HMS Majestic (1895)
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.jpg) The HMS Majestic |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | February 5, 1894 |
| Launch | January 31, 1895 |
| Commissioning | December 12, 1895 |
| Whereabouts | sank on May 27, 1915 after being hit by a torpedo |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
14,900 ts, max. 16,000 ts |
| length |
126 m pp (413 ft) |
| width |
22.9 m (75 ft) |
| Draft |
8.4 m (27.5 ft) |
| crew |
757 men |
| drive |
24 Belleville boilers , |
| speed |
16.5 kn |
| Range |
4700 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
• 4 × 305 mm L / 35 Mk.VIII cannon |
| Armor |
Harvey system |
| Belt armor |
up to 229 mm (9 in) |
| upper belt |
152 mm (6 in) |
| Armored deck |
63 to 102 mm (2.5-4 in) |
| Artillery towers |
254 mm (10 in) |
| Barbeds |
356 mm (14 in) |
| Casemates |
152 mm (6 in) |
| Command tower |
356 mm (14 in) |
| Armored bulkheads |
305 to 356 mm (14-12 in) |
The HMS Majestic was the lead ship of the Royal Navy class of ships of the line named after her . She was thus the type ship for almost all ships of the line, including other navies, with two twin towers of heavy artillery, which are also known as unit ships of the line, until the appearance of the HMS Dreadnought with a significantly increased number of heavy artillery guns. At the same time, armor with hardened steel according to Harvey was introduced in British ships of the line, which resulted in increased armor protection with lower thickness and weight. Outwardly, the Majestic and her sister ships were the last British ships of the line with funnels side by side. The Majestic served in the Canal Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet from 1895 to 1906 before being assigned to the reserve for the first time. Until the beginning of the First World War , it was activated and modernized several times for short periods. Activated again in August 1914, she took on various tasks with the Channel Fleet before she was assigned to the British units in front of the Dardanelles in February 1915 and from the end of the month took part in attempts to break through the strait there. Then she supported the land forces landed on Gallipoli with her artillery. On May 27, 1915, the Majestic was the third ship of the line to be torpedoed off Gallipoli within 14 days . After a torpedo hit by the German U- 21 submarine under Otto Hersing, she sank within a few minutes of the landing section "W" at Cape Helles . 49 men of their crew died.
Building history
The keel laying of the Majestic took place on February 5, 1894 at the naval shipyard in Portsmouth (Portsmouth Dockyard), where she was launched on January 31, 1895 and completed in December 1895.
When the Majestic was launched, the 128.4 m long liner with a planned maximum displacement of 16,000 tons was the world's largest liner. She and her eight sister ships were considered good seagoing ships when they were completed, but with a high consumption of coal. As the last British ships of the line, they had chimneys side by side instead of one behind the other. The Majestic was converted to an oil furnace in 1907/1908.
The Majestic had the armored command post in front of the newly developed bridge construction around the base of the front mast, which was supposed to prevent that in the event of combat damage, bridge debris would obstruct the command post. Like six of her sister ships, the Majestic had pear-shaped barbettes and a fixed loading position for her main guns. Only the sister ships Caesar and Illustrious had round barbettes and could load their main armament in any side position, as was customary with the following classes.
The Majestic and her sister ships had nine-inch (229 mm) belt armor made of Harvey steel , which gave the ships the same protection as on previous ships, but weighed considerably less. The ships were therefore given considerably wider armored belts than their predecessors and their hulls were divided into 150 watertight compartments.
The Majestic and her sister ships received a new gun as their main armament, the 46-ton 12-inch (305-mm) L / 35-Mk. VIII cannon , the first 12-inch cannon on a ship of the line in a number of years. The new cannon was considerably better and lighter than the previously related 13.5-inch (343-mm) gun with which the Admiral and Royal Sovereign classes were equipped. The Majestic had 400 projectiles each for its four guns.
The weight savings in the main artillery allowed the installation of a central artillery battery of twelve 6-inch (152-mm) L / 40 guns. on the ships of the Majestic class, the largest battery of this type on a British liner up to that point. In addition, the ships had four underwater torpedo tubes and a surface pipe at the stern. To protect against torpedo boats, 16 twelve-pounders were distributed on the superstructure, plus twelve three-pounders of the Hotchkiss type built under license, some of which were installed in the masts.
Mission history
The HMS Majestic entered service on December 12, 1895 as the first ship of the Royal Navy class for the Canal Squadron.
Pre-war missions
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By April 1898, the Majestic was followed by her seven sister ships, of which, however, Victorious , Caesar and Illustrious went to the Mediterranean fleet . Special events of her service with the Canal Fleet were the fleet shows on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on June 26, 1897 at Spithead and the coronation of King Edward VII on August 16, 1902. From February to July 1904 the Majestic was thoroughly overhauled in Portsmouth .
When the fleet was reorganized in January 1905, it became part of the Atlantic Fleet by renaming the Channel Fleet . When a Channel Fleet was re-established, she remained part of the Atlantic Fleet, to which she belonged in the summer of 1906 together with her sister ships Magnificient and Victorious, in addition to five new King Edward VII class liners . On October 1, 1906, the Majestic was decommissioned and assigned to the reserves in Portsmouth.
On February 26, 1907, the Majestic was put back into service in Portsmouth as the flagship of the Commander of the Nore Division of the new Home Fleet and also relocated to the Nore. It was overhauled there at the end of the year and received a radio system and a new fire control system. It lost its flagship status in January 1908, but remained part of the Nore Division. In June 1908 she moved to the Devonport Division of Home Fleet, where further modernizations of the ship were made in 1909. The Devonport Division was renamed the 3rd Division in March 1909 and the 4th Division in August 1910. In 1911 the Majestic was overhauled again in Devonport. In May 1912 there was another reclassification of the fleet and the Majestic became part of the 7th battle squadron of the 3rd (reserve) fleet in Devonport, which it formed with its sister ships Caesar , Illustrious , Jupiter and Prince George . On July 14, 1912, during an exercise, she collided with her sister ship Victorious without suffering any serious damage.
War effort
When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the Majestic was assigned to the 7th Battle Squadron of the Channel Fleet . The Majestic was overhauled in August and September 1914 in order to secure the transfer of the British Expeditionary Force to France at the end of September 1914. From October 3-14, 1914, she accompanied the first transport of Canadian troops. At the end of October 1914 she became a guard ship in the Nore and moved to the Humber on November 3 in the same function . In December 1914, the Majestic became part of the Dover Patrol and formed a unit with the old ship of the line HMS Revenge in support of the army, and on December 15, 1914, both ships fired at German artillery positions near Nieuwpoort on the coast of Flanders . From January 1915, the base for the Majestic Portland , like most other heavy units, was the Channel Fleet.
Use on the Dardanelles
In February 1915, the Majestic was assigned to the units for the beginning Dardanelles campaign , which should create a route across Turkey in support of the Russian ally. Under Captain HFG Talbot Ashe , the Majestic sailed for the Mediterranean in early February. In Malta it was equipped with a mine defense system, which was called "mine-catching gear", so that it could be used as a kind of barrier breaker . On February 24, 1915, she arrived in front of the Dardanelles and on the 26th ran for the first time from Tenedos to bombard Turkish forts in the Dardanelles. She was one of the first heavy Allied units to penetrate the straits with the ships of the line Albion and Triumph and they fired at the forts in the narrows from 9:14 a.m. to 5:40 p.m. Majestic suffered a hit below the waterline, but was able to continue the fire. It was used in the same way the following day. On March 1, 1915, they supported the first landings in the areas of the outer forts, which they fired from 11:25 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. On the 3rd, it was used for further bombardments, before it withdrew to Moudros on the 8th , and on the 9th from 10:07 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., it again bombarded Turkish positions at the Dardanelles entrance. On the 10th she retired to Tenedos. On March 15, 1915, another mission took place at the Dardanelles entrance with a march back to Tenedos on March 16.
The Majestic took part in the attempt to break through the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915. From 2:20 p.m. they shelled Fort N ° 9 and field batteries in the woods by the strait. While she was firing at Fort N ° 9, the HMS Ocean was hit hard , which was ultimately lost. Majestic broke off the bombardment at 6:35 p.m. as ordered. She had received four hits, two at the base of the mast and two in the forecastle and reached Tenedos at 10:00 p.m. with one dead and several wounded.
On March 22nd, the Majestic was again directly in front of the Dardanelles and fired twice on Turkish positions on the 28th and then again on April 14th. On April 18, she shot at the abandoned British submarine E15 near Fort Dardanos . When its occupation by the Turks threatened, the transport boats of the Majestic and the Triumph , E15 destroyed with torpedoes. However, the Majestic's boat was sunk by Turkish coastal batteries during the retreat. Majestic returned to Tenedos on April 21st.
On April 25, 1915, the Majestic was back in action, supported the Gallipoli with her artillery into the evening hours and reported the landing to London via radio . She took 99 wounded on board after 9 p.m. and picked up their boats again before she anchored off Gallipoli overnight. The next morning at 6:17 a.m. she opened fire again on identified artillery positions. On April 27, they continued the mission until noon, with the Turkish side at least scored near hits. On April 29th the Majestic was in action again and anchored off Gallipoli the night before.
Loss of the Majestic
At the end of May, the Majestic replaced the Triumph as the flagship of Rear Admiral Stuart Nicholson , the commander of the support squadron at Cape Helles .
On May 27, 1915 in front of the landing section "W" at Cape Helles, the Majestic received a torpedo hit at around 6:45 am despite being secured by destroyers and torpedo protection nets. There was a big explosion; the HMS Majestic was immediately listed to port and capsized in a few minutes. In the water, which is only 16 m deep, her mast struck the ground. 49 men died in the sinking.
The attacker was the German U 21 submarine under Otto Hersing , which had fired a torpedo through the destroyer's locking ring. U 21 was the first German submarine to march from the North Sea into the Mediterranean and after calling at Cattaro , marched on to the Dardanelles. After the Majestic was sunk , the boat marched to Constantinople , where the commander was awarded the Pour le Mérite .
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The Majestic was the third ship of the line to be torpedoed off Gallipoli within two weeks. U 21 had already sunk the Triumph two days earlier . The first sinking of a ship of the line off the Dardanelles with torpedoes was achieved by the Turkish torpedo boat Muavenet-i Milliye with a night attack on the Goliath . The loss of the Majestic led to the extensive renunciation of support from heavy ships. In the future, mainly old cruisers and monitors built for this purpose were used.
The masts of the capsizing Majestic got stuck in the seabed and the bottom of the ship remained visible for months until her front mast collapsed in a storm on the night of November 17, 1915. The wreck lies at the position 40 ° 3 ' N , 26 ° 11' O .
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. Conway Maritime Press, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- FJ Dittmar, JJ Colledge: British Warships 1914-1919. Ian Allen, London 1972, ISBN 0-7110-0380-7 .
- 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.
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 1985, ISBN 0-87021-907-3 .
Web links
- Majestic on marinequest.com
- Majestic , typo at Canadian Convoy
- Sinking of the Majestic
- Majestic- class in World War I
Footnotes
- ↑ Burt, p. 114.
- ↑ a b c Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905 , p. 34
- ↑ a b c d Gibbons, p. 137.
- ↑ 12 "/ 35 (30.5 cm) Mark VIII
- ↑ 6 "/ 40 (15.2 cm) QF Marks I, II and III
- ↑ Conway's, p. 34
- ↑ 12-pdr -3 "/ 50 (7.62 cm) - 18cwt QF Mark I.
- ↑ Hotchkiss 3-pdr (1.4 kg) -1.85 "/ 40 (47 mm) - QF Marks I and II
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Burt, p. 130.
- ↑ a b c Conway's, p. 7
- ↑ Burt, pp. 130f.
- ↑ a b c Burt, p. 131
- ↑ Burt, p. 131, Conway, p. 7
- ↑ Burt, p. 131
- ↑ Majestic