HMS Natal
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| Overview | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| Shipyard |
Vickers Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness |
| Keel laying | January 6, 1904 |
| Launch | September 30, 1905 |
| Namesake | Natal Colony , South Africa |
| Commissioning | March 5, 1907 |
| Whereabouts | sunk on December 30, 1915 after an ammunition explosion |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
13,550 ts |
| length |
L pp 146.3 m, L o.a. 154.03 m |
| width |
22.4 m |
| Draft |
7.62-8.4 m |
| crew |
743 men |
| drive |
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| speed |
22.9 kn |
| Armament |
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| Bunker supply |
2,050 ts coal |
| Armor |
Belt: 152 mm |
The HMS Natal was a Warrior- class armored cruiser of the Royal Navy that was launched in 1905 and sank in an ammunition chamber explosion in the Cromarty Firth in 1915 . It was named after the colony of Natal in South Africa.
History of the ship
The Natal was built by Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness from January 1904 , launched on September 30, 1905 as the third ship of the Warrior- class, and entered service on March 5, 1907. It got its name because the construction costs were donated by the residents of the South African province of Natal. Together with her three sister ships, she initially belonged to the "5th Cruiser Squadron" of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy, and from 1909 to the "2nd Cruiser Squadron". From December 1909 to June 1911 she was under the command of William Reginald Hall , later director of the British Naval Intelligence Service.
In November / December 1912 she served with her sister ship Cochrane and the somewhat more modern Defense as an escort ship for the post-liner Medina (12,358 GRT, 19 kn), which left Portsmouth on November 11th. This was the tenth M-Class ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and only came into service as a royal yacht after completion. She brought King George V and Queen Mary of England to India, where George was to be celebrated as Emperor of India by the Indian princes in Delhi on December 12 of the same year . While Natal and Cochrane returned the medina to Great Britain by February 5, 1913, the defense was moved to the China station .
War effort and loss
At the beginning of the First World War , the Natal was assigned to the 2nd cruiser squadron of the Grand Fleet , where she served alongside the sister ships Cochrane and Achilles ; The ship's commanding officer at that time was Captain Eric Back.
On the afternoon of December 30, 1915, around 3:20 p.m., a series of heavy explosions occurred without warning on Natal, lying with her squadron off Cromarty ( Scotland ) , which capsized and sank the cruiser within five minutes. Some of the crew members who were able to save themselves from the wreck died in the waters of the Firth of Cromarty from hypothermia or exhaustion. 387 survivors, including 14 officers, were rescued. The exact number of victims is still controversial, estimates range between 390 and 421 dead, including the commandant, his wife, ten other women and children and two dock workers. As far as the victims could be recovered, they were placed in the cemeteries of Invergordon (Rosskeen Churchyard) and Cromarty (Gaelic Chapel Graveyard).
There was much speculation about the cause of the sinking, such as the explosion of a mine laid by a German submarine or sabotage . During an examination of the wreck by divers it was found that the ship was destroyed by a massive internal explosion. A court martial failed to clearly clarify the cause of the accident. The most likely explanation is a cordite spontaneous combustion fire that detonated an ammunition magazine. Similarly, the battleships Bulwark and Vanguard were lost in 1914 and 1917 .
In the following years, several salvage operations took place on the wreck; Finally, it was blown up in the 1970s because it was seen as a danger to shipping. Parts of the wreckage of the Natal are still partially visible, the site of the wreck is marked by a radar buoy. The remains of the Natal at 57 ° 41 ′ N , 4 ° 5 ′ W are now considered a war grave and have been protected by the Protection of Military Remains since 2008 Act placed under protection as a "Controlled Site". This means that it is forbidden within 100 meters to dive without permission and touch, modify, penetrate or excavate the remains of the wreck. There are monuments commemorating the sinking of the Natal in Durban (South Africa), in the Cathedral of Portsmouth and in Invergordon (here the "Natal Gardens").
literature
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (eds.): Warships of the World 1860 to 1905 - Volume 1: Great Britain / Germany , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz, 1983, ISBN 3-7637-5402-4
- Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray (Eds.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906-1921 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland (1984), ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- A. Cecil Hampshire: They Called it Accident , William Kimber, London (1961)
Web links
- Basic court-martial file information at the National Archives
- Pictures and information about the HMS Natal
Footnotes
- ↑ L pp = length between perpendiculars or length between perpendiculars: distance between the axis of the rudder stock and the trailing edge of the leading edge in the construction waterline.
- ↑ QF is the abbreviation for "quick fire" and means that the grenade and cartridge were connected to one another, which shortened the loading time.
- ↑ a b HMS Natal: A cruiser's story (1905–1915)
- ↑ Image of the medina as a royal yacht
- ↑ The sabotage theory advocated by A. Cecil Hampshire: They Called it Accident , William Kimber, London 1961
- ^ The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2008