(For other ships with the same name, see HMS Devonshire.) HMS Devonshire, pennant number 39, was a County-class heavy cruiser of the London sub-class built for the Royal Navy in the late 1920s. The ship spent most of her pre-World War II career assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet aside from a brief tour with the China Station. She spent a few months after the start of the Second World War in September 1939 in the Mediterranean until she was transferred to the Home Fleet and became flagship of a cruiser squadron. Devonshire played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940 and evacuated much of the Norwegian Government in June. Several months later, she participated in the Battle of Dakar, a failed attempt to seize the Vichy French colony of Senegal in September. The ship remained