HMS Blenheim
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HMS Blenheim was a Blake class armoured cruiser that served in the Royal Navy from 1890-1926.
Launched July 5, 1890, she displaced 9,150 tons and her steel hull measured 375 feet (length) and 65 feet (beam) with 20,000 horsepower turning 2 propellers giving a top speed of 22 knots. Her main armament was two 9-inch (22 ton) smooth bore guns protected behind armoured casements on the upper deck. She also carried ten 6-inch guns and eighteen 3-pounders.
She was built by Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company at Blackwall.
She served as a cruiser with the Channel Squadron until May 1908 when she joined the Mediterranean Fleet as a destroyer depot ship. She was sent to Mudros in March 1915 in support of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at the Battle of Gallipoli. She was scrapped in 1926.
Blenheim served in the repatriation of the remains of two dignitaries during her career:
- His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Battenberg died from malaria while on active duty onboard HMS Blonde off Sierra Leone in 1896. Blenheim repatriated his body from the Canary Islands. Her Majesty Queen Victoria appointed the commanding officer Captain Edmund S. Poe to the fourth class of the Royal Victorian Order as a mark of appreciation for this service.
- Former Canadian Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper died in England in 1915 and was repatriated to Halifax, Nova Scotia by Bleinheim, which was painted black for the occasion.
