HMS York was the lead ship of her class of two heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1920s. She mostly served on the North America and West Indies Station before World War II. Early in the war the ship escorted convoys in the Atlantic and participated in the Norwegian Campaign in 1940. York was transferred to the Mediterranean theatre in late 1940 where she escorted convoys and the larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet. She was wrecked in an attack by Italian explosive motorboats of the 10th Flotilla MAS at Suda Bay, Crete, in March 1941. The ship's wreck was salvaged in 1952 and scrapped in Bari. Design and description Yorks design was based on the earlier County classes but was intended to be smaller and cheaper, although better armoured. She was easily distinguishable from her sister ship, , as the latter had straight masts and funnels, while those of York were angled to the rear. In addition, York also had a very tall bridge designed to clear the aircraft catapult originally planned to be carried on the superfiring ('B') gun turret forward. York displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving four shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by eight Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. York carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 628 officers and men. The ship mounted six 50-calibre 8-inch (203 mm) guns in three twin turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of four QF Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts. York mounted two single 2-pounder (40 mm) light AA guns ("pom-poms"). The ship carried two triple torpedo tube above-water mounts for torpedoes. York lacked a full waterline armor belt. The sides of her boiler and engine rooms were protected by of armour and sides of the magazines were protected by of armour. The transverse bulkheads at the end of her machinery rooms were thick. The top and ends of the magazines were three inches thick. The lower deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of . Space and weight was reserved for one catapult and its seaplane,