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HMS Vengeance underway in harbour, prior to the Royal Navy's 1903 adoption of the overall grey warship colour scheme.
23 August 1898 25 July 1899 April 1902 8 April 1902 9 July 1920 "The Lord's Own"
[2]
General characteristics
Class & type: Displacement: Length: Beam: Draught: Propulsion: Speed: Complement: Armament: Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleship 12,950tons 431ft (131m) 74ft (23m) 26ft (7.9m) 2 shafts, water tube boilers, vertical triple expansion steam engines, 15,400ihp (11,500kW) 18knots 750 4 BL 12-inch (304.8mm) Mk VIII guns [3] 12 QF 6-inch (152.4mm) guns [4] 10 12-pounder guns [4] 6 x 3-pounder guns 4 18in (457mm) torpedo tubes (underwater)
[3]
2
Belt 6 inches (152 mm) Bulkheads 10-6 inches (254-152 mm) Barbettes 12 inches (305 mm) Gun houses 8 inches (203 mm) Casemates 6 inches (152 mm) Conning tower 12 inches (305 mm) decks 2 inches-1 inch (51 mm-25.4 mm)
Armour:
HMS Vengeance was a Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleship of the Canopus class. Built by Vickers, her keel was laid down in August 1898 and she was launched eleven months later. Her main battery consisted of four 12-inch (305-mm) guns in twin turrets fore and aft, and she had top speed of 18 knots. Commissioned in April 1902, Vengeance served initially in the Far East, transferring to the Channel Fleet in 1906 and then the Home Fleet two years later. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, she was based in the Mediterranean, and saw action in Dardenelles Campaign in 1915. After further service in East and South African waters, she returned to England in 1917 and was used for research and ammunition storage. She was sold for scrap in 1921 and broken up the following year.
Service history
Pre-World War I
HMS Vengeance commissioned on 8 April 1902 at Portsmouth for service with the Mediterranean Fleet. In July 1903 she transferred to the China Station to relieve her sister ship Goliath, and underwent a refit at Hong Kong 19031904.[2] In 1905, the United Kingdom and Japan ratified a treaty of alliance, reducing the need for a large Royal Navy presence on the China Station and prompting a recall of all battleships from the station.[8] Vengeance was recalled on 1 June 1905[2] and proceeded to Singapore, where she and her sister ship Albion rendezvoused with their sister ship Ocean and battleship Centurion. The four battleships departed Singapore on 20 June 1905 and steamed home in company, arriving at Plymouth on 2 August 1905.[8] Vengeance paid off into the Devonport Reserve on 23 August 1905, and underwent a refit that lasted into 1906[2] during which her machinery was repaired.[9] On 15 May 1906, Vengeance commissioned for service in the Channel Fleet. She transferred to the Home Fleet on 6 May 1908, and on 13 June 1908 was damaged in a collision with the merchant ship SS Begore Head at Portsmouth.[2] She moved to the Nore Division, Home Fleet, at the Nore in February 1909, where she became a parent ship to special service vessels,[9] and grounded in the Thames Estuary on 28 February 1909 without damage. In April 1909, she became tender to the Chatham Dockyard gunnery school,[10] where she acted as a gunnery drill ship.[9] On 29 November 1910, Vengeance suffered another mishap when she collided in fog with merchant ship SS Biter, suffering damage to her side, net shelf, and net booms.[11] Vengeance then served in the 6th Battle Squadron based at Portland,[12] then became a gunnery training ship at the Nore in January 1913.[9][10]
World War I
On the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Vengeance was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron, Channel Fleet, for patrol duties in the English Channel and Atlantic[9] transferring to the 7th Battle Squadron on 15 August 1914 to relieve battleship Prince George as flagship. She covered the landing of the Plymouth Marine Battalion at Ostend, Belgium, on 25 August 1914.[10] In November 1914 she transferred to West Africa for operations, against German Kamerun, then to Egypt to relieve armored cruisers Black Prince and Warrior as guard ship at Alexandria, then moved on to the Cape Verde-Canary Islands Station to relieve Albion as guard ship at Saint Vincent.[13] Dardanelles campaign On 22 January 1915, Vengeance was selected to take part in the Dardanelles campaign. She stopped at Gibraltar that month to embark Admiral John de Robeck and become second flagship of the Dardanelles squadron, and arrived at the Dardanelles in February 1915.[9][14] Vengeance participated in the opening bombardment of the Ottoman Turkish entrance forts on 18 February and 19 February 1915, suffering some damage to her masts and rigging thanks to gunfire from the forts. She also took part in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March 1915, supporting the main landings at Cape Helles in the Morto Bay area on 25 April 1915, and supported the ground troops during the Turkish attack on Allied positions at Anzac Cove on 19 May 1915. A submarine attacked her on 25 May 1915 without success.[14] By July 1915, Vengeance had boiler defects that prevented her from continuing combat operations, and she returned to the United Kingdom and paid off that month. She was under refit at Devonport until December 1915.[14]
Later service Vengeance recommissioned in December 1915 and left Devonport on 30 December 1915 for a deployment to The Cape and East Africa. While there, she supported operations leading to the capture of Dar es Salaam in 1916.[14] In February 1917, Vengeance returned to the United Kingdom and paid off. She was laid up until February 1918, when she recommissioned for use in experiments with anti-flash equipment for the fleet's guns. She completed these in April 1918, and then was partially disarmed,[14] with four 6-inch (152-mm) main-deck casemate guns removed and four 6-inch (152-mm) guns being installed in open shields on the battery deck.[9] She became an [14] ammunition store ship in May 1918.
Vengeance at Dar es Salaam in 1916.
Disposal
Vengeance was placed on the sale list at Devonport on 9 July 1920, and was sold for scrapping on 1 December 1921. She had an eventful trip to the scrapyard. After she departed Devonport under tow on 27 December 1921 en route Dover, her tow rope parted in the English Channel on 29 December 1921. French tugs located her and towed her Cherbourg, France. From there she was towed to Dover, where she finally arrived for scrapping on 9 January 1922.[14]
Notes
[1] Burt, p. 141 [2] Burt, p. 156 [3] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 18601905, p. 36 [4] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 18601905, p. 35 [5] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 18601905, p. 35, 36 [6] Gibbons, p. 145 [7] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 18601905, p. 35; Gibbons, p. 145 [8] Burt, p. 97 [9] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 19061921, p. 8 [10] Burt, p. 157 [11] Burt, p. 157; Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 19061921, p. 8; describes the ship she collided with as destroyer "Biter", but no such destroyer appears to have existed [12] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 19061921, p. 8, says she served in the 8th Battle Squadron from 1912 to 1913 [13] Burt, p. 157-158; Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 19061921, p. 8 [14] Burt, p. 158
References
Burt, R. A. British Battleships 18891904. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0-87021-061-0. Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, eds. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 18601905. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-85177-133-5. Dittmar, F. J., & J. J. Colledge., "British Warships 19141919", London: Ian Allen, 1972. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7. Gibbons, Tony. The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day. London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1983. Gray, Randal, Ed. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 19061921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87021-907-3. Pears, Randolph. British Battleships 18921957: The Great Days of the Fleets. G. Cave Associates, 1979. ISBN 978-0-906223-14-7.
License
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