Judy Middleton 2014 (revised 2016)
 |
copyright © J.Middleton
This postcard was produced
especially to commemorate the visit of the 1st Battle Squadron to
Hove. |
A Rare Sight
On 30 June 1914 eight battleships
of the 1st Battle Squadron of the British Fleet sailed majestically
up the English Channel and dropped anchor around three or four miles off Hove
seafront. The ships rode at anchor in two lines from a point opposite Grand
Avenue and west to a point opposite the Coastguard Station. HMS Marlborough was
in the front rank as befitted the dignity of being the flagship. The other
vessels were HMS Collingwood, HMS Colossus, HMS Hercules, HMS
Neptune, HMS St Vincent, HMS Superb and HMS Vanguard.
The light cruiser HMS Bellona joined their ranks on 2 July.
Not surprisingly, the visit
caused a sensation in town and crowds of people hurried to the seafront to see
the ships. At first a light haze obscured the view, which caused great
annoyance to the man who had brought his telescope down to the promenade to
hire out at a penny a time.
People were disappointed the
ships were so far out but a British dreadnought was hardly in the same class as
pleasure paddle steamers that could load passengers from the end of the West
Pier.
But the Mayor of Hove and the
Mayor of Brighton enjoyed a close encounter with Marlborough when
Admiral Bayly welcomed them aboard. Ordinary folk could pay for a trip around
the fleet for a close-up look. The Brighton Queen kindly ferried sailors
from ship to shore and back again without charge.
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| copyright © Robert Jeeves / Step Back in Time This photograph was probably taken when the Mayor of Hove and the Mayor of Brighton visited HMS Marlborough with sailors lined up in their honour. |
Alderman E.H. Leeney, Mayor of Hove, knew about the visit
in advance and it gave him and councillors time to raise a subscription in
order to entertain all the officers and men to a grand dinner at Hove Town Hall. It must have cost a considerable amount because it seems no expense was
spared. Bunting and streamers decorated Hove while flags were draped over the
entrance to the Town Hall. Inside the Great Hall the tables were adorned with
fresh flowers. There were so many men to entertain that there had to be two
separate dinners.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Officers and men from the 1st Battle Squadron were entertained at Hove Town Hall. |
Commander Usborn of HMS Colossus
was in charge of the men who marched through the town to the first dinner
at Hove Town Hall to the cheers of the watching crowds. Another column of men
marched to the Corn Exchange in Brighton for their meal. The menu at Hove Town
Hall was as follows:
Roast beef
Roast veal
Ham
Roast haunches and ribs of
Southdown lamb
Pressed beef
Fruit tarts
Custard puddings
Hot plum puddings
Cheese
Butter
Salad
Ale
Lemonade
Potatoes were also served but if
there were other vegetables the reporter did not mention them. The meal must
have made a welcome change to ordinary ship’s rations
The band of the Queen’s Regiment
played throughout the repast and when the men had eaten their fill, they were
presented with packets of cigarettes and inscribed memento tobacco boxes.
Commander Usborn was a handsome
man with a clarion-like voice. In his speech he thanked Hove for its
hospitality and remarked ruefully that not every town welcomed the Navy because
of exuberant sailors and guns that rattled windows.
The next day there was a repeat
performance and it was the turn of the other ranks to be entertained at Hove
Town Hall. Chief Petty Officer Webb from HMS St Vincent gave a vote of
thanks on behalf of the lower deck.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Members of Hove Police are happy to pose with a Naval visitor outside the entrance to Hove Town Hall but their helmets make the sailor look rather small. |
On Wednesday 1 July 1914 a sultry
evening heralded a violent storm that broke out at 7.50 p.m. with loud claps of
thunder followed by sheeting rain. Fortunately, the weather had calmed down by
9.30 p.m. when crowds again descended on the seafront for the long-anticipated
event. A single rocket flared into the sky, which was the signal for all eight
battleships to be illuminated overall at the same time. The spectacle drew
gasps of admiration from one and all. The people lucky enough to be on board Brighton
Queen had the best view of all.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The Brighton Queen did sterling work ferrying sailors to and fro as well as taking curious local residents for a closer inspection of the ships. |
Coronation Fleet Review 24 June 1911
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| copyright © J.Middleton The sheer number of vessels lined up for the Coronation Fleet Review is amazing. |
King George V and Queen Mary were
crowned on 22 June 1911. Part of the celebrations included the impressive
Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead. It is interesting to note that among the
ships in attendance were HMS Collingwood, HMS St Vincent and HMS Superb.
Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916)
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| copyright © J.Middleton Admiral John Rushworth Jellicoe (1859-1935) was Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet at Jutland. |
All the ships of the 1st Battle Squadron that
visited Hove in 1914 were present at the Battle of Jutland.
The battle was a complicated one with heroism and mistakes
made on both sides. It was also inconclusive. But it is true to say that had
Germany won an all-out victory, they would have been on target to win the war
as well. When the German fleet came home they were treated to a welcome fit for
heroes whilst by contrast in Britain there was gloom and recriminations. Indeed
there was even a rumour that Admiral Jellicoe had been subject to a
court-martial and shot for ‘losing’ the battle.
British Fleet – Casualty List
Out of 21 vessels
8 destroyers lost
3 battle cruisers lost
3 armoured cruisers lost
Some 6,097 men killed
510 men wounded
177 men picked up by Germans and
became prisoners
German Fleet
Out of 37 vessels
1 battle cruiser lost
1 armoured cruiser lost
4 light cruisers lost
5 torpedo boats lost
Some 2,551 men killed
HMS Bellona
The ship’s unusual name was a
historic reference to an earlier HMS Bellona launched in 1760 that
enjoyed the kudos of serving under Nelson in 1801 at the Battle of Copenhagen.
The Great War Bellona was
a Boadicea-class scout cruiser and she was attached to the 1st
Battle Squadron, which was composed of heavy battleships. It was standard
practice at the time to appoint a light cruiser to accompany each battle
squadron. But of course when the guns began to roar, such light cruisers were
despatched to the rear to allow the battleships to get on with the task in
hand. This happened to Bellona at Jutland and consequently she emerged
unscathed.
Almost a year to the day after
Jutland, Bellona was converted to the useful role of minelayer and
during her service she laid no less than 306 mines in four separate missions.
This was hazardous work with the ever-present threat of U-boats lurking beneath
the waves not to mention the vagaries of the weather.
HMS Bellona survived the
war and in 1919 she was paid off. This was a different ending to that
experienced by most of her large companions of the 1st Battle Fleet
because they nearly all eventually found themselves being consigned to the
scrap-yard.
HMS Collingwood
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Collingwood |
She was named after Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood
(1750-1810) the English Naval commander who had a distinguished career and was
associated with Nelson. At the Battle of Trafalgar Collingwood was
second-in-command to Nelson and when Collingwood died at sea in 1810 his body
was brought back home and buried beside Nelson in St Paul’s Cathedral.
HMS Collingwood was
launched in 1908 and she was a St Vincent-class dreadnought battleship. She
attended the Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 22 June 1911. Collingwood
had closer associations with royalty too. On 18 April 1914 she hosted a
visit from Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII). But it was his younger
brother with whom the ship had a more lasting bond.
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| copyright © J.Middleton On the left Prince Edward wears a fashionable sailor suit as a youngster. On the right in more serious mode he wears the uniform of a naval cadet. |
Prince Albert (later George VI)
endured a difficult childhood starting off with a sadistic nanny who wilfully
neglected him while showering attention on Prince Edward. It is thought that
Prince Albert’s inadequate diet at such a tender age led to his subsequent
stomach problems. Then at the age of seven or eight he developed a stammer that
made him reluctant to speak and gave people the impression he was unfriendly.
The stammer was thought to originate from making the young prince write with
his right hand when he was actually left-handed. There was also the problem of
his knock-knees, a condition shared with his younger brother Prince Henry.
Their doctor thought the problem might be resolved by making the boys wear
splints both day and night. The splints must have been most uncomfortable and
hindered their concentration in the schoolroom.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Prince Albert looks far too young to have been present at the Battle of Jutland. |
Perhaps the rigours of the Royal
Navy did not seem so bad to Prince Albert after such a childhood. On 15
September 1913 Midshipman Prince Albert was assigned to HMS Collingwood. It
therefore seems entirely likely that he was one of the sailors entertained to
dinner at Hove Town Hall when the 1st Battle Squadron paid a visit.
If he did not visit Hove on that occasion, he certainly did in July 1919 when
he and the Prince of Wales were guests of Sir Sidney Greville at Hove Manor in
Hove Street.
Prince Albert was still aboard
HMS Collingwood in 1916 when the ship took part in the Battle of
Jutland. Prince Albert acquitted himself well and his action as turret officer
earned him a Mention in Despatches. Unfortunately, he was not fit enough to see
further action and eventually he needed an operation for his duodenal ulcer.
At the Battle of Jutland Collingwood’s
position was in the middle of the battle line. Her main guns fired 8 salvos
at SMS Wiesbaden, the already damaged German battle-cruiser. She also
fired 2 salvos of high explosives at SMS Derfflinger that resulted in
one hit. But when she fired her secondary guns at the German destroyer G42 she
did not hit her target.
When the war ended Collingwood
was placed on the reserve list and was used as a training ship. In 1922 she
was sold off for scrap.
HMS Collosus
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Collosus |
She was launched in 1910 and
provided the namesake for her type of dreadnought battleship. Her sister ship
was HMS Hercules and was also in the 1st Battle Squadron.
The building of Collosus was the direct result of pre-war jitters in
1908 about the fear the German Navy was also constructing dreadnoughts. The 1st
Sea Lord, Admiral Fisher, was the leading man in the campaign to construct more
British dreadnoughts; if this was to be an arms race, Fisher was determined not
to lag behind. It is interesting to note that Winston Churchill, President of
the Board of Trade, led the opposition to more battleship building but in this
case he was overruled. Churchill’s stance was in marked contrast to his
attitude in the 1930s when he continually warned the Government about the
dangers of German re-armament and the need for Britain to take appropriate
action. But the powers-that-be chose to ignore him and Churchill was labelled a
war-monger for his pains.
By 31 July 1911 Collosus had
her full crew complement. At first Collosus was assigned to the 2nd
Battle Squadron but in December 1913 she joined the 1st Battle
Squadron, of which she later became the flagship.
At the battle of Jutland the 1st
Battle Squadron was split into two divisions. Collosus led the 5th
Division; the other vessels accompanying her were Collingwood, Neptune and
St Vincent. Collosus was placed seventeenth in the line after the Grand
Fleet had deployed. It was a look-out aboard Collosus that first spotted
the German High Seas Fleet in the distance. This set the scene for the vessel
to be involved in the thick of the action and for 20 minutes she and Collingwood
engaged German battle-cruisers of the 1st Scouting Group. It was
recorded that she scored several hits on SMS Derfflinger. Colossus was
one of the few British battleships hit by gunfire and although the damage was
comparatively light affecting the forward superstructure, the crew sustained
six casualties. All the same Collosus was sent home for a refit in 1917
and re-joined the fleet the following year. On 21 November 1918 she was present
at the surrender of the German fleet.
After the war Collosus served
as a boys’ training ship. She did well to last until 1928 before being broken
up.
HMS Hercules
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Hercules |
She was a Collosus-class
dreadnought battleship and like her name-ship, she too was launched in 1910. It
turned out that Herucles was a very apt name for the ship. Hercules was a
legendary Greek hero, son of Zeus, and renowned for his courage and strength
but he could be violent too. Hercules was known around the fleet as the
pugilists’ ship. Men who proved to be trouble-makers in other ships, or were
caught fighting, or even guilty of a breach of discipline, were swiftly
despatched to Hercules to curb their behaviour. The ship had its novel
punishments, one of which was setting two of them in the boxing ring with most
of the ship’s company eager to see the outcome not least because bets had been
placed. Another punishment involved a man being sent to the brig and the door
locked. There he stayed until he had unpicked with only his hands a piece of
hawser that had been heavily used; a hawser was a large, strong rope usually
made of left-hand twists. Men often emerged from this ordeal with ripped nails
and bleeding fingers.
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| copyright © J.Middleton British battleships at sea. |
At the Battle of Jutland Hercules
was part of the 6th Division together with Agincourt,
Marlborough and Revenge. During the whole engagement Hercules fired
98 rounds from her main armament and five or six of them scored hits. Splinters
rained down upon Hercules but fortunately there were no casualties and
no damage. It was a lively action with Hercules adroitly evading several
torpedoes despatched in her direction, possibly in the manner of a boxer
dancing about to avoid body blows.
In June 1916 Hercules became
flagship of the 4th Battle Squadron. In 1918 she was amongst the
British ships escorting the Imperial German Navy to its surrender to the Grand
Fleet.
In December 1918 Hercules took
the Allied Armistice Commission to Kiel and for this delicate mission four
destroyers accompanied her. The tough men of the Hercules were totally
unimpressed by the amount of gold braid aboard their ship; there were in fact
three Admirals – one British, one American and the other French. Men of such
high rank must be accorded proper procedure and accordingly no less than three
Admirals’ flags flapped above the decks of Hercules from a single tripod
mast. Junior officers scornfully dismissed the display as most un-seamanlike
and joked as to whether or not the yard could stand the weight of so much
honour.
Poor Hercules! This proud
British dreadnought had the indignity of being sold in 1921 to a German
ship-breaker and to add to the insult she was scrapped at Kiel.
HMS Marlborough
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Marlborough |
She was built between 1912 and
1914 and was an Iron Duke-class battleship. She was named after John Churchill,
1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) who was famous for his victories
at Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706). The gratitude of the nation resulted
in him being given a magnificent residence, which naturally enough he named
Blenheim.
In June 1914 Admiral Sir Lewis
Bayly (1857-1938) took command of the 1st Battle Squadron with Marlborough
being the flagship and, appropriately enough, at the time Winston Churchill
was 1st Sea Lord. When Bayly visited Hove with the 1st
Battle Squadron he had a conversation with the Mayor of Hove; either he was
being optimistic or perhaps he did not realise the gravity of the situation in
Europe but he told the Mayor he was fairly confident of paying a similar visit
to the town in a couple of years’ time. But of course by then the British Navy
was otherwise engaged. After the visit Bayly sent a letter from Marlborough thanking
Hove for its warm hospitality.
Bayly had a chequered career to
say the least. In 1900 he became Naval Attaché to the United States and Japan
but just two years later he was recalled because it seems he displayed ‘rather
indiscreet conduct’. In December 1914 Bayly was appointed to command the
Channel Fleet. He took the 5th Battle Squadron for some gunnery
practice, manoeuvres and exercises within 25 miles of Portland Bill; Bayly
sailed aboard the flagship HMS Nelson. The squadron, composed of seven
battleships and two light cruisers, was escorted from Sheerness to Folkestone by
six destroyers, which then departed. By 1 January 1915 the squadron was sailing
peacefully at night with fishing boats nearby when suddenly the German
submarine U-24 sent a torpedo hurtling towards HMS Formidable scoring a
hit. The stricken vessel pulled out of line and less than an hour later a
second torpedo hit home. The full complement of Formidable was 780 men and
in this dreadful incident 35 officers and 512 men perished.
The news appalled those in
authority in London and the Admiralty severely censured Bayly for his supposed
mishandling of the situation. On the other hand, the Admiralty had given him
permission to go on manoeuvres and if they thought the area was too dangerous,
they would have refused. It was quite normal to continue with training in
wartime. Bayly felt he had been unfairly treated and requested a court martial
to enable him to clear his name. But he was refused. Of course he lost his
command and was shuffled off to become president of the Royal Naval College.
Luck does play some part in how a
commander or general is perceived although Fisher claimed that they had lost
confidence in him. But later on the authorities decided they needed his
services after all because it was the height of the U-boat menace. Bayly was
appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Coast of Ireland. This was something of a
poisoned chalice because he was responsible for an enormous area of sea with
just a few ships. It was not until the United States decided to join the Allied
war effort that there were enough vessels to begin to make a difference.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Twilight on the North Sea with the big guns busy. |
Meanwhile, HMS Marlborough was on patrol duties in the North Sea enforcing the blockade of
Germany.
Marlborough was present at
the Battle of Jutland when visibility was so poor that some German Kaiser-class
battleships could barely be discerned in the gloom. Later in the battle clouds
of smoke from a cruiser that was on fire, masked the enemy ships. Although Marlborough’s gunners fired seven salvos and claimed some hits, it was difficult to
ascertain the truth.
But she did manage to fire five salvos at the German cruiser SMS Wiesbaden. Unfortunately, ‘A’ turret was
then put out of action when there was a premature detonation in the right
barrel. To make matters worse a torpedo from the Wiesbaden hit her
starboard side tearing a hole in the hull that was 28 feet wide. Nor
surprisingly, there was flooding and 40 watertight compartments were damaged.
Nothing daunted, Marlborough continued to fire salvos at Wiesbaden and three shells put an end to the German vessel’s fighting
capabilities although she did not sink until some hours later.
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| copyright © J.Middleton How a British Dreadnought goes in to action. |
Marlborough then turned
her attention to RMS Grosser
Kurfürst and three of her salvos
hit home. Marlborough was also busy firing off torpedoes, one at
the damaged Wiesdbaden and the other at RMS Kaiser but both missed. Meanwhile, Marlborough
was the target of three more
German torpedoes; she managed skilfully to avoid the first two and thankfully
the third one passed harmlessly under the ship.
However, by this time Marlborough
was beginning to list and had to
reduce her speed. Jellicoe sent orders for her to return to the Humber for
temporary repairs and scout cruiser HMS Fearless was delegated to
provide the escort. It was not a plain run home either because Marlborough very nearly became a victim of friendly fire. She happened to encounter
two British submarines 63 and 65. At first the
submariners mistook her for an enemy vessel and were preparing to fire their
torpedoes when fortunately Marlborough
was recognised just in time.
Marlborough continued to
limp home and eight destroyers from the Harwich Force joined her. But there was
more flooding aboard and the situation looked so serious that the captain
ordered Fearless and one destroyer to come alongside just in
case the crew needed to be rescued.
But she made it home safely and after a patching-up she sailed from the
Humber escorted by four destroyers on 6 June. Her destination was the Tyne for
more permanent repairs at the Jarrow shipyard, which surprisingly enough were
completed by 2 August. Marlborough’s
battle record was impressive; her
main battery fired no less than 162 shells while the secondary guns fired 60
rounds plus five torpedoes were despatched. It must have been mortifying for
the officers and men when in February 1916 HMS Revenge replaced Marlborough as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron.
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Marlborough was despatched to rescue the Dowager Empress of Russia from the Bolsheviks. She was the sister of Queen Alexandra. |
In April 1919 Marlborough anchored at Crimea to take the Dowager
Empress aboard accompanied by Grand Duke Nicholas. It is not known whether or
not the captain of Marlborough expected to rescue a small group but it
turned out the Russian contingent numbered 80 persons. This was because the
doughty Dowager refused to come aboard unless the sick and wounded were also
taken in together with any civilians who might wish to escape the murderous Bolsheviks
who were closing in. Another member of the royal party worthy of note was
Prince Felix Yusopov, his wife and daughter. Prince Yusopov was the Dowager
Empress’s grandson-in-law; he was also ringleader in the plot to kill Rasputin
in December 1916.
Marlborough landed the
Russians at Malta and returned to her duties. The Dowager Empress travelled on
to England where she was re-united with her sister. But the Empress found her
loss of status hard to bear and later went home to Denmark – both she and her
sister were Danish princesses by birth. Queen Alexandra died in November 1925
and the Dowager Empress died in October 1928 aged 80, having out-lived her
husband four of her six children.
From 1920 to January 1922 Marlborough
was out of action while she
underwent a refit at Devonport. In the 1920s she was used as a training ship,
having transferred from the Mediterranean fleet, along with the 3rd
battle Squadron, to the Atlantic Fleet.
It is questionable whether or not the refit was a waste of money because
under the Treaty of London 1930 it was decreed that four Iron Duke-class
battleships should be scrapped. Thus in 1932 Marlborough found herself
reduced to the Disposal List and she was then broken up at Rosyth.
HMS Neptune
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Neptune |
She was a dreadnought battleship launched in 1909 and great things were
expected of her because she had been fitted with super-firing turrets. But in
the event they turned out not to be a great success. Innovations were being
made all the time and although Neptune
was part of the 1st
Battle Squadron from 1914 to 1917, she then had to give way for the latest
trend – Revenge-class ships and Neptune
was transferred to the 4th
Battle Squadron.
In 1915 Neptune was with
the Grand Fleet in the North Sea involved in an exercise. On 18 March 1915 they
were returning to Scapa Flow when Neptune had a lucky escape from a
torpedo that fortunately passed behind the vessel. It was German U-29 that
fired the torpedo.
In 1916 at the Battle of Jutland Neptune
also escaped damage but she did manage to fire off 48 12-inch rounds.
Neptune was sold off in
1922.
HMS St Vincent
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS St Vincent |
The ship was named after Admiral
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (1735-1823). He took his title
from his famous victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797
when fifteen British ships prevailed against a superior force of 24 Spanish
ships. Jervis was a patron of Nelson who played a distinguished part in the
same battle. Jervis was an experienced Naval commander and he also excelled in
introducing Naval reforms and in an administrative capacity too.
HMS St Vincent was
launched in 1908 and she was the name-ship of her class of dreadnoughts. On 24
June 1911 she took part in the Coronation Review at Spithead and the following
year she underwent an extensive re-fit. She was ready for service again in 1914
and she was re-commissioned under Rear Admiral Hughes Evans-Thomas. On 8 July
1915 St Vincent was host to George V who came aboard to inspect the 2nd
Battle Squadron.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The British royal family have a long association with the Navy. In this photograph the Prince of Wales (later George V) and Edward VII wear their naval uniforms. |
Admiral Evans-Thomas (1862-1928)
was a naval cadet at HMS Britannia in 1877 at the same time as Prince
Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, and Prince George (later George V). The
princes’ tutor was impressed enough with young Thomas’s character (surname
later changed to Evans-Thomas) to allow him to become friends with the young
princes. The good impression was consolidated when Thomas went to HMS Bacchante
as part of a hand picked crew to serve with the young princes on board. In
1882 Thomas attended the Royal Naval College, Greenwich as a sub-lieutenant and
formed a friendship with Lieutenant John Jellicoe. In later years Evans-Thomas
took command of HMS Britannia; the reason behind this decision was that
he knew Prince Edward (later Edward VII) and Prince Albert (later George VI)
would be attending just as their father George V had done as a youngster. While
the princes were at Britannia an epidemic of measles swept through the
establishment and it was felt safer to remove them to Evans-Thomas’s house as a
precaution. But they both caught measles just the same. It must have been a
time of great worry for the Evans-Thomas family but fortunately the princes
survived the illness. The public had also been greatly perturbed and a variety
of well-meaning remedies were despatched to the household.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Prince Edward and Prince Albert both attended HMS Britannia. They were photographed with their mother the Princess of Wales (later Queen Mary) |
In 1915 Rear Admiral Evans-Thomas
was given command of the 5th Battle Squadron. When he died in 1928
Jellicoe’s tribute was that he was a man ‘who never failed me’.
At the Battle of Jutland St
Vincent was under the command of Sussex-born Captain William Fisher
(1875-1937). He remained in this post for three years and 5 months and then
moved to the anti-submarine division. At Jutland St Vincent was placed
20th in line of battle. She fired her guns at SMS Wiesbaden and
SMS Moltke.
On 21 November 1918 the German
fleet surrendered at Rosyth and St Vincent was there on this historic
occasion but after the war she was placed on the reserve list. At Portsmouth
she became a gunnery training ship before being scrapped in 1922.
HMS Superb
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Superb |
She was completed in 1909 and was
a Bellerophon-class battleship of the 4th dreadnought type. On 24
June 1911 she was present at the Coronation Review at Spithead.
In November 1915 Superb was
transferred to the 4th Battle Squadron of which she became the
flagship. Rear Admiral Alexander Ludovic Duff (1862-1933) was in command of the
vessel. He had once been a sub-lieutenant aboard the royal yacht Victoria
and Albert. In later years he had spent three years at the Admiralty but he
returned to sea duties on the outbreak of the Great War.
At Jutland Superb was
fortunate not to have any casualties aboard and received no hits. Jutland was
the last of her active service and inevitably by April 1919 she was placed on
the reserve list at Sheerness. But worse was to come when the old battleship
suffered the indignity of being used as a target for gunnery practice and later
she proved useful when pilots needed to practice attacks from the air.
It was at Dover that she was
finally broken up in 1922.
HMS Vanguard
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| copyright © J.Middleton HMS Vanguard |
In 1909 she was sent down the slipway on a day of glorious
sunshine from Vicker’s shipyard at Barrow with a launch weight of 10,250 tons.
It is interesting to note that to enable this leviathan to ‘slip sweetly into
the water’ required the application to the slides of some 70 barrels of soap
plus £200 worth of grease and the pressure on the slides was estimated at two
tons per square foot. Once safely settled in the water she only required the
services of four tiny tugs to tow her to the dock for fitting-out purposes.
Vanguard was commissioned in 1910. She spent most
of the Great War on training exercises or on routine patrols although she was
also present at Jutland. She found herself assisting the 4th Battle
Squadron and after deployment she was the 18th ship in line. Vanguard
fired several salvoes at German light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden and some
of them hit home. The final firing total during the battle was as follows:
65 high explosives
15 2-inch shells
10 4-inch shells
Vanguard came to a
terrible end in what came to be regarded as one of the worst accidents to
befall the Royal Navy. It happened on 9 July 1917 at Scapa Flow and ironically
in the morning the crew had been involved in a regular exercise on the
procedure for abandoning ship.
First there was a white flare and
a small explosion, followed almost immediately by two huge explosions.
There was no time for the crew to abandon ship because she sank at once. There
were only two survivors while 804 men were killed. Such bodies as could be
recovered from the disaster were laid to rest in Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery,
Hoy. The crew of HMS Collingwood, Vanguard’s sister ship, managed to
retrieve the bodies of three victims.
The Court of Inquiry decided that
the main detonation took place in either ‘P’ magazine or ‘Q’ magazine or
perhaps both together.
In 1975 the Royal Navy’s Command
Clearing Diving Team carried out an intensive investigation into the accident
and concluded that faulty cordite was the culprit and blew the vessel apart.
The wreck is a designated war grave.
Sources
Australian Newspaper Trove
website – 10 April 1909
Middleton, Judy Hove and Portslade in the Great War (2014)
D’Enno, Douglas Brighton in
the Great War (2016)
Sussex Daily News
Internet searches
Thanks to Robert Jeeves of Step Back in Time, 36 Queen’s Road, Brighton BN1 3XB. for allowing the reproduction of the HMS Marlborough photograph.
Additional research by D. Sharp
Additional research by D. Sharp
Copyright © J.Middleton 2016
page layout by D.Sharp