HMS Shropshire was a Royal Navy (RN) heavy cruiser of the London sub-class of s. She is the only warship to have been named after Shropshire, England. Completed in 1929, Shropshire served with the RN until 1942, when she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) following the loss of sister ship . Commissioned as HMAS Shropshire, the ship remained in RAN service until 1949, and was sold for scrap in 1954. Design Shropshire was one of four heavy cruisers built to the London design of the s. The cruiser had a displacement of 9,830 tons at standard load, was long overall, long between perpendiculars, and had a beam of . The propulsion system consisted of eight Yarrow-type boilers, which fed Parsons geared turbines. These generated 80,000 shaft horsepower, which was fed to the ship's four diameter propellers. The cruiser could reach speeds of up to , with as the designated economical speed. At economical speed, she could travel . Armament The cruiser's initial armament consisted of eight BL 8 inch Mk VIII naval guns in four twin turrets, four single QF 4 inch Mk V naval guns and four single QF 2 pounder naval guns (or pom-poms) for anti-aircraft defence, four 3-pounder guns, and a number of smaller calibre guns for point defence. During the 1930s, two 0.5-inch machine guns were added to the point defence armament. Shortly before transfer to the RAN in 1943, Shropshire underwent a refit. Although the main armament was unchanged, the 4-inch guns were upgraded to twin mountings, while the anti-aircraft armament was replaced with eighteen 20 mm Oerlikon guns (seven twin mountings and four single mountings) and two QF 2-pounder Mark VI eight-barrelled pom-poms. The 3-pounder guns were deleted, while two quadruple-tube launchers for 21-inch torpedoes and several depth charge chutes were installed. During the same refit, the cruiser ceased operating its seaplane, and the aircraft catapult was removed. In 1945, during a refit in Sydney, Shropshires armament changed again. The torpedo tubes and depth charge throwers were stripped from the ship, and the entire Oerlikon outfit was replaced by fifteen single 40 mm Bofors guns. By February 1946, six of the Bofors guns had been removed, with the cruiser's armament settling into its final configuration. Construction Construction of the cruiser was ordered on 17 March 1926. Shropshire was laid down at the shipyard of William Beardmore and Company, at Dalmuir, Scotland