| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Armed Merchant Cruiser |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | F 18 |
| Built by | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 20 Apr 1927 |
| Commissioned | 30 Oct 1939 |
| End service | 9 Jun 1943 |
| Loss position | |
| History | On 29 August 1939 the passenger ship Cheshire of the Bibby Brothers & Co, Liverpool was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Conversion was completed on 30 October 1939. Displacement: 10552 BRT Career: On 9 June 1943 returned and used as troopship by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), later as repatriation ship. On 5 October 1948 returned to owner. Hit by U-boat |
| U-boat Attack | See our U-boat attack entry for the HMS Cheshire |
Commands listed for HMS Cheshire (F 18)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | ||
| 1 | Capt. (retired) Mountague Robert Bernard, RN | 30 Aug 1939 | late 1940 | |
| 2 | Capt. (retired) James Millar Begg, RN | 10 Mar 1941 | Apr 1942 | |
| 3 | A/Capt. Cyril William Archie Gooding Hamley, RN | Apr 1942 | May 1942 | |
| 4 | A/Capt. Humfrey Greenwood Hopper, RN | May 1942 | 10 Nov 1942 | |
| 5 | A/Capt. (retired) Robert Douglas King-Harman, DSO, DSC, DSC, RN | 10 Nov 1942 | ||
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Noteable events involving Cheshire include:
14 Oct 1940
At 21.28 hours on 14 October 1940 HMS Cheshire (Capt. M.R. Bernard (retired), RN) was struck by one torpedo from the German submarine U-137 northwest of Ireland. She reached Liverpool but had to be laid up for repairs for six months.
18 Aug 1942
At 18.52 hours on 18 August 1942 the German submarine U-214 fired four aimed single torpedoes at convoy SL-118 from between the columns, heard detonations after 2 minutes 27 seconds, 3 minutes 10 seconds, 4 minutes 31 seconds and 4 minutes 37 seconds and heard three ships breaking up. Reeder claimed the sinking of four ships totalling 20.000 tons.
In fact, one torpedo damaged HMS Cheshire (A/Capt. H.G. Hopper, RN) another sank the Hatarana and two torpedoes sank the Balingkar.