HMS Euryalus (1901)
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|---|---|
 HMS Euryalus |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | July 18, 1899 |
| Launch | May 20, 1901 |
| Commissioning | January 5, 1904 |
| Whereabouts | Sold for demolition on July 1, 1920 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
12,000 tn.l. |
| length |
overall: 143.9 m (472 ft ) |
| width |
21.9 m (69.5 ft) |
| Draft |
7.9 m (26 ft) |
| crew |
760 men |
| drive |
30 Belleville water tube boilers, |
| speed |
21 kn |
| Armament |
2 × 233 mm L / 46 guns |
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Armor Belt Armor Decks Towers Casemates Command Tower |
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The fourth Euryalus the British Royal Navy was an armored cruiser of Cressy class . The class gained notoriety at the beginning of the First World War through the sinking of three of the six cruisers of this class ( Cressy , Hogue and Aboukir ) on September 22, 1914 by the German submarine U 9 under Leutnant zur See Otto Weddigen in the southern North Sea , in which 62 officers and 1,405 men lost their lives.
The Euryalus , which was the last cruiser of this class in service in 1904, had been in service before the war as the flagship of Australia Station and then in the Mediterranean and on the North American station before it was assigned to the reserve in 1912. At the beginning of the war, she and four of her sister ships formed the 7th cruiser squadron to protect the eastern access to the canal . On the day of the aforementioned attack, she was in port as the squadron's flagship due to a lack of coal.
It was then withdrawn from the North Sea and was used before Gallipoli and in the Red Sea and survived the World War.
Building history
The six Cressy- class cruisers were the return of the Royal Navy to the type of armored cruiser , which the Royal Navy had not procured for a number of years, but considered necessary again due to the armaments of other navies. The construction contracts for the six cruisers went to three private shipyards, each of which had two ships of the previous Diadem class being completed. The keel was laid in the years 1898 and 1899. As the first cruiser of the new class, the HMS ran Sutlej on 18 November 1899 at John Brown in Clydebank from the stack, then the lead ship of the class, HMS Cressy on December 4 at Fairfield in Govan followed , which entered service with the Royal Navy on May 28, 1901 as the first ship of its class. In 1902 four sister ships came into service. Only the completion of the HMS Euryalus at Vickers in Barrow was delayed by a fire during the equipment on June 11, 1901 to January 5, 1904. HMS Euryalus was named after Euryalus , a hero of the Greek sagas, and several times in the Royal Navy name used.
The new armor based on the Krupp system allowed protection at least against typical 15.2 cm cruiser armament at medium distances with a reasonable weight. The cruisers of the Cressy -class received a 152 mm thick belt armor, which started about 36 m after the bow, protected the middle part of the ships and narrowed back to 51 mm from 27 m in front of the stern. The built-in armored deck was in places thinner than on the protected cruisers of the Diadem class because of the protection provided by the belt armor . In total, additional armor of around 1,200 tons was installed. Like the previous cruisers of the Powerful and Diadem class, the ships had four chimneys standing one behind the other and conspicuous fans on the sides.
The main armament consisted of two 9.2-inch (233-mm) Mark X guns in single turrets at the bow and stern. In order to be able to use these weapons in a really useful manner, careful artillery training was necessary, as only a single gun was then available in many fire areas. The low bridge height of the ships and the range finders available when they were put into service did not enable good fire control. In addition, twelve 152 mm cannons from the BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun were available, but they were set up in casemates. The bottom eight guns were severely hindered by swell, as they were very close to the waterline and offered only a poor field of vision for the shooters. As anti-torpedo boat weapons, the cruisers had twelve twelve- pounder (76-mm) rapid-fire guns , most of which were set up in small casemates. There were also three three -pounder (47-mm) Hotchkiss rapid-fire cannons and two 18-inch (450-mm) underwater torpedo tubes from the Whitehead system .
Mission history
The Euryalus , which came into service in 1904, was relocated to Australia Station as the flagship after tests with the Canal Fleet in 1904 . She left Plymouth on January 22nd and ran via Malta , Port Said (where she spent a few days with the HMS Diadem ), Aden , Colombo , Batavia until March 18th to Albany . Until Colombo she had maintained an average speed of 15 knots at sea. On the last stage to the Australian continent, she got caught in a cyclone . After taking over 1100 tn.l. Coal, the armored cruiser continued its journey directly to Hobart , Tasmania .
Australia Station
On March 26, 1904, the armored cruiser Euryalus took over the duties of the flagship of Australia Station in Hobart from HMS Royal Arthur , which began its journey home to England under the previous flag captain. The Euryalus then entered Sydney on April 3 .
The station was in a state of upheaval. According to the Naval Agreement Act of 1903, which regulated the stationing of Royal Navy units in the Empire and the participation of the colonies in the costs, the squadron of Australia Station should consist of one 1st class cruiser, two 2nd class and four of the Pass 3rd grade. In fact, when the Euryalus arrived , the units of the Australian Auxiliary Squadron of 1891 formed the main part of the squadron with five old Pearl- class cruisers , of which HMS Ringarooma and HMS Tauranga in 1904, HMS Mildura in 1905 and HMS Katoomba and HMS Wallaroo only withdrew in January 1906 were.
The torpedo cannon boat HMS Boomerang was also available until July 1904, before it began its return journey to England with the Ringarooma . In addition, two more cruisers were used with the Pearl type HMS Phoebe, which has been in Australia since 1901, and the Psyche HMS, which has been on station since 1903 . The latter was the only ship that, as a 3rd class cruiser, complied with the agreements of the Naval Agreement Act before the Euryalus arrived (as a 1st class cruiser).
In addition, there were four sloops at the station with the sister ships HMS Pylades and HMS Torch , the HMS Sparrow and the HMS Mutine , of which Torch and Sparrow were decommissioned. After the arrival of the Euryalus , the newly commissioned sloops HMS Clio and HMS Cadmus were relocated to Australia by July 1904 , although they were relocated to the China station in 1905 after barely a year of service in Australia .
With the HMS Challenger , the first modern 2nd class cruiser arrived in Australia in July 1904, although it was not followed by her sister ship Encounter until 1906 . The more modern Challenger and Psyche should train locals in fleet service. From 1905 the stock of Australia Station filled with further cruisers of the Pelorus class , of which five ( Psyche , Pegasus , Prometheus , Pioneer and Pyramus ) of the nine cruisers of the class came to Australia. The Pioneer and Pyramus , intended as drillships for basic training , set out together on the voyage on which Pyramus had considerable difficulties with the boilers, had to be towed from the sister ship at times and only arrived in Australia in January 1906, supervised by the opposing psyche .
The service time of the Euryalus was essentially fulfilled with trips to various Australian ports. An "island trip" planned in August 1904 was canceled after the first stop in Suva . From October 10th to November 22nd there was a trip with the Challenger along the south coast to Tasmania, where several ships of the station held exercises, and then on alone on the east coast of Australia to Fremantle and then to Singapore , where the station commander, Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe , attended a meeting of the commanders of the Eastern Fleet, to which the commanders of the China and East Indies stations had also traveled and joint exercises were discussed. The return journey took place on the same route, this time Albany being the first Australian port. In December there was another trip to Tasmania and with the cruisers Challenger and Psyche in February 1905 a visit to New Zealand . An eight hour test in May 1905 after a brief overhaul showed that the Euryalus was able to run over 22 knots.
Since Great Britain and Japan renewed their alliance in June, Great Britain reduced its China station and withdrew the Canopus -class liners used there . At the same time, it was decided to redistribute the existing armored cruisers and in August it was decided to withdraw the Euryalus from Australia Station, as it was due for a crew change. At the beginning of December 1905, the older armored cruiser 1st class HMS Powerful arrived in Fremantle with the new station commander, Vice Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes , where the previous commander, who had been promoted to admiral, Sir Arthur Fanshawe, and the Euryalus were replaced as flagship and began their journey home .
Further prewar missions
The Euryalus became the flagship of the North America & West Indies station and the 4th cruiser squadron stationed there under Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet , to which the sister ships Hogue and Sutlej , the Highflyer , as well as the HMS Isis of the Eclipse class and the Indefatigable , had also withdrawn from China belonged to the Apollo class .
The station was also subject to the old 3rd class cruiser HMS Calypso , which was used as a training ship for the Newfoundland reservists, and the sloop HMS Shearwater , which was used on the American west coast. The HMS Brilliant of the Apollo class served as a fisheries protection ship off Newfoundland . On February 8, 1907, the station was closed and the Euryalus remained the flagship of the 4th Cruiser (Particular Service) Squadron under Rear Admiral Inglefield , which, in addition to the flagship, included up to five seagoing training ships for ship boys, trainees and cadets. In addition to the sister ships Hogue and Sutlej , the Cressy also joined the squadron at the end of 1907, while the other two cruisers of the class ( Bacchante and Aboukir ) remained in the 3rd cruiser squadron of the Mediterranean fleet until 1912.
After the great earthquake in Messina on December 28, 1908, British ships supported the rescue work from December 29, 1909 and the Euryalus from January 1, 1909 . The sister ship Sutlej , the first British ship to arrive, worked very closely with units of the Russian fleet, which were the first to provide on-site support with the ships of the line Slawa and Zessarewitsch and the armored cruiser Admiral Makarow . The Euryalus remained with the 4th Cruiser Squadron until 1912 , before being assigned to the reserve.
War mission in the North Sea
The Cressy-class cruisers were already out of date by the beginning of World War I. They were therefore only entrusted with light patrol duties; Among other things, because they could not maintain the minimum march required for fleet operations for a long time. Only the Sutlej was assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet . The other five were combined in the 7th cruiser squadron in the southern North Sea, which should secure the Thames estuary and the canal access. This cruiser squadron was also referred to variously as "live bait". During the sea battle at Heligoland on August 28, 1914, all five ships together with the former flagship of the Harwich Force , HMS Amethyst , formed the part of the remote security of the Harwich Force called Force C , which attacked the German outpost line with its destroyers and two light cruisers. The HMS Arethusa , severely damaged in battle , was finally brought in by the armored cruiser HMS Hogue .
In the early morning of September 22, 1914, the Cressy , Hogue and Aboukir were then lost to torpedo hits by the German U- 9 submarine . The three armored cruisers were in the southern North Sea in the sea area of the so-called Hoofden with ten knots and a distance of two nautical miles between the ships on a control voyage; another backup was not available.
see main article Cressy class
The two remaining armored cruisers of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, Euryalus and Bacchante , were then placed under the Western Channel patrol , commanded by Rear Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss , whose flagship was the Euryalus . In October, both cruisers went to Gibraltar to accompany a convoy and moved through the Mediterranean to the Suez Canal in February 1915 . In April both cruisers were sent to the Dardanelles.
Use in front of the Dardanelles
The Euryalus attacked from March 5 to 15 with the liners HMS Triumph and HMS Swiftsure and supported by a seaplane carrier and minesweeper Smyrna , as there was fear of the establishment of a submarine base. The unit was commanded by Vice Admiral Richard Peirse on the Euryalus , the commander of the Royal Navy for Egypt and the East Indies. The planned destruction of the protective forts and the removal of any minefields did not succeed. On the 11th, the seaplane carrier, the former German merchant ship Anne Rickmers, was torpedoed by the Turkish torpedo boat Demir Hissar . The British governor refused to surrender.
On the 15th the British association withdrew to the fleet that was gathering in front of the Dardanelles. When Rear Admiral Wemyss, who had led the construction of Mudros as the British base, was appointed commander of the landings on Gallipoli, he again chose the Euryalus as the flagship. On the evening of April 24, 1915, she took three companies of the Lancashire Fusiliers on board in order to deploy them as the foremost landing force. At 4:00 a.m. on April 25, 1915, the soldiers climbed into civilian lifeboats and the boats of the Euryalus , which were towed by the cruiser's steam cutters until 5:50 a.m. in front of the landing section 'W' at Tekke Burnu . The ship of the line Implacable transported further forces for the landing section to the transshipment zone, which, after the troops had been surrendered for section W, ran to section `X´ to transfer the remaining troops from Bort. The sailors of the Euryalus rowed the soldiers ashore in the gunfire of the Turkish defenders in section 'W'. The battalion lost eleven officers and 350 men, and of the 80 men employed by the Euryalus , 57 were wounded and six killed. The Lancashire Fusiliers received six Victoria Crosses for the landing maneuver.
To give Wemyss an overview of the problems with the landing maneuvers, the Euryalus was very close to the coast. After the unfavorable course of the land operations, the retreat of the Allies began in December 1915, which Wemyss again commanded and monitored by the Euryalus . The armored cruiser ran back to the Suez Canal with the troops.
Support the Arab uprising
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On January 16, 1916, the Euryalus became the flagship of the new Commander-in-Chief of the East Indian Station , to which Wemyss was appointed for his services in the Gallipoli campaign. One of the first actions was the expulsion from Egypt of the Turkish attackers who had invaded the country from Libya with the support of the Senussi . The Euryalus supported the blockade of Libya and the advance of the army, which ended with the reconquest of Sollum on March 14, 1916.
Wemyss used the Euryalus for his diplomatic and military campaign in the Middle East in 1916 and 1917. On September 26, 1916, the admiral officially visited Jeddah and the new British ally Sherif Hussein together with Ronald Storrs , the political advisor to the commander in Egypt . Wemyss supported the Arab uprising against the Turks, whereby he liked to show the large ship with the four chimneys. In January 1917, the Euryalus shelled the port of El Wejh behind the Turkish lines on the Red Sea in coordination with Sherif Hussein and T. E. Lawrence before their land attack. The armored cruiser also transported Arab troops from the south far north and supported the advance with artillery support. One such amphibious operation took Aqaba . The Euryalus remained after the conquest a while before the harbor are to secure the conquest and to impress with his appearance. At the same time, the crew improved the port facilities in order to provide better supplies for the Bedouin army, which, under Hussein's son, Faisal , later King of Iraq, advised by TE Lawrence, supported the British campaign in Palestine. Faisal later declared Admiral Wemyss to be "The father and mother of the revolt" and not Lawrence. When Wemyss gave up command in September 1917 to become First Sea Lord , the Euryalus remained the flagship of the East Indian station until 1919, which then only extended from India to Aden. The Red Sea then belonged again to the area of command of the Mediterranean fleet as it had before the war. At the end of the war, apart from the Euryalus , the old cruisers Diana, Doris, Juno and Venus also belonged to the East Indies station. At the beginning of 1919 the armored cruiser returned home and was decommissioned.
Final fate
On July 1, 1920, the Euryalus was sold for demolition, which finally took place in Germany. ??
References and comments
- ↑ Information in parliament on the fire
- ↑ Information on the 6-inch Mk.VII gun
- ↑ THE NEW FLAGSHIP Euryalus The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 28 March 1904
- ↑ AUSTRALIA'S FIRST FLEET The Sydney Morning Herald, September 5, 1891
- ↑ 4th cruiser squadron with further sources The squadron should conduct three training trips a year, including one to the Caribbean. After each voyage, the ships should return to England at fixed times in order to take new training classes on board. Overall, the squadron should be at sea for about 30 weeks each year.
- ↑ ( Euryalus as flagship of Rear Admiral Arthur H. Christian, commander of all units leaving the area of the Thames estuary, Bacchante flagship of Rear Admiral Henry Hervey Campbell , commander of the 7th CS, Cressy , Hogue and Aboukir )
- ^ Richard Peirse (Royal Navy officer) in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ According to one source on September 24, 1920, according to another, the ship moved to Hong Kong in November 1917 and was decommissioned there. A planned conversion to a mine layer did not take place.
literature
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Robert Massie: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the winning of the Great War at sea. Johnathan Cape, 2004, ISBN 0-224-04092-8 .
