Editing HMS Devonshire (39) (section)

===Second World War===
''Devonshire'' was in the [[Mediterranean]] when the war began in September 1939 until she was transferred to the Home Fleet some months later. After the [[armed merchant cruiser]] {{HMS|Rawalpindi||2}} was sunk by the German [[battleship]]s {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} on 23 November, ''Devonshire'' and the battleships {{HMS|Nelson|28|2}} and {{HMS|Rodney|29|2}} sailed from [[the Clyde]] on a fruitless attempt to find the German ships.<ref>Haarr 2013, pp. 311–314</ref> In March 1940 she became the [[flagship]] of the 1st CS, and flew the flag of the future [[First Sea Lord]], [[Vice-Admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]] [[John H. D. Cunningham]]. During this time the [[squadron (naval)|squadron]] was tasked to cover [[Scotland]], the [[Faeroe Islands]] and [[Iceland]].<ref>Rohwer, p. 16</ref> As part of the Allied plans to occupy parts of [[Norway]] and interdict the iron ore traffic from [[Narvik]] to Germany ([[Operation Wilfred]] and [[Plan R 4]]), ''Devonshire'' and the rest of the squadron were assigned to ferry British troops from [[Rosyth]] to [[Stavanger]] and [[Bergen]] and to be ready to sail on the morning of 8 April, but these plans were partially preempted by the [[Operation Weserübung|German invasion]] that same day.<ref>Haarr 2013, pp. 398–400</ref>

====Norwegian campaign====
{{main|Norwegian Campaign}}
The [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]] ordered that the troops, but not their equipment, be unloaded from the cruisers on the evening of the 8th, and that the cruisers were to search forthwith for the German ships known to be at sea. This was later cancelled and the squadron was ordered to rendezvous with the main body of the Home Fleet. Later that day, German bombers attacked the British ships and ''Devonshire'' suffered a near-miss. On the 11th, the squadron was detached on an unsuccessful search for German ships in the area around Trondheim and rejoined the fleet two days later.<ref>Haarr 2009, pp. 106–107, 287–289</ref> Cunningham's ships were then detached to [[Tromsø]] where he conducted negotiations with local officials to refuel there and to bring Norwegian troops west from [[Kirkenes]]. The squadron arrived there on the afternoon of the 15th and escorted Norwegian troopships back to Tromsø. ''Devonshire'' covered the evacuation of British and French troops [[Namsos Campaign|from Namsos]] at the beginning of May and was nearly hit when the evacuation forces were attacked by German aircraft as they were withdrawing on 3 May.<ref>Haarr 2010, pp. 169–174, 211–212</ref>

''Devonshire'' evacuated [[Haakon VII of Norway|King Haakon VII]], [[Olav V of Norway|Crown Prince Olav]], and Norwegian government officials, including the [[Prime Minister of Norway|Prime Minister]], [[Johan Nygaardsvold]], from Tromsø on 7 June. On board were 461 passengers. The ship passed within {{convert|50|mi}} of the action in which the [[aircraft carrier]] {{HMS|Glorious||2}} and two destroyers were sunk by ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau''. Although an enemy sighting report had been received in ''Devonshire'', Cunningham's orders were to get Haakon VII to safety, and the cruiser sped up and continued on her course.<ref>Haarr 2010, pp. 312–313, 346–348</ref>

====Operation Menace====
In preparation for [[Operation Menace]], a British naval attack on [[Dakar]], Senegal, prior to a planned landing by the Free French, the ship was detached from the Home Fleet on 28 August and was assigned to Force M, the Royal Navy component of the operation. Still Cunningham's flagship, she departed the Clyde on the 31st, escorting the troop convoy en route to [[Gibraltar]]<ref>Rohwer, pp. 36, 38, 40</ref> where they arrived on 3 September. On the 14th, Cunningham dispatched the 1st CS, augmented by the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|2}}, in an unsuccessful attempt to locate and turn back a Vichy French cruiser squadron bound for Dakar; by this time he had hoisted his flag in the battleship {{HMS|Barham|04|2}}. ''Devonshire'' and her Australian sister ship {{HMAS|Australia|D84|2}} engaged the French cruisers and destroyers as they manoeuvred in the harbour on the second day of the battle, with negligible effect in poor visibility. After ''Barham'' was lightly damaged during the action, Cunningham transferred back to ''Devonshire'' for the next day's battle during which the ship fired 200 shells from her main guns without scoring a single hit against French ships obscured by [[smoke screen]]s.<ref>Jordan and Dumas, pp. 142–143, 147</ref>

After the attack was abandoned, she was employed to escort a British troop convoy to [[Douala]], [[French Cameroons]], in early October and then blockaded the coast of [[Gabon]] when Free French forces [[Battle of Gabon|invaded in early November]].<ref>Rohwer, pp. 43, 48</ref> On 7 November, her [[Supermarine Walrus]] seaplane helped to sink the Vichy submarine {{ship|French submarine|Poncelet|Q141|2}} off Gabon.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12047498/Commander-David-Corky-Corkhill-obituary.html|title=Commander David Corky Corkhill obituary|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=13 December 2015|access-date=22 March 2016}}</ref>

====1941====
''Devonshire'' remained in the South Atlantic and participated in the unsuccessful hunt for the German commerce raider {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Kormoran||2}} in January 1941.<ref>Rohwer, p. 55</ref> The ship subsequently transferred to the Home Fleet and was refitted in [[Liverpool]] 19 February–22 May. During this refit her single 2-pounder guns were replaced by two octuple mounts and an early-warning [[Type 281 radar]].<ref name=rr9>Raven & Roberts, p. 429</ref> She escorted British carriers when they [[Raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo|raided Kirkenes and Petsamo]] in Norway and Finland in late July. The following month, ''Devonshire'' provided distant cover for the first convoy to Russia, [[Dervish Convoy|Operation Dervish]],<ref>Rohwer, pp. 88–89, 93</ref> before she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet.<ref name=w9/> Before her departure, the ship received a pair of [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|{{convert|20|mm|1|adj=on|sp=us}} Oerlikon]] light AA guns in September.<ref name=rr9/> On 2 November, the ship led a force that captured a Vichy convoy bound for [[French Indochina]] off [[South Africa]]. Twenty days later, ''Devonshire'' sank a German commerce raider, the auxiliary cruiser ''Atlantis'', north of [[Ascension Island]].<ref name=w9>Whitley, p. 89</ref>

====1942–1943====
The ship was subsequently refitted in [[Norfolk, Virginia]] from 24 January to 7 March 1942, where she received a [[List of World War II British naval radar#Type 273|Type 273]] gunnery radar and six more Oerlikons.<ref name=rr9/> After the completion of her refit, ''Devonshire'' was sent to join the [[4th Cruiser Squadron]] of the Eastern Fleet and escorted a convoy from [[Charleston, South Carolina]], to [[Freetown]], [[Sierra Leone]] en route.<ref>Rohwer, p. 152</ref> On 25 April, the ship escorted a convoy from [[Durban]], South Africa to [[Madagascar]] as part of [[Operation Ironclad]], which was launched to preempt a possible Japanese occupation of the island. The Vichy French had allowed Japanese forces to use air bases in French Indochina to launch the airstrikes that [[Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse|sank the capital ships ''Repulse'' and ''Prince of Wales'']], so it was quite possible they would permit the Japanese access to military facilities on Madagascar had they requested them.<ref>Shores, pp. 276–278</ref> During late 1942, ''Devonshire''{{'}}s single four-inch AA guns were replaced with twin-gun mounts for [[QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XVI|Mark XVI guns of the same calibre]]. The ship remained in the Far East until May 1943, covering troop convoys from [[Suez]] to Australia.<ref name=w9/> By this time, her quadruple .50-calibre machineguns and six single-Oerlikon mounts had been replaced by another pair of octuple two-pounder mounts and a dozen twin-Oerlikon mounts. She returned home that month and began a lengthy refit that lasted until 20 March 1944. During this refit, 'X' turret and one twin Oerlikon mount were replaced by two additional octuple two-pounder mounts and eight single-Oerlikon mounts. Her radar suite was modernized with Type 281B replacing Type 281 and the full range of anti-aircraft gunnery radars were installed. To accommodate all the new equipment, her catapult was removed.<ref name=rr9/>

====1944–1945====
[[File:HMS Devonshire FL5895.jpg|thumb|upright=1|''Devonshire'' underway following her 1944 refit]]
She returned to duty with the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow in April 1944. From July until the end of hostilities in May 1945, ''Devonshire'' escorted the carrier raids that were mounted on shipping and other targets in Norwegian waters (Operations [[Operation Mascot|Mascot]], [[Operation Goodwood (naval)|Goodwood]], and [[Operation Hardy|Hardy]]).<ref name=w9/><ref>Rohwer, pp. 343, 349, 368</ref>

With the end of the war in Europe, ''Devonshire'', now the flagship of Rear-Admiral [[James Ritchie (naval officer)|James Ritchie]], the future Flag Officer Norway, sailed on 12 May to [[Oslo]]. She then went to [[Copenhagen]] the next day, and from there she escorted to the UK the German cruisers {{ship|German cruiser|Prinz Eugen||2}} and {{ship|German cruiser|Nürnberg||2}} to [[Wilhelmshaven]] on 24–26 May.<ref>Rohwer, p. 416</ref> In June, ''Devonshire'' was again the flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron, under the command of Vice-Admiral [[Rhoderick McGrigor]], which returned King Haakon to Norway, arriving in Oslo on 7 June. The king himself sailed in her half-sister, {{HMS|Norfolk|78|2}}.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Koester|first1=C. B.|title=The Liberation of Oslo and Copenhagen: A Midshipman's Memoir|journal=The Northern Mariner|date=October 1993|volume=III|issue= 4|pages=49–60|doi=10.25071/2561-5467.781 |s2cid=247645995 |url=http://cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol03/tnm_3_4_49-60.pdf|access-date=16 August 2016}}</ref> Later that month, she was outfitted for use as a troopship, and she was used to transport personnel to and from Australia for the rest of the year.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ships in Port|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78483358?searchTerm=(hms%20devonshire)%20date:[1945%20TO%201945]&searchLimits=q-field0|access-date=16 August 2016|work=The Daily News (Perth)|publisher=Trove.au|date=15 October 1945}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Shipping: Port of Freemantle|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44831040?searchTerm=(hms%20devonshire)%20date:[1945%20TO%201945|access-date=16 August 2016|work=The West Australian|publisher=Trove.au|date=21 November 1945}}</ref> On 29 September, ''Devonshire'' helped to rescued the survivors of {{SS|Empire Patrol}}, a [[freighter (ship)|freighter]] loaded with Greek refugees bound from [[Port Said]], [[Egypt]], to [[Greece]], that had caught fire.<ref>{{cite web|title=S S Empire Patrol..The Rescue|url=http://royalnavymemories.co.uk/s-s-empire-patrolthe-rescue/|website=Royal Navy Memories|access-date=16 August 2016|date=2 July 2009}}</ref>