In September 1931, the crew of the Norfolk were part of a mutiny that later became known as the Invergordon Mutiny. The ship later served with the Home Fleet until 1932 and was then Flagship of the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the America and West Indies Station, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island in the Imperial fortresscolony of Bermuda, between 1932 and 1934. Ships based at Bermuda spent much of the year cruising around the Americas individually or in small groups, while being available to respond to states of emergency (including hurricane relief and protecting British interests during civil wars such as the Cristero War in Mexico) anywhere in the region. The entire squadron would exercise at Bermuda. Norfolk left Bermuda, and the station, on Wednesday, 21 November, 1934, for England,[1] in storm conditions. At 11:50 am the following morning at 35.39 North, 59.28 West, the Norfolk crew spotted the 25' cutter of Commander R.G. Graham, Royal Navy (Retired), bound single-handed from Newfoundland to Bermuda, where Graham had been based during the First World War on HMS Carnarvon. Graham had been delayed at Newfoundland for two months by illness or he "would never have attempted the voyage at this time of year". He did not sight Norfolk, which radioed Bermuda of the sighting but was unable to make a positive identification or to effect a rescue.[2] Graham was beyond the point of exhaustion, did not know his longitude within 100 miles and was unsure of his latitude, his chronometer watch had broken, and he was navigating by dead reckoning while bailing water for days as his vessel was pounded and his dinghy washed away. He "never expected for one minute to come through", a prognosis shared by other mariners.[3] By "the most amazing bit of luck" on the morning of Monday 26 November, when he was sailing under a stay-sail, he noticed the change in water colour (as he passed over the northern edge of the Bermuda Pedestal), then spied the beacon on North Rock shortly before he would have run over the northern reefline (which lies up to 14 miles from shore). The weather prevented him working around to the main shipping channel (at Bermuda's East End) through the reef, so he worked around the West End and when he was off Gibb's Hill a motor-boat came out and towed him to Ely's Harbour.[4]
From 1935 to 1939, Norfolk served with the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, before coming home to refit in 1939, being still in dockyard hands when war was declared.
Norfolk with destroyers and merchant ships in a Russian inlet whilst on northern convoy duty. Photograph taken from Scylla
Second World War
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Norfolk was part of the 18th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet, and was involved in the chase for the German small battleshipsGneisenau and Scharnhorst, along with the pocket battleshipAdmiral Scheer. She was soon receiving numerous repairs for damage that she had received, not to mention vital modifications to the ship. Her first repairs were carried out in Belfast, after damage from a near-miss by a torpedo from U-47, the submarine responsible for sinking the battleship Royal Oak at Scapa Flow.
Shortly afterward, bomb damage that she had received from a heavy air raid by Kampfgeschwader 26[citation needed] at Scapa Flow on 16 March 1940 forced her into yet another repair, this time on the Clyde.[5] After these repairs had been completed Norfolk proceeded to a shipyard on the River Tyne for a new addition to her equipment – a radar set.
In December 1940, Norfolk was ordered to the South Atlantic on trade protection duties. Operating out of Freetown as part of Force K she participated in the hunt for Admiral Scheer. In January 1941 Norfolk, under the command of Capt. Phillips, joined in a search for the German auxiliary cruiserKormoran in the South Atlantic. In February, she escorted Atlantic troop convoys, but by May she had returned to Icelandic waters. Norfolk was the second ship to sight the German battleship Bismarck, after Suffolk another County-class cruiser she was patrolling with. Norfolk and Suffolk continued to trail the German battleship before and after the Battle of the Denmark Strait; Suffolk had to break off as it was low on oil. Norfolk later joined the battleships Rodney and King George V and her sister Dorsetshire as part of the force that finally sank Bismarck in the German ship's final battle.
From September onward, she was employed as an escort for the arduous Arctic Convoys. During this period, Dorsetshire had been bombed and sunk by Japanese torpedo and dive bombers in the Pacific Theatre as part of the Eastern Fleet's attempts to dodge Japanese advances on Ceylon. Norfolk was part of the cruiser covering force of Convoy JW 55B when it engaged Scharnhorst, on 26 December 1943. She scored three hits on the German ship, and received several 11-in shell hits (all passing through the thin-skinned ship without exploding) in return, before she withdrew; Scharnhorst was later caught and sunk by the battleship Duke of York and her escorting cruisers and destroyers.
The royal family of Norway waving to the welcoming crowds from HMS Norfolk at Oslo
She sustained damage (especially to X-turret and barbette) in that confrontation, and she was subsequently repaired/refitted (losing X-turret in favour of additional AA guns) on the Tyne, which prevented her from being involved in the historic D-day landings. Norfolk was the flagship of Vice Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor off North Norway during Operation Judgement, Kilbotn, an attack by the Fleet Air Arm on a U-boat base which destroyed two ships and U-711 on 4 May 1945, in the last air-raid of the war in Europe. When the war came to a close, Norfolk left Plymouth for a much needed refit at Malta, after transporting the Norwegian Royal family back to Oslo after their five-year exile in London. This was followed by service in the East Indies as the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
Post-war
In 1949, Norfolk returned to Britain and was placed in Reserve. She was sold to BISCO for scrapping on 3 January 1950. On 14 February 1950, she proceeded to Newport, arriving on 19 February, to be broken up after 22 years of service, in which she gained the Norfolk lineage the majority of her battle honours, including her last.
^"East End News: Personal". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 23 November 1934. p. 9. On board H.M.S. Norfolk which left for England on Wednesday was Master Harold Osmond, son of Mr. and Mrs. Osmond, Head Gaol Keeper at St. George's. Harold who was a pupil at the St. George's Grammar School, is following in his father's footsteps, and joining the Royal Navy, and will for a time it is expected be at Gosport, England. A farewell party was held last week at the residence of his parents, when the boy and his friends had a fine time.
^""Monarch" Comes Into Grassy Bay Yesterday, H. M. S. Norfolk Reports Small Vessel on Thursday Morning – Believed to Be Lone Naval Officer in 24 ft. Yawl". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 24 November 1934. p. 1. Radio advices received from the H.M.S. Norfolk, enroute to England from Bermuda, stated that a small vessel, proceeding under foresail only, had been sighted in position 35.39 North, 59.28 West on Thursday morning. It is probable that the vessel is the 24-ft. yawl in which a British Naval officer, Commander R. B. Graham, left St. John's, Newfoundland, alone on November 4th for Bermuda.....Craft Unidentified. The "Norfolk" was unable to identify the vessel sighted. The full signal from the battle-cruiser read: "At 11.50 a.m. in position 35.39 North 59.28 West, passed small craft, cutter-rigged, under foresail only. Name of craft and destination unknown. Apparently all's well with her."
^"Storms Put "Chomedy" Day Behind Schedule". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 26 November 1934. 14 (Continued from Page 1). Officers of the Canadian National Steamships' S.S. Chomedy reported an extremely rough trip when the vessel docked at No. 6 Shed, Hamilton, on Saturday a day behind schedule. The "Chomedy" first ran into the heavy storms in the Bermuda area on Thursday morning. From then on she made very heavy weather. A number of horses and cattle which were on board and consigned to ports down south were violently sick, and passengers suffered almost as badly. The "Chomedy" had to lie off the eastern end of the Islands until late on Friday afternoon, and it was not until early Saturday morning that she was able to take a pilot on board. The vessel came from Halifax, and her officers reported that they had seen nothing of the small vessel reported by the H.M.S. Norfolk on Thursday. One of them said he would not give much for the chances of such a small vessel in the seas which the "Chomedy" encountered, despite the favourable winds. The "Chomedy" was unable to sail on Saturday and yesterday, owing to the high winds. It was expected she would sail early this morning, if conditions permitted, "to get another dose," as one of the officers put it.
^"Lone Voyager Did Not Expect to Survive". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 28 November 1934. Pages 1 and 2. Commander Graham's Account of Hectic 23-day Voyage "I never expected for one minute to come through," Commander R. B. Graham, R.N. (Ret.) told a "Colonist" reporter yesterday in describing the hectic, 23-day passage he made alone from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Bermuda, in a 25-ft cutter. "I got pretty well demoralised," he admitted. "I was not exhausted physically, but mentally I was completely exhausted." Commander Graham could not over-emphasise the amazing stroke of luck by which, in the uncertain light of early morning, he sighted North Rock Beacon on Monday. "Amazing Luck" "My sighting Bermuda was the most amazing bit of luck," he said. "I didn't know my longitude within 100 miles, and I was not at all sure of my latitude either. At daybreak yesterday (Monday) I estimated that I was about 20 or 30 miles from Bermuda. Then I noticed a change in the colour of the water, and a few minutes later I sighted North Rock Beacon. "It was an extraordinarily lucky chance that I sighted this tiny island then. If I had been an hour ahead of where I was, I should have sailed over the reefs in the darkness. Terrible Moment "I was sailing under a staysail and heading straight for the reef's. I had one terrible moment of scrambling to get the mainsail hoisted so that I could sail to windward. I tried to beat to windward and come in to the eastward of the island, but I could not make any progress against the heavy sea. So I followed the line of breakers and ran to the south-west of the island to get into sheltered water. When I was off Gibb's Hill a motor-boat came out. To save myself another very unpleasant night at sea I accepted a tow...."
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. ISBN0-8317-0303-2.
Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980). British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-922-7.
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. ISBN1-59114-119-2.
United Kingdom
