tjstoneman wrote:
Minor detail - Berwick(shire) was a county, when the class was built -
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berwickshire"Devonshire" is/was often used colloquially, although "Devon" is/was usually used on official documentation.
"Dorsetshire" is a more archaic usage.
Hi tjstoneman,
Thank you for these corrections and annotations!
Berwick (without -shire) seems to refer only to the town, not to the historical Scottish county. And while the name givers bent themselves for Dorsetshire and Devonshire, why not then on Berwickshire?
It seems only English county/shire names were used for these ships, Welsh or Scottish counties weren't considered apparently. Maybe an indication of the English dominance in the Royal Navy? Or the use of traditional ship names for commemorative reasons, not uncommon in naval ships? But on the other hand, with the Town class the names were taken more liberally, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast all being named in that class.
Berwick(-upon-Tweed) was already a town in England since 1551 (although long disputed by Scotland after that date.) It remained a county in its own right until 1885, and was included in Northumberland then. So by 1926 when this cruiser was commisioned there wasn't a county Berwick(shire) anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berwick-upon-TweedAccording to this page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Berwick all RN ships with the name Berwick refer to the town, not the county. But I know, Wikipedia is not always the right source!