Canopus class (1897)
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The Canopus- class was a class of six ships of the line in the Royal Navy . Until 1905, the ships were mainly used at the China Station . From 1910 they were mostly in the reserve. In 1914, the ships were reactivated and, after securing the passage of the British Expeditionary Force to France, they were deployed at various stations abroad. Goliath and Ocean were lost to the Dardanelles in 1915 .
planning
The ships were designed by Sir William Henry White . They were intended for use in the Far East. At the time of their construction, Japan was beginning to build a powerful and potentially dangerous fleet. The ships had to be able to cross the Suez Canal . They were lighter (approx. 2000 tons left ) and faster than their predecessors in the Majestic class . To save weight, the armor was reduced. Only on the last ship of the class, the Vengeance , was the loss of protective effect due to the use of the more modern Krupp armor less than the numerical reduction in armor thickness would have suggested. Part of the armor was a new type of armored deck one to two inches thick (about 2.5 to 5 cm) above the belt armor. This armored deck should protect against steep fire from howitzers . France reportedly planned to install howitzers on warships. Ultimately, however, these reports turned out to be false.
construction
Like the Majestic class, the ships of the class were equipped with a total of four 30.5 cm guns with a length of 35 calibers in twin towers fore and aft. As with Caesar and Illustrious (both Majestic -class), these guns were installed in circular barbettes, which made it possible to reload the guns in any lateral direction, but only with a certain barrel elevation. The last ship of the Canopus class, the Vengeance , could be reloaded at any tube elevation. The armored domes of the Vengeance also differed from those of their predecessors: a Krupp tank was used, which also had flat surfaces for manufacturing reasons, as this type of armor plate made curved shapes difficult. Furthermore, the ships were equipped with twelve 15.2 cm guns with a length of 40 calibers. Some of these guns had special mounts and could fire forward and stern. The guns were set up together with other small-caliber guns in armored casemates. The armament was supplemented by four 45.7 cm underwater torpedo tubes.
Water tube boilers were used for the first time in British battleship construction on ships of this class . In contrast to the shell boilers used up to then, water- tube boilers enable higher outputs with lower consumption of operating materials. The use of these boilers led to the arrangement of the chimneys one behind the other, until that point in time British battleships had side by side chimneys. The machinery was considered successful, the maximum speed was two knots higher than that of the Majestic class, and the coal consumption was 10 tn.l. per hour at top speed.
Fleet use
The ships were put into service between 1899 and 1902. The Goliath was the first ship to be used as planned at China Station 1900 and to take part in the fight against the Boxer Rebellion with ships from other navies . After her, the sister ships Glory , Ocean and Albion also moved to this station. The Vengeance replaced the Goliath in the Far East in 1903 . When the Anglo-Japanese alliance was renewed in 1905 and the Royal Navy then abandoned the stationing of a battleship squadron off China, the Goliath and the Canopus were on the march to China and were stopped and recalled in Colombo. The Canopus was the only ship of the class that was not on duty at China Station. Albion , Ocean , Vengeance and the Centurion ran back home as a closed association and arrived in Portsmouth on August 2, 1905. The last ship of the class, the Glory left China a month later and reached home in October 1905.
The appearance of the dreadnought made the Canopus class, like all other battleships designed up to the dreadnought , obsolete. Until the beginning of the First World War , the ships of the class were used in domestic waters and in the Mediterranean fleet . After the start of the war, the ships were used in the Atlantic , around Africa , in the Mediterranean and in the North Sea . Two ships were lost during the Dardanelles campaign . The remaining four ships provided auxiliary services until the end of the war and were sold for scrapping in the early twenties.
Canopus- class ships
| ship | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | completion | fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canopus | Portsmouth Dockyard | January 4, 1897 | October 12, 1897 | December 1899 | Demolished in 1920 |
| Goliath | Chatham Dockyard | January 4, 1897 | March 23, 1898 | March 1900 | Sunk by torpedo on May 13, 1915 |
| Albion |
Thames Iron Works Blackwall |
December 3, 1896 | June 21, 1898 | June 1901 | Demolished in 1920 |
| Ocean |
Devonport Dockyard , Plymouth |
February 15, 1897 | July 5, 1898 | February 1900 | Sunk on March 18, 1915 after being hit by a mine |
| Glory |
Cammell Laird , Birkenhead |
December 1, 1897 | March 11, 1899 | October 1900 | Demolished in 1922 |
| Vengeance | Vickers , Barrow | August 23, 1898 | July 25, 1899 | April 1902 | Demolished in 1921 |
The Albion served from 1901 to 1905 with the China Station, 1905-1906 with the Channel Fleet , 1907 with the Home Fleet , 1907-1909 with the Atlantic Fleet and from 1909-1914 again with the Home Fleet. At the beginning of the First World War she was used in the Channel Fleet, 1914-1915 off South and West Africa and 1915-1916 in the Mediterranean, where she was used in the Dardanelles campaign against the Turkish fleet. Then (1916–1918) she was used as a guard ship off England and Ireland. From 1918 she provided auxiliary services and was canceled in 1920.
The Canopus served 1899–1903 in the Mediterranean Fleet, 1905–1906 in the Atlantic Fleet, 1906–07 in the Channel Fleet, 1907–1908 in the Home Fleet, 1908–1909 again in the Mediterranean Fleet and from 1909–1914 again in the Home Fleet. At the beginning of the First World War she was used in the Channel Fleet, then in the Atlantic and South America Station , where she was used as a guard ship in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands during the naval battle in the Falkland Islands . Then (1915-1916) she was used in the Dardanelles campaign against the Turkish fleet. It was retired in 1916 and canceled in 1920.
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The Glory served from 1900 to 1905 at the China Station, 1905–1906 in the Channel Fleet, 1906–07 in the Home Fleet, 1907–1909 in the Mediterranean Fleet, from 1909 to 1914 again in the Home Fleet and in 1914 until the outbreak of the War in the Channel Fleet. From the beginning of the First World War until May 1915 she was used at the North America and West Indies station and then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. There she served until 1916 and took part in the Dardanelles campaign. From 1916 to 1919 it was used in the North Sea. Upon return, it was renamed Crescent , provided auxiliary services and was sold for scrapping in 1922.
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The Goliath served from 1900 to 1903 at the China Station, 1906–1907 in the Mediterranean Fleet, 1907–1908 in the Home Fleet, 1908–1909 again in the Mediterranean Fleet and 1909–1914 again in the Home Fleet. When the war broke out, she was in service with the Channel Fleet and was transferred to the East Indies Station . There it was used in the fighting for German East Africa in 1914–15 , including against the small cruiser Königsberg . In 1915 she came to the Mediterranean, where she was used against Turkish troops during the Dardanelles campaign. On May 13, 1915, she sank there after being hit by a torpedo .
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The Ocean served from 1900 to 1901 with the Mediterranean Fleet, 1901–1905 at the China Station, 1906–1908 with the Channel Fleet, 1908–1910 again with the Mediterranean Fleet and from 1910–1914 again with the Home Fleet. When the war broke out, she was with the Channel Fleet and was first used as a guard ship off Ireland, then at the East Indies Station and finally towards the end of 1914 in the Mediterranean. There it was used against Turkish troops during the Dardanelles campaign. On March 18, 1915, she ran into a sea mine and sank under fire from Turkish coastal artillery.
The Vengeance served 1902–1903 with the Mediterranean Fleet, 1903–1905 with the China Station, 1906–1908 with the Channel Fleet and 1908–1914 with the Home Fleet. When the war broke out, she was with the Channel Fleet, then 1914–15 off Egypt and in the Atlantic before she was relocated to the Mediterranean. There it was used against Turkish troops during the Dardanelles campaign in 1915. 1916-17 she was used off East Africa, then provided auxiliary services and was canceled in 1922.
literature
- RA Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis (Maryland) 1988, ISBN 0-87021-061-0
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds .: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905 , Mayflower Books, New York 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4 .
- Tony Gibbons: The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day , Salamander Books, London 1983.
- Carl Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships , Broschek & Co, Hamburg 1934
- Robert K. Massie : Castles of Steel , Ballantine Books, New York 2003.
- Randolph Pears: British battleships 1892-1957 , Putnam 1957, ISBN 0-906223-14-8
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d Conway’s All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , p. 35.
- ↑ Pears, pp. 20f.
- ↑ after Pears, p. 20 also in Glory and Albion
- ^ A b Conway’s All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , pp. 35, 36; Gibbons, p. 145.
- ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , p. 35; Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921 , pp. 7-8; Burt, pp. 154-160.
- ↑ Burt, pp. 159-160.
- ↑ a b c Burt, pp. 154–156.
- ↑ Burt, pp. 158-159.
- ↑ Burt, pp. 156-158.