HMS Prince of Wales (1902)
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_in_1912_2.jpg) HMS Prince of Wales 1912 |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Shipyard |
Chatham Dockyard , Chatham |
| Keel laying | March 20, 1901 |
| Launch | March 25, 1902 |
| Commissioning | May 18, 1904 |
| Decommissioning | March 1917 |
| Whereabouts | Sold for demolition April 12, 1920 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
14,600 tn.l. , Max. 16,105 tn.l. |
| length |
Lpp. 125.3 m (411 ft); |
| width |
22.9 m (75 ft) |
| Draft |
7.7 m (25.33 ft) |
| crew |
747 man (peace) |
| drive |
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| speed |
18 kn , 18.35 kn upon acceptance |
| Range |
5550 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
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| Fuel supply |
?? t coal |
| Belt armor |
38-231 mm (1.5-9 in) |
| deck |
25–76 mm (1–3 in) |
| Armored bulkheads |
231–305 mm (9–12 in) |
| Towers |
203-254 mm (8-10 in) |
| Barbeds |
305 mm (12 in) |
| Casemates |
152 mm (6 in) |
| Command tower |
360 mm (14 in) |
The HMS Prince of Wales was a battleship of the Formidable-class of the British Royal Navy . She was the last ship of the line built by Sir William Henry White and the last of 29 ships of the line of the Majestic , Canopus , Formidable , London , Duncan and Queen classes that came into service between 1895 and 1904 and of the common The basic design of the HMS Majestic , which had been improved in various directions and finally ended in the Queen and Prince of Wales . The Prince of Wales was also the last ship of the line with the Belleville boilers, which were always controversial in the Navy . During the First World War it was first used on the canal , then on the Dardanelles and finally on the Strait of Otranto before being decommissioned in 1917.
History of the ship
The Royal Navy's sixth HMS Prince of Wales was launched in Chatham on March 25, 1902 as the eighth and last ship of the Formidable class and entered service in March 1904. The cost of construction amounted to 1.1 million £ . The main armament of the ship of the line consisted of four 12- inch (305 mm) type Mk IX guns in two twin turrets and twelve 6-inch (152 mm) type Mk VII guns in side casemates . Compared to the first three ships of her class, the Prince of Wales - like the sister ships London , Bulwark , Venerable and Queen - had a slightly different design, above all the deck armor reduced by half an inch, which resulted in a slightly shallower draft. This is why some of these ships are referred to as the London class, but it is only a minor variant of the Formidable class. Due to other smaller variants (kidney-shaped upper command post in the front mast, different distribution of the Krupp tank) and the time lag to the six previous sister ships - three years between the launch of the Venerable , the last ship of the first series, and that of the Queen - the Queen and the Prince of Wales partly as a separate class of ships ( Queen class). The Prince of Wales was the last British battleship to receive the technically problematic Belleville boilers, the otherwise identical sister ship Queen was equipped with boilers of the Babcock & Wilcox type. The eight ships of the class together formed a tactical group. Due to the construction of the dreadnoughts , the Queen and her sister ships were technically obsolete by the end of 1906 - two years after they were put into service.
Use until 1914
The HMS Prince of Wales was completed in March 1904 and entered service in Chatham for the Mediterranean Fleet on May 18 , where all eight Formidable- class ships were in service at the time . While serving in the Mediterranean , she collided with the SS Enidiven on July 29, 1905, without suffering any serious damage. In April 1906 there was an explosion in the machine during tests of the possible maximum speed. Three men were killed and four others injured. The first mission in the Mediterranean ended on May 28, 1906, when the Prince of Wales decommissioned the Portsmouth Dockyard for an overhaul. On September 8, 1906, the Prince of Wales was put back into service for the Mediterranean Fleet, where she became the flagship of the 2nd Admiral in August 1907 . The next overhaul took place in Malta in 1908 .
_in_1912.jpg)
In February 1909, the Prince of Wales moved as the flagship of the Atlantic fleet stationed in Gibraltar , where her next overhaul took place in 1911. She served as the flagship for Prince Louis of Battenberg , from December 1910 John Jellicoe and finally Cecil Burney . The liner ships of the Atlantic fleet also included the sister ships London - as the flagship of the 2nd Admiral - Queen , Formidable , Implacable and Venerable .
On May 13, 1912, the Prince of Wales moved with the reorganization of the fleet as the flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet , which arose from the previous “Battle Squadron” of the disbanded Atlantic Fleet. It moved back from Gibraltar to English ports and the previous six ships of the Formidable class were replaced by slightly newer ships. In 1912 , the Prince of Wales became part of the 2nd (reserve) fleet in the 5th Battle Squadron in Portsmouth , to which all ships of the Formidable class belonged.
On June 2, 1913, during an exercise, she rammed the submarine HMS C32 without taking any damage.
War effort
After the beginning of the First World War , the liner, like all eight ships of the Formidable class, belonged to the “5th Battle Squadron” of the Canal Fleet stationed in Portland . On August 25, 1914, she was involved in the transport of the Portsmouth Marine Brigade to Ostend ( Belgium ), where they should help in the defense of the city against the advancing Germans . On November 14, 1914, the squadron moved to Sheerness as security against a feared invasion, but then moved back to Portland on December 30, 1914.
The day after the unsuccessful attempt to break through the Dardanelles , the Prince of Wales was assigned to the naval association operating in front of the Dardanelles. She left Portland on March 20, 1915 and arrived at the Dardanelles on March 29, and took part in the Battle of Gallipoli . The liner came into action on May 22, 1915 when the ANZAC troops landed at Ari Burnu (Anzac Cove), where they put parts of the 3rd Australian Brigade ashore with steam launches.
She was then transferred to the Adriatic Sea to Taranto on May 22, 1915 with the liners HMS Implacable , HMS London , and HMS Queen , where they formed the "2nd Detached Squadron" to support the new ally Italy. From March to June 1916 she was the flagship of this squadron before going to Gibraltar for an overhaul. This was followed by another deployment on the Adriatic.
Whereabouts
In February 1917 the Prince of Wales was withdrawn from the Adriatic, was in Gibraltar from February 28 to March 10, 1917 and at the end of the month in Devonport, where she was decommissioned and assigned to the reserve. She was only used as a residential ship.
After its final retirement on November 10, 1919, the HMS Prince of Wales was sold on April 12, 1920 to the Ward company for demolition and arrived in Milford Haven in June 1920 .
literature
- RA Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904 . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1988
- 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
