HMS Vindictive (1897)
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 HMS Vindictive after the attack on Zeebrugge |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | January 1896 |
| Launch | December 9, 1897 |
| Commissioning | 4th July 1900 |
| Whereabouts | sunk on May 10, 1918 off Ostend as a block ship |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
5,750 ts |
| length |
pp : 97.6 m (320 ft ) |
| width |
17.5 m (57.5 ft) |
| Draft |
6.1 m (20 ft) |
| crew |
480 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
19 kn |
| Range |
9000 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Armament from 1903/1904 |
|
| Coal supply |
Max. 1200 ts |
|
Armor deck |
|
| Command tower |
228 mm |
| Cannon shields |
114 mm |
The HMS Vindictive was a second class armored cruiser of the Royal Navy . She was the fourth ship of Arrogant class , which from 1896 to 1900 at the Naval Dockyard in Chatham was built.
The HMS Vindictive was the only cruiser of the class that was still used as such during the First World War . In 1918, the old cruiser for the attacks on the German bases in Flanders was prepared and re-armed to become an attack ship on the port of Zeebrugge . The April 23 attack cost many victims, but was unsuccessful because the Vindictive could not be maneuvered to the planned location and the defenders could not be eliminated. She returned badly damaged and was sunk as a block ship during the second attack on Ostend on May 9th.
Building history
The four Arrogant class cruisers , like the previous Eclipse class, were ordered under the Spencer Naval Program of 1893, which updated the British Naval Act of 1889. They should be used with the fleet and, if necessary, finally sink disabled ships by ramming them. You should therefore get increased maneuverability, which should be achieved by the short length and the installation of two oars. Because of their special task, they were given a reinforced bow with ram stems and a specially armored command post.
A mixed-caliber battery was held on to these cruisers, with four 6-inch L / 40 Armstrong rapid-fire guns now being installed. In addition to the bow gun and the stern gun, there were two guns in front each in casemates, which could participate in the bow and broadside fire. From 1903, the four cruisers were equipped with ten modern 6-inch L / 45-Mk.VII guns instead of the mixed battery of 6-inch and 4.7-inch guns. The light weapons were located between the side battery, in the area of the command posts, in the combat marshes that were initially available and in casemates near the bow and stern.
The four cruisers of the Arrogant class were the first class in which water tube boilers of the Belleville type were installed on all ships . In three boiler rooms there were six boilers and three smoke outlets above them, as on the following protected cruisers of the Highflyer , Challenger and Topaze class .
The keel laying of the HMS Vindictive took place in January 1896 at Chatham Dockyard. On December 9, 1897, she was launched as the last ship of the class.
Mission history
The Vindictive did not enter service until July 4, 1900 . The Arrogant- class cruisers were used in support of the Royal Navy's battle squadrons.
Pre-war missions
In June 1906 the Vindictive was one of the ships held in reserve in Sheerness . In 1909 and 1910 she was again overhauled for service in the 3rd Division of the Home Fleet . From March 1912 she was one of the training ships of the torpedo school of the Royal Navy. She made her last training trip before the war from May 14th to June 22nd, 1914 in the Mediterranean via Gibraltar , Malta , Villafranca , Pollença and back via Gibraltar.
War effort
The Vindictive was the only one of the three remaining Arrogant-class cruisers to join a cruiser association at the beginning of the war and, with the cruisers of the Diadem-class Europa , Amphitrite and Argonaut , as well as the 2nd class cruisers Highflyer and Challenger, formed the newly established 9th cruiser squadron under Rear Admiral John de Robeck , who was to relocate to Gibraltar and control the Atlantic Ocean off the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.
At the 9th cruiser squadron
On August 4, de Robeck left with the first operational Vindictive (as flagship ) and Highflyer Plymouth. Amphitrite and Argonaut followed later and finally Europe and Challenger . Already on the approach of the two ships to Gibraltar numerous ships were checked and the Vindictive confiscated the Silesia of North German Lloyd on August 7th . On August 13, de Robeck switched to the Argonaut, who had meanwhile arrived at Vigo . The Vindictive was released to Plymouth. After four days in port she went back to sea and met with the Challenger off Cape Finisterre and on the 23rd with Amphitrite and Argonaut off the Portuguese coast. She was then dispatched to the Azores , where on September 8th before Flores she picked up the German coal freighter Slawentzitz with a coal load of 5044 ts for Haifa after a short pursuit and sent it with a prize crew to Gibraltar. On September 11th, the Vindictive ran at Ponta Delgada to replenish its coal supplies , which it did not leave again until the 13th. She obtained food from the island she passed with her steam boat. On September 20, she left the sea area of the Azores for Madeira , where she entered Funchal on the 22nd and was supplied by the coal freighter Relentless . The next day she left again and reached Gibraltar on September 26th. On October 9th she ran again towards Madeira and controlled, supplied by the coal steamer Throatle , the approach to Funchal from October 12th to 22nd, before returning to Plymouth (30th).
In the South Atlantic
In November 1914, received Vindictive a strong radio equipment and was on 22 November after Ascension sent to repeat radio signals to set up radio stations and contact the Admiralty for against the German East Asia Squadron under Spee sent battlecruiser squadron under Sturdee sure. On the way, she met units from her old squadron, the Amphitrite and the Argonaut , in front of Funchal and handed them mail and on December 2, bought coal in São Vicente (Cape Verde) . On December 9, the day after the sea battle in the Falkland Islands , she arrived at Ascension. After being supplied by the supply ship Laconia , the Vindictive moved from January 8th to 14th to the South American coast of the British coal station at Abrolhos Rock , where the liner HMS Canopus was moored as a guard ship, the task of which the cruiser took over in February 1915. On February 23, she even became the flagship of the South American station under Admiral Archibald P. Stoddart , when the HMS Carnarvon ran aground near Abrolhos after supply and had to be repaired. Stoddart switched to the newly arrived HMAS Sydney on March 6th . In early April the Vindictive marched north to the Rocas Atoll , where the cruisers deployed in the South Atlantic gathered on April 16. The Sydney moved further north and the Liverpool became the new flagship . The light cruisers Glasgow and Gloucester as well as the auxiliary cruisers Edinburgh Castle (13,330 GRT, 14 kn, Union Castle Line 1910) and Macedonia (10,512 GRT, 18 kn, P&O Line 1904) were also available, which supported the German auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm (formerly Fast steamers of the NDL) and their supplier Macedonia (Hapag, 4,312 GRT) had already raised. The Vindictive returned to Abrolhos Rock immediately after the meeting. In the coming months she was on the island, patrolling in front of her and visiting Rio de Janeiro and Bahia regularly . Neutral steamers were checked. When the German auxiliary cruiser Möve disrupted trade in the spring of 1916 and advanced as far as the South American coast, the old Vindictive was at times the only cruiser on the station, as the station cruiser Glasgow was overtaken. She was supported in her security duties by the auxiliary cruisers Macedonia and Orama (12,927 GRT, 18 kn, P&O Line 1911). In May 1916 the South American mission of the Vindictive ended and she left Abrolhos Rock on May 25 to return to England, where she was decommissioned on June 30 in Portsmouth.
Use in the North Sea
On September 27, 1916, the Vindictive was put back into service and in October she marched to Northern Russia, where she arrived in Kola Bay on October 14, 1916, where the old ship of the line Glory was stationed as the flagship of the British North Russia Squadron was. Later, the old cruiser came Intrepid the Apollo class added as a depot ship. The Vindictive was then used in the White Sea to secure the supply trips to Russia.
Attack on German bases in Flanders
In 1918 the old cruiser was prepared and re-armed in Chatham for the attacks on the German bases in Flanders to become an attack ship on the port of Zeebrugge . She should turn off the German artillery in the port area and put 200 marines ashore. The existing 152 mm guns were removed except for two and a 280 mm howitzer and two 190 mm howitzers were set up. There were also three 40 mm Pom-Pom rapid-fire guns, ten machine guns, 16 Stokes mortars and flamethrowers. The rest of the mast in front received a combat platform with two rapid fire guns and six machine guns, from which any defenders of the pier in Zeebrugge should be eliminated.
The attack on April 23rd cost many victims, but was unsuccessful because the Vindictive did not get to the planned point of attack and did not succeed in eliminating the defenders of the port. Some of their guns were put out of action early, and so did the majority of the bridges that the troops were supposed to put ashore. She returned seriously damaged and was then used as a block ship in the second attack on Ostend on May 9th.
The 54-man crew for this mission consisted of volunteers from the HMS Brilliant deployed in the first attack on Ostend . The attack cost fewer victims, but again not everything went according to plan, as the Vindictive came under heavy fire early on, was no longer able to move and had to be sunk earlier than planned. The use of the base was only hindered by the sunk ship.
Honors
Eight Victoria crosses were awarded for the attack on Zeebrugge . In addition to the commander of the Vindictive , Alfred Carpenter , five Marines transported by her to the battle site were awarded. For the second attack on Ostend, Victor Crutchley received the highest British award for bravery, who had taken command of the Vindictive after the failure of commander Godsal , as well as the commanders of the two motorboats that disguised the survivors of the cruiser.
The Vindictive , sunk in Ostend as a block ship , was lifted in August 1920. Part of her bow was erected in the harbor as a memorial and the rest of the cruiser was scrapped.
Her name was carried over to the Hawkins-class cruiser Cavendish, which was completed as an aircraft carrier and which had been renamed Vindictive in June 1918 before its completion. The ship was turned back into a cruiser in 1924 and served as a training ship from 1937.
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 .
- Paul G. Halpern: A naval history of World War I. Routledge, 1995.
- 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
- HMS Vindictive historyofwar
- Arrogant- class in World War I.
- HMS Vindictive battleships-cruisers.co
- Logs of the Vindictive oldweather
Individual evidence
- ↑ Excerpt from the logbook of Vindictive Silesia , 1907 Flensburg, 5566 BRT, NDL, Bremen
- ^ Extract from the logbook of the Vindictive Slawentzitz , 1907 Antwerp, 3404 BRT, Reederei Vereinigung, Hamburg
- ↑ p.534, installation of radio stations on Madeira, Sao Vicente (Cape Verde) and Ascension
- ↑ Log of the Vindictive
- ^ Log of the Vindictive, February 23
- ^ Log of the Vindictive of April 16, 1915
- ↑ Data of Macedonia
- ↑ Dates of the Orama
- ↑ Log of the Vindictive of June 30, 1916
- ^ Log of the Vindictive of October 14, 1916
