Formidable class (Royal Navy)
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 Pre-war recording of the Formidable |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| units | 8th |
| Shipyard |
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| Order | 1897 |
| delivery | 1901-1904 |
| period of service |
1901-1919 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
15,800 ts |
| length |
431 ft (131.45 m) |
| width |
75 ft (22.87 m) |
| Draft |
26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) |
| crew |
714 - 780 men |
| drive |
20 Belleville boilers |
| speed |
18 kn |
| Range | |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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| similar | |
The Formidable-Class was a ship class of eight battleships of the pre-dreadnought type , as part of the Marine program in 1897 for the British Royal Navy were built. Due to the changes during the construction period, the ships from HMS London are sometimes referred to as the London class and the last two ships are again differentiated as the Queen class .
All ships initially joined the Mediterranean fleet and returned to units in the home fleet between 1907 and 1909. At the start of the war in 1914, all eight were in the canal fleet , where HMS Bulwark and HMS Formidable were lost. The remaining six ships were used against the Dardanelles , where HMS Irresistible sank as the last ship after a mine hit.
Design and construction
Designed by Sir William White and named after HMS Formidable , the first ship in the series, the class was an upgraded version of the Majestic class that incorporated the technical achievements of the Canopus class , primarily improved armor with Krupp steel and a Equipped with water tube boilers . The shape of the hull was also changed to improve maneuverability. The main armament consisted of four 305 mm Armstrong 12 "L / 40 type Mk IX guns in two twin turrets and twelve 152 mm Vickers 6" L / 45 type Mk VII guns in the side Casemates . In terms of light artillery, 16 12-pounder (76-mm) rapid - fire marine cannons and six 3-pounder (47-mm) rapid-fire cannons were installed on the ships .
The ships of the Formidable class were 131 m long overall 10 m shorter than the Canopus class, had thinner deck and barbed armor, but had reinforced armor on the turrets . The ships of the Formidable class were visually very similar to their two predecessor classes, but had a greater distance between the two funnels, of which the front one was closer to the foremast . The construction cost per ship was around £ 1 million .
After the construction of the first three ships, minor changes were made to the design from HMS London , above all a reduction in the deck armor but without reducing the protective effect through the use of the more modern Krupp armor, which resulted in a reduced draft and a somewhat smaller displacement . This is why these ships are sometimes referred to as the London or Bulwark class. The Queen and Prince of Wales , the last two ships, again had small changes, above all an open battery for the 12 pdr cannons, which is why they are again sometimes run as a separate ship class (Queen class).
Mission history
Just two years after the commissioning of the last ships of this class (1904), they were technically outdated due to the launch of the revolutionary new battleship HMS Dreadnought . Against the much more powerful armament of this type of ship, the pre-dreadnoughts could no longer survive in combat. Before they were replaced by modern newbuildings, however, the ships of the Formidable class were part of the core of the British battle fleet for a few years.
After the beginning of the First World War they formed the “5th Battle Squadron” of the Grand Fleet until they were replaced by dreadnoughts . However, they were used for secondary tasks such as convoy protection and the bombardment of coastal German positions in Belgium . After the Bulwark fell victim to an ammunition chamber explosion in 1914 that killed almost the entire crew, the HMS Formidable sank on New Year's Day 1915 with heavy crew losses after torpedo hits by a German submarine off the Isle of Portland . It was the first British battleship sunk by the enemy.
The remaining ships were used in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 to bombard Turkish positions on the Dardanelles and to land Allied troops. The pre-dreadnought battleships used here suffered heavy losses from sea mines and torpedoes . The Irresistible was one of the victims of the naval attack of March 18, 1915 . Not least because of this experience, the remaining five ships of the Formidable class did not play an active role during the rest of the war and were mostly degraded to depot ships.
On May 22, 1915, Prince of Wales , Implacable , London and Queen were relocated to the Adriatic Sea to form the "2nd Detached Squadron" to reinforce the Italian Navy after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary . On May 27, 1915, they arrived at their new base in Taranto . The Venerable , which was still in use before Flanders, moved to Gallipoli at the same time. Little by little the ships were withdrawn from Taranto. The Queen stayed the longest , and from February 1917 served as a barge for the staff of the Otranto lock . Only a rump crew remained on it. Her guns were reassigned to other duties and by October she was completely disarmed. The empty turrets of the 305 mm cannons received by the Italian army remained on board. Queen was, although disarmed, the flagship of the British naval units in Taranto until February 1918. She only left Taranto in April 1919.
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In November 1915 the Implacable was relocated to the "3rd Detached Squadron" in Saloniki . This should increase the security of the traffic to the Suez Canal and support the French Navy in the blockade of the Aegean coast of Greece and Bulgaria. At times she also used Port Said as a base. In June 1917, she was with the abdication of King Constantine I in Athens .
HMS London , which had been converted into a mine-layer, was very active on the North Sea in 1918. After the end of the war, the remaining five ships were decommissioned and scrapped in 1920 and 1921.
Ships
After Burt.
- HMS Formidable - launched in 1898, in service in September 1901, from 1904 to 1908 with the Mediterranean Fleet , from 1908 part of the Home Fleet and 1914 with the Canal Fleet, torpedoed and torpedoed off the Isle of Portland on January 1, 1915 by the German submarine U 24 sunk, killing 547 crew members.
- HMS Irresistible - launched 1898, in service in February 1902, in the Mediterranean Fleet until 1908, then part of the Home Fleet and in 1914 in the Canal Fleet, sunk on March 18, 1915 by a sea attack during the Battle of Gallipoli, crew saved.
- HMS Implacable - launched in 1899, in service in September 1901, with the Mediterranean fleet until 1909, then part of the home fleet and in 1914 with the Canal Fleet, took part in the First World War in the Battle of Gallipoli from 1915 and later in other operations in the Mediterranean until 1917 , Sold for scrapping in 1921.
- HMS London - launched in 1899, in service in June 1902, in the Mediterranean fleet until 1907, then part of the home fleet and in 1914 in the Canal Fleet, in 1915 in the Battle of Gallipoli and from May in the Adriatic Sea, out of service in 1916, rebuilt as a mine-layer in 1918 the North Sea in use, sold for scrapping in 1920.
- HMS Bulwark - launched in 1899, in service in March 1902, with the Mediterranean fleet until 1907, then part of the home fleet and in 1914 with the Canal Fleet, anchored off Sheerness on November 26, 1914 destroyed by an ammunition chamber explosion, 738 dead, only 12 survivors.
- HMS Venerable - launched in 1899, in service in December 1902, with the Mediterranean fleet until 1908, then part of the home fleet and 1914 flagship of the Canal Fleet (Dover patrol), in 1915 participation in the Battle of Gallipoli and at the end of the year as a depot ship for the Otranto barrier , Sold for scrapping in 1920.
- HMS Queen - launched in 1902, in service in March 1904, with the Mediterranean fleet until 1908, then part of the home fleet and in 1914 with the Canal Fleet, 1915 participation in the Battle of Gallipoli and from May in the Adriatic Sea, 1916 to 1917 there as a depot ship, 1920 to be scrapped sold.
- HMS Prince of Wales - launched in 1902, in service in March 1904, in the Mediterranean Fleet until 1909, then part of the Home Fleet and in 1914 in the Canal Fleet, took part in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 and in the Adriatic Sea from May, out of service in Great Britain in 1917, 1921 sold for scrapping.
literature
- RA Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0-85368-914-8 .
- Randolph Pears: British Battleships 1892-1957. The great Days of the Fleets. Putnam, London 1957 (also: Godfrey Cave, London 1979, ISBN 0-906223-14-8 ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 5th Battle Squadron in the English language Wikipedia
- ^ RA Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904. Arms and Armor Press, London 1988, ISBN 0-85368-914-8 , p. 170 ff., On the Queen class p. 227 f.