HMS Defence (1907)
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 HMS Defence |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Defence |
| Ordered: | 1904-05 Naval Programme |
| Builder: | Pembroke dockyard |
| Laid down: | February 25, 1905 |
| Launched: | April 24, 1907 |
| Commissioned: | February 9, 1909 |
| Fate: | Sunk at Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 14,600 tons |
| Length: | 490 ft (150 m) between perpendiculars 519 ft (158 m) overall |
| Beam: | 74.5 ft (22.7 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | 24 Yarrow boilers 4 Cylinder Triple-expansion engines 2 shafts, 3-bladed propellers 27,000 hp |
| Speed: | 22.9 knots |
| Complement: | 54 officers 849 enlisted 903 total |
| Armament: | 4 × 9.2 in (234 mm) guns (2 × 2) 10 × 7.5 in (191 mm) guns (10 × 1) 16 × 12 pounder guns (16 × 1) 5 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes, submerged |
HMS Defence was a Minotaur-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched in 1907. She was the last armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy.
[edit] Career
She was stationed in the Mediterranean in early 1914. At the start of World War I, she was involved in the pursuit of Goeben and Breslau. She was ordered to the South Atlantic to take part in the hunt for Admiral Graf von Spee's squadron, but the squadron was destroyed on 8 December before she could reach the area.
She was the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Robert Arbuthnot, leading the First Cruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. The other ships of the squadron (HMS Warrior, HMS Duke of Edinburgh, and HMS Black Prince) were of a similar outmoded class.
While closing for the kill at high speed with the SMS Wiesbaden, drifting and crippled between the German and British fleets, Defence presented a target for the combined firepower of the German battlecruisers, whose proximity was hidden by smoke and mist. After initial damage she was struck by a salvo which blew up her after magazine, triggering explosions on the ammunition rails leading to the broadside 7.5 inch guns. Within seconds, another salvo immediately hit forward, and she blew up in a spectacular explosion, sinking with the loss of Arbuthnot and her entire complement of 903 men.
At the time, it was believed that Defence had been reduced to fragments by the explosion, but the wreck was discovered in 2001 by a diving team and found to be largely intact, despite the incredible violence of her sinking.[1]
Arbuthnot's actions, initially seen as entirely heroic, have remained a matter of historical debate. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher described the event as "a glorious but not a justifiable death"[2] and Arbuthnot's judgement has been questioned over his manoeuvre prior to the sinking of the Defence: to turn his squadron across the path of the Grand Fleet. This blocked the fire of more powerful British ships, and required Beatty's flagship HMS Lion to change course to avoid collision with HMS Warrior, the two passing each other at under 200 yards).[3][4]
[edit] References
- ^ Warships found, DIVER magazine, 29th June 2001
- ^ Lord Fisher on the navy - 11 September 1919, The Times, September 11, 1991
- ^ Who's Who in World War One, John M. Bourne, 2001 Routledge, ISBN 0415141796
- ^ Paul G. Halpern, Arbuthnot, Sir Robert Keith, fourth baronet (1864–1916), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006
- Robert Gardiner, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860 - 1905 (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1978)
- R.A. Burt, Warships Illustrated Number 12, British Cruisers of World War I, (Arms and Armour Press, London, 1987)
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
[edit] External links
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