HMS Canopus (1897)
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 HMS Canopus during the World War |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | January 4, 1897 |
| Launch | October 13, 1897 |
| delivery | December 5, 1899 |
| Namesake | the star Canopus |
| period of service |
1899-1919 |
| Decommissioning | April 1919 |
| Whereabouts | Sold for demolition February 18, 1920 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement | |
| length |
pp: 131.45 m (431 ft) |
| width |
22.27 m (74 ft) |
| Draft |
7.9 m (26 ft) |
| crew |
750 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
18 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
| Armored belt |
152 mm (6 in) |
| Armored bulkheads |
152-254 mm (6-10 in) |
| Barbeds |
305mm (12in) |
| Towers |
203 mm (8 in) |
| Casemates |
152 (6 in) |
| Command tower |
305 mm (12 in) |
| deck |
25–51 mm (1–2 in) |
The British ship of the line HMS Canopus was the lead ship of the class named after her of six standard ships of the Royal Navy , which were commissioned from 1896. It was used at the beginning of the First World War against the German cruiser squadron of Count Spee , then in the Mediterranean during the attack on the Dardanelles .
Building history
The HMS Canopus and her five sister ships were designed for service in the Far East as part of the shipbuilding program of 1896 and should be able to pass the Suez Canal without problems . They were therefore about 2000 ts smaller, but a little longer and faster than the previous Majestic class . In order to save weight, their armor strengths were also lower. The armor plan also included a new armored deck designed to protect against the steep fire of howitzers . The reason for the development was news that the French navy was planning to install such weapons on their ships. This news turned out to be false.
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The Canopus had four 12-inch (305-mm) L / 35-Mk.VIII guns in two twin turrets at the ends of the ship. The guns, stored in round barbettes , could be loaded in any rotation, but only with a certain elevation. The middle artillery consisted of twelve 6-inch (152-mm) -L / 40-Mk.III guns, which were set up so that a part could also shoot forwards or backwards. The Canopus class was the first British class of ships of the line with water tube boilers , which produced a higher output than the cylinder boilers previously used while being lighter . The new boiler shape also resulted in the arrangement of the chimneys one behind the other.
The keel laying of HMS Canopus took place on January 4, 1897, the Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth , the launching on 12 October 1897, the putting on 5 December 1899. For its construction were spent in total £ 921,316.
Mission history
Until 1914
The HMS Canopus entered service in Portsmouth on December 5, 1899 for service with the Mediterranean Fleet . The first overhaul of the ship took place in Malta from December 1900 to June 1901 . In April 1903 the Canopus moved back home and was assigned to the reserve in Portsmouth on April 25, 1903.
From May 1903 to June 1904 the ship was completely overhauled at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead . In the active reserve in Portsmouth the Canopus was rammed on August 5, 1904 in Mount's Bay off St. Michael's Mount during some maneuvers by the liner HMS Barfleur and suffered slight damage.
On May 9, 1905, the ship returned to active service to replace the liner HMS Centurion at China Station . She marched to East Asia together with her sister ship HMS Goliath, which was reactivated on the same day in Chatham (Kent) . Both had reached Colombo , Ceylon , in June when Britain and Japan renewed their alliance . This meant that Great Britain could downsize the China station and no longer needed liners there. The two replacement ships were therefore recalled in Colombo. Goliath went to the Mediterranean Fleet while the Canopus returned home. She was the only ship of the class that was never used in the Far East.
On July 22, 1905, the returned Canopus began her service in the Atlantic Fleet and then switched to the Canal Fleet in January 1906 , where all ships of the class began service. This then the most important fleet of the Royal Navy also included all six ships of the newer Duncan class , four old ships of the line of the Majestic class and the two light ships of the line of the Swiftsure class . On March 10, 1907, the Canopus moved to the Portsmouth Division of the Home Fleet , where they, like the sister ships Goliath and HMS Albion , reduced their crew to a core in May . After it had received a fire control system in 1906, it was overhauled at the base from November 1907 to April 1908.
After this overhaul, the Canopus returned to active service on April 28, 1908 and moved to the Mediterranean fleet, where the sister ships HMS Glory and Goliath , and from June also the HMS Ocean, were in service. In December 1909, the returned Canopus in the homeland and served with a reduced crew in the 4th Division of the Home Fleet, which from February 1910 all ships of the class except as artillery training ship serving HMS Vengeance belonged. After she had been overhauled again from July 1911 to April 1912 in the Chatham naval shipyard , she was assigned to the reserves at the Nore Command in Chatham in May 1912 as the parent ship for the 4th Division of the Home Fleet. From 1913 to 1914, the HMS Canopus , like Goliath , Albion and Ocean, was in Pembroke Dock in Wales as part of the 3rd (reserve) fleet.
First World War
After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the HMS Canopus was put into service on August 7, 1914 for the 8th battleship squadron of the Canal Fleet. For this squadron, all six ships of the class initially came back into service. On August 21, 1914 she was released from this task and sent to the Cape Verde - Canary Islands station to support the cruisers of Rear Admiral Archibald P. Stoddart . On September 1, she was replaced there by her sister ship Albion and sent on to the South American station . On September 22nd, the Canopus arrived at the secret coal station of the Royal Navy at Abrolhos Rocks off the Brazilian coast. She should serve as a guard ship there and support the station's cruiser squadron under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock .
The search for Count Spee's squadron
The Canopus left the Abrolhos Rocks on October 8, 1914 to assist Cradock's ships in their search for Count Spee's German cruiser squadron , which was suspected to be marching from the Far East to the South Atlantic. On October 18, the Canopus reached Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands , where she took over the task of a guard ship. Their commanding officer, Captain Heathcoat Grant, informed Cradock that the Canopus could march at twelve knots at most, whereupon he ordered the Canopus to march with two coal steamers to the island of San Félix , where he wanted to set up a coal store when he was with his cruisers in the Advance into the South Pacific to find the German squadron. The Canopus was 300 nautical miles (556 km) south of Cradock when it was defeated by the cruiser squadron in the sea battle at Coronel on November 1, 1914 and went down with its flagship HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth and the entire crews of both ships. Both sides had marched into the action believing they were facing a single enemy cruiser. Cradock had therefore not considered using the Canopus . A telegram from the Admiralty suggesting this never reached him.
HMS Glasgow , which had escaped from the battle, ran south at 20 knots for three days to escape any German pursuers and through the Strait of Magellan into the Atlantic. Canopus , which she had informed by radio , also marched back, but reached a marching speed of just nine knots as the highest. On November 6, the two ships met in the South Atlantic and slowly sailed to the Falkland Islands, where they arrived on November 12 and replenished their coal stocks. Both were to march north towards the approaching reinforcements. The machine of the Canopus collapsed again, however, so that the Glasgow ran north alone, while the Canopus was set aground in the inner harbor of Stanley to serve as a defense battery both against a penetration into the harbor and to repel a land attack. In order not to be recognized immediately, the mast tips were removed and the ship camouflaged. An observation post was set up on land at an elevated point, which was connected to the ship by telephone. For this purpose, three batteries with their 12 pounders were put on land and 70 Royal Marines were stationed ashore as a mobile defense force for Stanley and the surrounding area.
On December 7, 1914, the battle cruiser squadron under Admiral Sir Frederik Doveton Sturdee arrived in Stanley with the cruisers of Rear Admiral Stoddart. Early on the following morning of December 8, the Canopus observation post spotted smoke on the horizon, soon identified as the Spees squadron. The armored cruiser SMS Gneisenau and the small cruiser SMS Nürnberg formed the head of the German squadron with the prepared landing corps on board. When the two German cruisers were reported around 7:50 a.m., the two battle cruisers were still busy taking over the coal. Sturdee had the coal takeover canceled and made clear for discarding. The lookout of the Gneisenau recognized not only numerous warships in the harbor, but also the characteristic tripod masts of the British battlecruisers. An attack on the almost impossible to maneuver - because they were not under sufficient steam - British ships would probably not have been hopeless from the outset. However, the Germans did not recognize the problematic situation of the British.
HMS Kent , on standby, left the port at 8:45 a.m., and the Canopus fired a 305 mm volley at 9:20 a.m. with the tube raised at its maximum against the German ships at a distance of 11 km, but the shots were too short . Gneisenau and Nuremberg got ready to fight the outgoing Kent , but the order came from the flagship SMS Scharnhorst : "Abort the battle, head east at full speed." At 9:40 the Glasgow left the port, and only around ten The battle cruisers followed. The German squadron had reached a lead of around 15 nautical miles by the time the British formation left, but at 10:30 a.m., the advancing Glasgow spotted the mast tips of the German cruisers. The British ships made more speed, the good visibility and the calm sea on that day allowed them to easily see the German ships heading east on the horizon and to slowly overtake them. By night, the German ships were sunk except for the small cruiser SMS Dresden and the auxiliary ship Seydlitz .
The Canopus fired the first shots of the sea battle near the Falkland Islands without being able to take part in the actual battle. After the battle she was made operational again and moved from the Falkland Islands back to Abrolhos Rocks on December 18, 1914 .
Battle for the Dardanelles
In February 1915 the Canopus was transferred to the Mediterranean to participate in the attack on the Dardanelles . On March 2, 1915, she took part in the second attack against the Turkish forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles. Her main mast was knocked down by hits and her rear chimney was damaged. During the landings at Gallipoli on March 4, it was used off the landing coast and it served as a safety device during the bombing of the forts by the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth on March 8 and the attempts to destroy the minefields in the March 10 to 12 To clear the strait. On March 18, 1915, she took part as a reserve ship in the attempt of the Allied fleet to force the passage through the Dardanelles. Her sister ships HMS Vengeance, HMS Albion and HMS Ocean formed the second British attack line with the HMS Irresistible . HMS Ocean and HMS Irresistible were lost in this attack alongside the French Bouvet .
The Canopus accompanied the heavily damaged battle cruiser HMS Inflexible with the cruiser HMS Talbot after this unsuccessful attempt from Mudros to Malta and dragged it over the stern in the last part of the voyage, as it could no longer move forward. Then the Canopus secured transports of troops from Egypt to the Gallipoli front . She also took part in the blockade of Smyrna and secured the diversionary attack on Bolayır during the main landings at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. As her sister ship Albion on 22-23. Stranded under heavy fire in front of Gaba Tepe in May 1915 , she was towed free again by the Canopus before it went to Malta for an overhaul from May to June 1915. Even after Gallipolis was evacuated in January 1916, the Canopus remained with the British Eastern Mediterranean Squadron until it was relocated home in April 1916.
Decommissioning / final fate
On April 22, 1916, the Canopus arrived in Plymouth and then went to Chatham , where she was taken out of service to recruit crews for anti-submarine ships. At the end of 1916 there was an overhaul during which it surrendered some 152 mm guns and their light guns and received some light anti-aircraft guns in early 1917. In February 1918 she was converted into a barge.
The Canopus located in Chatham was put up for sale in April 1919 and sold on February 18, 1920 for demolition to Dover , where it arrived on February 26.
literature
- Raymond A. Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1988, ISBN 0-85368-914-8 .
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (Ed.): Warships of the world 1860 to 1905. Volume 1: Great Britain and Germany. Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-5402-4 .
- 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 Ltd., London 1983, ISBN 0-86101-142-2 .
- Carl Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships. Achievements of the merchant navy and their men in World War II. Broschek & Co, Hamburg 1934.
- Robert K. Massie : Castles of Steel. Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. Random House, New York NY 2003, ISBN 0-679-45671-6 .
- Randolph Pears: British Battleships 1892-1957. Putnam, London 1957, (Facsimile edition. Godfrey Cave Assoc., London 1979, ISBN 0-906223-14-8 ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Conway, p. 35
- ↑ Conway's, pp. 35ff .; Gibbons, p. 145
- ↑ a b Burt, p. 141
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Burt, p. 154
- ↑ a b c d e f Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. P. 7.
- ^ Massie, p. 217
- ↑ a b Pears, p. 21
- ↑ according to Burt, p. 154, a shell is said to have penetrated the rear chimney of the Gneisenau ; Conway's, p. 7, says Canopus got no hit