HMS Centurion (1911)
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 HMS Centurion pre-war, from a postcard. |
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | January 1911 |
| Launched: | 18 November 1911 |
| Commissioned: | May 1913 |
| Decommissioned: | 1924 |
| Status: | Sunk as a beachwater off Avranches, 1944 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 25,500 tons (25,900 tonnes) |
| Length: | 597 ft 6 in (182.1 m) |
| Beam: | 89 ft (27.1 m) |
| Draft: | 28 feet 8 in (8.7 m) |
| Speed: | 21 knots (38.9 km/h) |
| Complement: | 782 officers and men |
| Armament: | 10 × 13.5 inch (343 mm) guns 12 × 4 inch (102 mm) guns 4 × 47 mm 3 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged) |
HMS Centurion was the second battleship of the King George V class, built at HM Dockyard, Devonport.
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[edit] The Great War
Centurion was attached upon completion to the 2nd Battle Squadron, led by sister-ship HMS King George V. She was present at the Battle of Jutland as part of the main body of Grand Fleet under the command of Captain Michael Culme-Seymour. She was third in line in the First Division of the Fleet behind HMS King George V and HMS Ajax. After duty in the North Sea she was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean in 1918 with HMS Superb to oversee the capitulation of the Ottoman Empire. In 1919 Centurion was dispatched to the Black Sea in the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War.
[edit] Interwar, World War II
With the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty Centurion was decommissioned and made a target ship to replace HMS Agamemnon in 1924. She remained in this role at Portsmouth Harbour until April 1941, where she was fitted with a false superstructure so as to resemble the battleship HMS Anson then building at HM Dockyard, Portsmouth.
In June 1942, she sailed with Operation Vigorous in the eastern Mediterranean to simulate an operational battleship. Between 1942 and 1944 Centurion was stationed off Suez as an anti-aircraft ship. Her final act after a long and somewhat understated career was to be sunk as a blockship off the Normandy beaches after D-Day.
[edit] See also
- HMS Centurion for other ships by this name
- List of battleships
- List of Royal Navy ships, C
- List of battleships of the Royal Navy
- List of ship launches in 1911
[edit] External link
| King George V-class battleship (1911) |
| King George V | Centurion | Audacious | Ajax |
| Preceded by: Orion class - Followed by: Iron Duke class |
List of battleships of the Royal Navy |
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