HMS Undaunted (1914)

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' Arethusa' class
HMS Undaunted
HMS Undaunted
Overview
Type Light cruiser
units 8th
Shipyard

Fairfield , Govan

Keel laying December 21, 1912
Launch April 28, 1914
delivery . August 1914
period of service

1914-1920

Whereabouts Sold for demolition April 9, 1923
Technical specifications
displacement

Standard : 3,500  ts
maximum: 4,400 ts

length

overall: 132.98 m (436 ft)
pp .: 120.05 m (410 ft)

width

 11.9 m (39 ft)

Draft

   4.12 m (13.5 ft)

crew

318 men

drive
speed

28.5 kn

Armament
Fuel supply

482 ts fuel oil (max. 810 ts)

Armor
Command tower

152 mm (6 in)

Belt armor

25-60 mm (1-2.25 in)

deck

25 mm (1 in)

The HMS Undaunted was an Arethusa- class light cruiser of the Royal Navy . The Undaunted sank four German torpedo boats with four destroyers on October 17, 1914 under Georg Thiele in the sea ​​battle off Texel and took part in securing the attack by British seaplanes on Cuxhaven on December 25, 1914 and in the battle on the Doggerbank on January 24, 1915. The Undaunted was sold for demolition on April 9, 1923.

The Arethusa class

The ships of the Arethusa class of 3,500 ts were the Royal Navy's first attempt to create a uniform light cruiser again, having previously been used with the late scout cruisers of the Boadicea , Blonde and Active classes as well as the more than 5,000 t displaced cruisers of the different series of the Town class had procured two different types at the same time. After discussion in a committee, eight armored light cruisers were ordered from five shipyards in September 1912 . In October the keel-laying of the first two ships took place at the state shipyards in Chatham and Devonport and in December 1912 the third ship, the later Undaunted , under construction no. 495 at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company . In addition, Beardmore built three cruisers in Dalmuir and Vickers built two cruisers of this type in Barrow .

The new type had a pure oil drive and a relatively light turbine system that was more based on the previous versions for destroyers. Unlike the previous scouts , the armor was more based on the town cruisers. The 25 mm thick armored deck not only protected the propulsion system, but also the controls. There was also a side armor that reached from the front to the rear. The thickness increased from 37 mm to 75 mm in the area of ​​the drive system and decreased back to 50 mm towards the rear.
In retrospect, the armament of the cruiser was not chosen correctly, as a mixed main armament was chosen again. This had already led to unsatisfactory results in the 1890s and with the town cruisers. Two individual 152 mm Mk.XII guns were installed as bow and stern guns , of which only the front received a protective shield. The other armament consisted of six 102 mm Mk.V guns . The supply of the guns with ammunition and the assessment of the shooting results in action turned out to be problematic.
In addition, the ships initially received an Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickers gun as an anti-aircraft weapon (which did not prove itself) and four 533 mm torpedo tubes.

During the war, the anti-aircraft armament on all ships was replaced and the torpedo armament was reinforced. As early as 1915, five ships temporarily carried an aircraft with them and in 1918 the seven remaining ships had an aircraft platform on the forecastle above the bow gun, a tripod mast and a fire control system. Some had a mine-laying facility or the opportunity to carry tethered balloons.

At the start of the war, five of the eight Arethusa- class ships had been launched and all could be put into service by March 1915. They turned out to be well suited for service in the North Sea, but turned out to be very tight. The following C-class cruisers , displacing more than 4000 ts, eight of which were ordered in 1913 and under construction at the start of the war, eliminated this deficiency. Of this type, 28 cruisers were built in seven subgroups.

Mission history

Launched on April 28, 1914 in Govan near Fairfield, HMS Undaunted was put into service as the second ship of the class and replaced her sister ship HMS Arethusa as the commander of the 3rd destroyer flotilla with the Harwich Force , which was first used in the Sea battle near Helgoland on August 28, 1914 was badly damaged. Its first commanding officer was Captain Cecil H. Fox , who had previously commanded the HMS Amphion , which was the first ship in the Royal Navy to be lost to mines in the First World War on August 6, 1914.

HMS Loyal
German torpedo boat type 1898

Battle of Texel

In the early afternoon of October 17, 1914, the set Undaunted on a routine patrol with the members of the 3rd Flotilla destroyers HMS Lennox , HMS Legion , HMS Loyal and HMS Lance involved in the sinking of the already auxiliary minelayer Queen Louise had been involved, the German 7. Torpedo boat semi-flotilla under Corvette Captain Georg Thiele with the torpedo boats SMS S 115 , SMS S 117 , SMS S 118 and as flotilla leader SMS S 119 off Texel. The German semi-flotilla came from Emden and was supposed to lay mines off the south coast of England.

The British ships were far superior to the German boats in terms of artillery. In addition to the two 152-mm and six 102-mm guns of the Undaunted , there were three additional 102-mm guns on each of the four Laforey- class destroyers . The four older German boats of the “Großes Torpedoboot 1898” type had only three 5 cm cannons each with a short range. Their strongest weapon were the three 45 cm torpedo tubes, for which five torpedoes per boat were available. Undaunted could run up to 28.5 knots, the destroyers up to 29 knots. Originally the German boats had also reached 28 knots. The old boats from 1904 only reached a little over 18 knots with their piston engines, so that their attempt to escape had no chance. Captain Fox had split his formation and attacked with Legion and Loyal first on S 118 , which sank at 3:17 p.m., while the other two destroyers hit S 115 so badly that this boat could no longer be steered. The two remaining torpedo boats attempt a torpedo attack on the Undaunted , which was able to avoid the torpedoes and concentrated its fire on the attacking boats. At 3:30 p.m., S 117 , which the Legion had previously shot at the helm , sank . At 3:35 p.m. the guide boat S 119 also sank in the fire of Lance and Loyal after it had carried out a torpedo attack on the Lance . A torpedo hit the destroyer amidships without exploding. The last floating but incapable of maneuvering boat S 115 was boarded by the Lennox , which was only able to capture one German on board. Then the Undaunted sank the fourth boat at 16:30. 218 sailors died on the boats. 30 sailors were captured by the British. Two sailors were rescued from a neutral ship the next day. Only three destroyers had received insignificant hits and four British sailors were injured.

The loss of the entire German semi-flotilla led to a considerable reduction in German activities against the British coast. Almost only heavy units were used.

When the German battle cruisers first shelled the British coast near Gorleston and Yarmouth on November 3, 1914 , the Undaunted found the German cruisers running out, but could not bring any further forces. During the second attack by the battlecruisers on Scarborough , Hartlepool , West Hartlepool and Whitby on December 16, 1914, Commodore Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt was at sea with the Harwich Force and his light cruisers HMS Aurora , Undaunted and 42 destroyers, only a few of the destroyers with the Germans Had combat contacts.

The attack on Cuxhaven

HMS Empress

On December 25, 1914, she was one of the security forces for the British attack on Christmas Day on Cuxhaven . This was the Royal Navy's first combined sea and air attack to find the airship hangars of the German Zeppelins and, if possible, bomb them. The Harwich Force under Commodore Tyrwhitt protected the three seaplane tenders HMS Engadine , HMS Riviera and HMS Empress , former canal ferries that each transported three seaplanes to the vicinity of Helgoland , where the water start of the machines was to take place.

With an air temperature of just above zero degrees, seven of the Short machines used took off, and two were immediately taken back on board. All crews survived the flight, which lasted more than 3 hours. Three machines returned to the tenders, including the machine on which Robert Erskine Childers flew as an observer. Three machines landed near Norderney , where the crews of the submarine HMS E 11 were picked up at an agreed meeting point, which sank the aircraft. Flt. Lt. Francis ET Hewlett had to make an emergency landing on the return flight off Heligoland and was initially considered missing. A Dutch fish steamer rescued him and brought him ashore on January 2nd in IJmuiden , from where he returned to Great Britain.
Fog, a very low cloud cover and massive anti- aircraft fire prevented the attack from being successful, especially since the airship hangars near Nordholz were not found and no significant damage was caused to other attacked targets.

On January 24, 1915, the Undaunted was involved in the battle on the Dogger Bank without actively intervening in the battle. She then moved to the Irish Sea for submarine hunting. From February 9 to 12, she was involved in securing the transfer of the Canadian division from Great Britain to France. In April 1915, the Undaunted was badly damaged by a collision with the destroyer HMS Landrail . In August 1915 she came back into service with the 9th Destroyer Flotilla and immediately took part in the search for the German mine-layer SMS Meteor , which was scuttled by its crew when it was caught by five British ships on August 9.

The attack on Hoyer

HMS Vindex

The Undaunted took part on March 24, 1916 with the Harwich Force in another attack on an airship base. The first attack on Tondern was actually directed against Hoyer , on the coast of Schleswig behind Sylt, where the British suspected the airship hangars. On March 25, 1916, two Sopwith Baby and three Short 184 flew an attack on the airship port from the HMS Vindex . However, they did not find their exact destination; only two machines returned to the Vindex .

On the march back, the flagship HMS Cleopatra discovered the German torpedo boat SMS G 194 that had got into the British association. The Cleopatra's commander decided to ram the German boat before realizing the situation. G 194 was split into two parts and sank. As a result of this maneuver, the Cleopatra came directly in front of the bow of the Undaunted , which suffered severe damage in the collision. She could only run at 6 knots without risking a total collapse of her bulkheads and only reached Seaham Harbor south of Sunderland four days after the collision . The securing of the Undaunted by the British and the attempt by the Germans to destroy them led to naval movements on both sides, which at times opened up the possibility of a battle between the fleets. The British therefore attacked Tønder again on May 4th, because they wanted such a battle. The second attack was completely unsuccessful. However, the security forces shot down the Zeppelin naval airship L 7 on its 77th reconnaissance flight.

Further missions

In April 1917, the Undaunted was given a facility to carry 70 mines. However, she never conducted a mine-laying operation. She returned to the Harwich Force as leader of the 10th destroyer flotilla. On June 5, 1917, she took part in the bombardment of the German base in Ostend and in October she was used against parts of the deep-sea fleet that attacked a Scandinavian convoy. In November 1918 the Undaunted left the Harwich Force and was assigned with the two sister ships HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope of the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron (7th LCS) of the Grand Fleet with the HMS Carysfort as the flagship until March 1919. Her other sister ships Galatea, Royalist, Phaeton and Inconstant served in the 1st LCS with the HMS Caledon as the flagship of the Grand Fleet in the Battle Cruiser Force.

In April 1919 the Undaunted was assigned to the Nore Reserve. In 1921 it was reactivated again to transport troops to the Mediterranean. It was sold from the reserve on April 9, 1923 to John Cashmore Ltd in Newport for demolition.

The sister ships

  • HMS Arethusa : launched on October 25, 1913 at Chatham Dockyard, in service since August 1914, flagship of the Harwich Force, hit by a mine off Felixstowe on February 11, 1916 , accrued at Cutler Shoal , abandoned in August.
  • HMS Aurora : launched on September 30, 1913 at Devonport Dockyard, in service with the Harwich Force since August 1914, with the Royal Canadian Navy from November 1, 1920 , out of service in 1922, demolished in 1927
  • HMS Galatea : launched on May 14, 1914 at Beardmore, in service with the Harwich Force since December 1914, 1919 in the Black Sea; Sold for demolition in 1921.
  • HMS Penelope : launched on August 25, 1914 by Vickers, in service with the Harwich Force since December 1914, out of service in 1920, sold for demolition in 1924.
  • HMS Inconstant : launched on July 6, 1914 at Beardmore, in service since January 1915, to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron in Rosyth, 1919 in the Baltic Sea, sold for demolition in 1922.
  • HMS Phaeton : launched on October 21, 1914 at Vickers, in service since February 1915, March to July 1915 in the Mediterranean, to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron in Rosyth, decommissioned in 1920, sold for demolition in 1923.
  • HMS Royalist : launched on January 14, 1915 at Beardmore, in service since March 1915, to the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, in 1919 in the Baltic Sea, out of service in 1920, sold for demolition in 1922.

literature

  • CH Barnes, DN James: Shorts Aircraft since 1900. Putnam, London 1989, ISBN 0-85177-819-4 .
  • John Campbell: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. Lyons Press, 1998. ISBN 1-55821-759-2 .
  • Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
  • Carl Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships. Broschek & Co, Hamburg 1934.
  • Herbert Kuke: Helgoland course. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, 1974, ISBN 3-7979-1839-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Undaunted did not take part in the battle near Heligoland, even if this is often claimed
  2. ↑ the boat SMS S 116 , which originally also belonged to the semi-flotilla, was sunk by the British submarine HMS E 9 on October 6th
  3. ↑ Engadine , former Folkestone-Boulogne ferry, 1676 ts, 21 kn, up to six seaplanes.
  4. ↑ Rivera , sister ship of the Engadine , former Folkestone-Boulogne ferry, 1850 ts, 20.5 knots, up to four seaplanes.
  5. ↑ Empress , formerly canal ferry from Dover, 2550 ts, 21 kn, up to 6 seaplanes.
  6. ^ JM Bruce: The Short Seplanes Part Two , Flight Magazine, December 21, 1956, pp. 965ff.
  7. ↑ Timothy J. Kutta: Cuxhaven Raid - Britain's Bold Strike From the Sea , Aviation History, January 1997
  8. ↑ Childers, author of the first spy novel Riddle of the Sands , had toured the target area before the war and advised all crew before the deployment
  9. ↑ HMS E 11 , 667 ts, later used in the Mediterranean
  10. ^ Barnes, James: Shorts Aircraft since 1900, p. 98
  11. ^ The Rescue of Flight Commander Hewlett. Flight Magazine, January 8, 1915
  12. ^ Campbell: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. P. 6.
  13. ↑ Sopwith Baby, single-seat seaplane, 160 km / h, 2.25 h endurance.
  14. ↑ Vindex , former Isle of Man ferry, 2950 ts, 23 kn, front launch deck, November 3, 1915 first land plane take off from a Royal Navy ship.
  15. ↑ JM BRUCE, The Sopwith Tabloid, Schneider and Baby in FLIGHT magazine, November 22, 1957
  16. ↑ ship Caroline class, the first group of the cruiser C-class
  17. ^ G 194, type large torpedo boat 1906 1911 in service, 93 dead
  18. ↑ Zeppelin naval airship L 7 from Tønder