Under Two Flags - County Class Heavy Cruiser HMS/HMAS Shropshire

摘要

At the Battle of Savo Island in the Pacific on 9th August 1942, the County-class cruiser HMAS Canberra was badly damaged whilst fighting the Japanese alongside a number of US Navy Warships and had to be sunk by torpedoes from two US Destroyers to prevent her possible capture by the enemy. This was a devastating blow to the Royal Australian Navy in that it meant the loss of 50% of their heavy cruiser strength, the other cruiser being Canberra's sister ship HMAS Australia. On hearing this news Winston Churchill offered a Royal Navy County-class cruiser to be gifted to the RAN to replace Canberra and this offer was gratefully accepted with the ship to be renamed Canberra. The chosen RN cruiser was HMS Shropshire, however to compensate for the Australian loss, President Roosevelt directed that one of the Baltimore-class cruisers building for the US Navy be renamed Canberra so Shropshire retained her original name on transfer to the RAN.This is her story.