HMS York (90): Sunk by Explosive Motorboats at Her Own Anchorage

Jarrow-Built

HMS York was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 18 May 1927, launched on 17 July 1928 and completed on 1 May 1930, the lead ship of her class of two heavy cruisers, serving initially as flagship of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron's Home Fleet before moving to Bermuda in 1934 as flagship of the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the North America and West Indies Station.

Evacuating Troops From Norway

With the outbreak of war, York moved to Halifax for convoy escort duties before playing an active role in the Norwegian Campaign of April and May 1940, ferrying the 1st Battalion of the Green Howards and other troops before taking part in the evacuation of Allied forces from Namsos, a demanding and often perilous operation carried out under heavy German air attack.

Escorting the Taranto Raid

Transferring to the Mediterranean Fleet in August 1940, York took part in Operation MB.5, escorting Malta convoys, and Operation Judgment, the famous carrier strike against the Italian fleet at Taranto, a groundbreaking action in naval aviation history that York helped protect from the sea.

Struck by Explosive Motorboats

On 26 March 1941, in one of the most audacious special operations of the entire Mediterranean war, Italian explosive motorboats of the Regia Marina struck York at anchor in Suda Bay, Crete.

Two boats, each packed with a 330-kilogram charge in the bow, struck her amidships, flooding both boiler rooms and one engine room and killing two British seamen, a loss this account records with due respect for a devastatingly effective and daring attack.

Destroyed During the Evacuation of Crete

Further damage from German bombers on 18 May rendered the crippled cruiser irreparable, and on 22 May 1941, as the Allies began evacuating Crete, her own crew wrecked her main guns with demolition charges to deny the ship to the advancing enemy, a difficult but necessary decision in the chaos of that campaign's final days. Her wreck was eventually salvaged in February 1952 and scrapping began that March.