Her career started with service in the Home Fleet, which took her on patrols against German blockade runners and on actions during the Norwegian Campaign.

In that same month, she was part of a cruiser force that repelled a German attack on Convoy JW 51B in the Battle of the Barents Sea.

During the battle, Sheffield damaged the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and sank the destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt.

She was powered by four geared steam turbine sets, each driving one shaft, which developed a total of 75,000 shp (56,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 32 kn (59 km/h; 37 mph).

[4] The ship had a capacity of 1,970 long tons (2,000 t) of fuel oil as built, which provided a cruising radius of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

[9] In 1940 the set was replaced by a more powerful Type 279 air-warning radar, which could also be used as a barrage predictor for anti-aircraft fire with a range of 7 mi (11 km).

During her 1944 refit Sheffield, like many contemporary British cruisers, had her 'X' turret removed to make space and save top weight for anti-aircraft guns.

[14] From 6 to 10 September the cruisers Sheffield and Aurora operated with the Home Fleet consisting of the battleships Rodney and Nelson and the battlecruiser Repulse with ten destroyers along the Norwegian coast against German blockade runners.

[16] On 8 October Sheffield and Aurora were deployed together with the battlecruisers Hood and Repulse as the "Humber Force" against a reported sortie of the German battleship Gneisenau, the light cruiser Köln and nine destroyers in the North Sea.

When in the evening of 7 April news was received of a massive German naval operation, she set out from Scapa Flow as part of the Home Fleet under the command of Admiral Charles Forbes.

On 9 April Forbes detached five cruisers including Sheffield and seven destroyers from the Home Fleet to attack the German forces at Bergen.

[24] The surrender of France created a void in the Western Mediterranean which was covered by the creation of Force H (Vice admiral James Somerville) in Gibraltar on 27 June.

[25] In August 1940, Sheffield and the 8th Destroyer Flotilla joined Force H, which consisting of the battlecruiser Renown and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal.

[27][28] In Operation White on 15 November Force H escorted the aircraft carrier Argus to a point West of Malta, where 12 Hawker Hurricanes were flown off at the extreme of their flight endurance.

[35][36] Between 31 January and 4 February Force H launched an air strike against the Tirso dam in Sardinia, but a further planned attack on Genoa had to be abandoned because of bad weather.

The German cruiser Admiral Hipper sailed towards Gibraltar and on 12 February attacked Convoy SLS 64 and sank seven ships.

[40] Two days later, Sheffield and four destroyers were dispatched to check some Vichy French merchant vessels for contraband but the ships escaped being boarded when they reached the cover of coastal batteries at Nemours.

[44] After the disastrous Battle of the Denmark Strait in which the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen sank the British battlecruiser Hood and damaged the battleship Prince of Wales, Force H left Gibraltar on 24 May with the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown, Sheffield and six destroyers to counter the German ships' breakout attempt into the Atlantic from the South.

Force H remained in the vicinity until the next morning when Bismarck was finally sunk by the battleships Rodney and King George V, and the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Dorsetshire.

Sheffield detached from Force H to return to Britain and on her way she located and sank one of Bismarck's tankers, Friedrich Breme on 12 June.

On 24 September the convoy consisting of nine ships left Gibraltar, escorted by the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battleships Nelson ,Rodney and Prince Of Wales, the cruisers Edinburgh, Kenya, Sheffield, Euryalus, Hermione and eighteen destroyers.

Unlike in previous operations, not all covering forces turned back at Skerki Banks: the battleships did so, but the five cruisers remained with the convoy and sailed on to Malta.

[49][50] On her return to the UK Sheffield participated together with the light cruiser Kenya in the search for German blockade runners in the North Atlantic, which had been located by ULTRA.

Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, insisted that these convoys were given protection against an attack by the German surface fleet stationed in Norway, by giving them cover of a cruiser force all the way to North Russia.

On 26 December at 09:21 Sheffield was the first to sight Scharnhorst, and in a brief gun duel with the cruisers, the German battleship withdrew and escaped at high speed.

[13] On 30 March 1944, Sheffield left Scapa Flow as part of the Home Fleet, which was a covering force for Convoy JW 58.

After the passage of the convoy to North Russia, the Home Fleet executed Operation Tungsten, a raid by carrier aircraft on Tirpitz at her moorings in the Kaafjord.

[75] The refit was completed in May 1946 and Sheffield arrived at her new base, the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, on the 30 August 1946, for duties as flagship on the America and West Indies Station.

[82] On 18 October 1954, she was replaced as flagship of the America and West Indies Station by Superb, leaving Bermuda the same day to decommission at Portsmouth.

[84] There were further refits in 1949/50, 1954 and 1956–7 when her bridge was enclosed, a lattice foremast added, light anti-aircraft defence was modified and a comprehensive anti-nuclear and biological washdown installed in 1959–60.