993). Convoy: Drama in Arctic Waters. Casell. ISBN 0304354511.
• Paterson, Lawrence (2003). Second U-boat flotilla. LEO COOPER. ISBN 0850529174.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Stephen, Martin (1988). Grove, Eric (ed.). Sea Battles in close-up: World War 2. London: Ian Allan ltd. ISBN 0-7110-1596-1.
• Robinson, George; Waller, David. "Sheffield". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 25 September 2022.

Further Reading

• Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
• McCart, Neil (2012). Town Class Cruisers. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 978-1-904-45952-1.
• Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-922-7.
• Waters, Conrad (2019). British Town Class Cruisers: Design, Development & Performance; Southampton & Belfast Classes. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-1885-3.
• Whitley, M. J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell. ISBN 1-86019-874-0.

External links

• HMS Sheffield Association Official Website at the Wayback Machine
• Sources for the study of HMS Sheffield Produced by Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives