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A long absence of a Norfolk in the Royal Navy was finally ended in the commissioning of a County-class heavy cruiser, which displaced 10,035 tons. She was laid down in July 1927 at Govan by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd and launched on 12th December 1928. She was commissioned on 30th April 1930.
In September 1931, Norfolk was part of a mutiny that later became known as the Invergordon Mutiny. 700 sailors from warships of the Atlantic Fleet, which had converged on Invergordon for fleet manoeuvres, launched a two-day strike. The mutiny came about due to a recommendation by the Commission on National Expenditure, that said that pay cuts upto 10% should be implemented on the Royal Navy. The anger increased when a number of newspapers published widely exaggerated and inaccurate reports on the cuts, some claiming that they would be as high as 25%.
Trouble first flared up ashore on Invergordon on the 13th September, when a number of sailors started making speeches about the announced pay cuts in the canteen. A number of patrols were landed from Warspite. Order was soon restored in a peaceful manner. Further protests began a day later, again at the canteen. The sailors even gained the confidence of making a number of speeches and protests in the open-air. This was a far more disorderly protest, though order was again restored soon afterwards.
On the 15th, much of Valiants crew refused to fall in. A small amount of the ships crew who had not joined in the protest, assisted in helping the battleship get underway, though due to the limited amount of crew available, she was only able to move at slow speed. Similar incidents also occurred on Dorsetshire, Hood and Rodney, with the latter two being hit so badly by these strikes, that they could not get underway. Further trouble occurred, with crew from Nelson refusing orders to weigh anchor.
The aftermath resulted in a number of court martials against some of the instigators of the mutiny, with many more being discharged. There was a number of Communist sympathisers among the instigators of the protests, indeed one subsequently moved to the Soviet Union. However, the majority of the mutineers chose this option only because of economical reasons, rather than political motives.
She later served with the Home Fleet until she re-commissioned for service in the East Indies Station in 1937. At the outbreak of war in 1939, Norfolk deployed with the Home Fleet, and was involved in the chase for the German pocket battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, along with the Admiral 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 a near-miss by a torpedo from the German submarine U-47, the submarine responsible for sinking the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak.
Shortly afterwards, bomb damage that she had received from a heavy air raid, forced her into yet another repair, this time on the Clyde. After these repairs had been completed, Norfolk proceeded to the Tyne Shipyard for a new addition to her equipment - a radar set.
In May 1941, Norfolk was the first ship to sight the behemoth warship Soon afterwards, Norfolk, along with Rodney and King George V, clashed with the Bismarck, helping sink the German battleship. From September onwards, she was employed as an escort for the arduous Arctic Convoys. Norfolk was present with the Home Fleet, when it engaged another noted enemy ship, the Scharnhorst, on the 26th December 1943.
She sustained damage in that confrontation, which was subsequently repaired on the Tyne, which prevented her from being involved in the historic D-day landings. When the war came to a close, Norfolk departed Plymouth for a much needed refit at Malta. This was followed by service in the East Indies as the flagship of the Commander-In-Chief East Indies Station.
In 1949, Norfolk returned to the UK and was placed in Reserve. On 14th February 1950, she proceeded to Newport to be broken up after a long and proud service of 22 years, in which she gained the Norfolk lineage the majority of its battle honours, including it's last.
See HMS Norfolk for other ships of the name.
Atlantic 1941, BISMARCK 1941, Arctic 1941-43, North Africa 1942, North Cape 1943, Norway 1945
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