HMS Powerful (1895)
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|---|---|
| Powerful class | |
 HMS Powerful , 1905 in Australia |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| units | 2 |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | 1894 |
| Launch | July 24, 1895 |
| delivery | June 8, 1897 |
| Whereabouts | Sold for demolition August 31, 1929 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
14,200 tn.l. |
| length |
pp: 152.4 m (500 ft ) |
| width |
21.6 m (71 ft) |
| Draft |
8.2 m (27 ft) |
| crew |
894 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
22 kn |
| Range |
7000 nm at 14 kn (3000 tons of coal) |
| Armament |
|
| Coal supply |
3000 tn.l. |
|
Armor deck |
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| Gun shields / barbettes |
152 mm (6 in) |
| Sister ship | |
The Royal Navy's third HMS Powerful was a protected cruiser of the two-ship class named after her that entered service in 1897 as the largest cruiser in the world. The very large cruisers were primarily intended to hunt down enemy trade disruptors. She served on the China Station and then together with the sister ship HMS Terrible during the Second Boer War off South Africa, where her landing forces excelled. In 1905 the HMS Powerful moved to Australia and was the flagship of Australia Station from December to January 1911 . The HMS Powerful was housed in a new ship boy school named after her in 1912. As part of the reduction in training facilities, it was renamed Impregnable in November 1919 and remained as a stationary training ship in Devonport until it was sold for demolition after this school was closed on August 31, 1929.
Development history
The ships of the class were primarily intended to hunt down trade troublemakers and defeat the cruisers of other navies in one-on-one combat. The French armored cruisers, the Russian armored cruiser Rurik and the ships derived from it were considered to be likely opponents .
Initially 6 "cannons were intended as armament. However, the artillery department preferred equipment with 8" cannons. Finally, an agreement was reached on two newly developed 9.2 "single guns as bow and stern guns, as this weapon was also expected to be effective against ships of the line.
There was also a battery of twelve 6 "quick-loading guns in four double-decker casemates in the end positions on each side and two lower-lying individual casemates on each side. The eight lower casemate guns were relatively close above the waterline and could only be used effectively when the sea was calm lighter armament was placed mainly on the upper deck.
The two sister ships displaced 14,200 tn.l. , were 500 ft. (152.4 m) long at the waterline and were the first British cruisers to have four chimneys in a row. Two four-cylinder triple expansion machines with a total of 25,000 HP on two shafts served as the drive, which were supplied with steam by 48 Belleville water tube boilers .
In its acceptance test, the Powerful achieved a top speed of 21.8 knots at 25,866 PSi drive power in relatively bad weather and a 30-hour performance of 20.6 knots at 18,433 PSi.
Mission history
The Powerful , built by Vickers Limited in Barrow , was launched on July 24, 1895 and was christened by the Duchess of Devonshire . She came into service as the first ship of the class on June 8, 1897 and then transferred to China Station . In 87 days the cruiser ran via Las Palmas , Cape Town , Simonstown , Port Elizabeth , [[..]], Mauritius , Colombo , Singapore to Hong Kong . He was supposed to maintain a cruising speed of 12.5 knots to Mauritius and then carry out a 24-hour full steam test there. This led to damage that required a five-day repair stay and forced a speed reduction on the next stage. However, the government denied suspected damage in the House of Commons, which permanently reduced the operational capability of the ship.
Use in the Boer War
In 1899, the Powerful was on the march back home when tensions arose in South Africa. The cruiser was then ordered to Durban . On the way, the commander, Hedworth Lambton (later Sir Hedworth Meux ), took an infantry unit stationed there in Mauritius on board (448 men), which he transported to Cape Town until October 15. In Simonstown, the Powerful met her sister ship Terrible , which was to replace her on the march from England via Las Palmas and St. Helena to China and had arrived almost simultaneously. With over 1000 men, the Terrible had a considerably reinforced crew to replace the China Station. The two large cruisers, together with the cruiser HMS Doris , the guard ship HMS Monarch and the gunboat HMS Thrush, formed the Simonstown station of the Cape Squadron, which had further units in other ports (in particular the port of Durban and Delagoa Bay ). The large cruisers formed a landing corps (Naval Brigade) of 350 men from marines and parts of their crews. At the request of the army, an independent artillery detachment with makeshift guns set on wheels was formed, which was brought to Durban by the Powerful and in October 1899 four 12 pdr 76 mm rapid fire and two 4.7 "120 mm guns was able to bring over 320 km of mountainous terrain into the embattled Ladysmith , two days before the Boers enclosed the city for 119 days. In the course of the war, more land units of the navy were formed, after the relief of the beleaguered Ladysmith, especially through the use of more marines the Terrible and other naval guns, the crew members deployed ashore returned on board and the Powerful continued the march to England, entering Portsmouth on April 11, 1900. A memorial in commemorates the 47 dead of the Powerful during the Boer War Portsmouth.
The ship was overhauled on its return. The armament was reinforced by four additional 152 mm guns, with the middle casemates also being converted to double casemates.
Flagship in Australia
In August 1905, the Powerful was put back into service under Captain Lionel Halsey .
It replaced the armored cruiser Euryalus as the flagship of Australia Station , whose new commander Sir Wilmot Fawkes , most recently commander of the Cruiser Squadron of the Canal Fleet, was. In early December 1905, the Powerful arrived in Fremantle , Western Australia . The Australian squadron had four light cruisers of Pelorus class that he was allocated between 1903 and September 1905 and gave the old cruiser of the Pearl class from of which Katoomba and Wallaroo left in January 1906 as the last Australia. The sloop torch was also there. The Sloop Fantome and the yacht Sealark were later assigned to the station for surveying tasks . As the most modern units, the squadron had sister ships Challenger and Encounter , which were 2nd class protected cruisers , as well as the older Cambrian, which arrived shortly after the Powerful . 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 was to consist of one 1st class cruiser, three 2nd class and four 3rd class cruisers. Class pass.
On February 3, 1908, a radio message was transmitted over the Tasman Sea for the first time, with the HMS Powerful at sea being used as an intermediary between the HMS Pioneer in Wellington and the HMS Psyche in Sydney .
In August 1908, the journalist went Sydney Morning Herald , Charles Bean , aboard the flagship to a report about the visit of the American Great White Fleet to write with their 16 American warships. Bean published his reports in 1909 as a book under the title With the Flagship in the South , supplemented with photos and drawings. At the end of her service life, the Powerful visited Auckland , New Zealand again in 1911 .
In December 1911, the Powerful began the return voyage to Europe and left Fremantle on January 2, 1912 after the armored cruiser HMS Drake had been put back into service as the new flagship of Australia Station at the end of November . Both ships met in Colombo, where parts of the crews were still being swapped.
Final fate of the powerful
Since 1912, the Powerful served as a barge of a new training facility for crews in Devonport, which was opened on September 23, 1913 and as further training (living) ships the large cruiser Andromeda as "HMS Powerful II" and the old cruiser Caroline as "HMS Powerful III" received. When the war broke out, the two old cruisers were only intended to be used as troop transports, for which the Powerful was not used.
In November 1919, the two existing training facilities in Devonport were reduced to one, and only the older name was carried on, so that Powerful was renamed Impregnable . Your auxiliary ships were "Impregnable II" and "Impregnable IV". "Impregnable III" remained the former "Emerald", originally the screw frigate Black Prince in service with the Navy.
In August 1928 it was decided to close the training facility "HMS Impregnable" and the last students were released on January 1, 1929. The former Powerful was sold for demolition on August 31, 1929.
literature
- James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy. Chatham, London, Supplemented Edition 2006, ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8 .
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Studio Editions, 1990, ISBN 1-85170-378-0 .
- Antony Preston: The World's Worst Warships. Conway Maritime Press, London 2002, ISBN 0-85177-754-6 .
- John Roberts, HC Timewell, Roger Chesneau (Eds.), 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 .
- Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean: With the flagship in the South. Laurie, London 1909
- George Crowe: The Commission of HMS Terrible 1898-1902. G. Newnes, London
Web links
- HMS Powerful at battleships-cruisers (English)
- Powerful class at historyofwar (English)
- HMS Powerful at maritimequest
Individual evidence
- ^ Anthony Preston: The world's worst warships , p. 45.
- ↑ Information on the 9.2-inch Mk.VIII gun
- ↑ Information on the early 6-inch rapid-fire guns
- ↑ A bronze medal was issued for the christening, showing the ship on one side and the inscription 'HMS POWERFUL LENGTH 500 FEET 25000 HORSE POWER LAUNCHED BY HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AT BARROW IN FURNESS 24TH JULY 1895 THIS MEDAL IS MADE OF BRONZE FROM HMS POWERFUL '. In the Australian War Memorial catalog - reference ID Number: REL / 09940
- ↑ Information from the First Lord of the Admiralty in the House of Commons on March 17, 1898
- ↑ Information from the Admiralty in the House of Commons in March 1898
- ^ Statement by the First Sea Lord in the House of Commons on February 19, 1900
- ↑ Memorial for the HMS Powerful ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Biographical information on Halsey and information on the Australia Station of the Naval Historical Society of Australia
- ^ Powerful in Fremantle, December 1905
- ↑ 1. Trans-Tasman radio message ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Australian article on the ship's resume on departure
