HMS Mars (1896)

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Career (United Kingdom) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Mars
Namesake: Mars, the Roman god of war
Builder: Laird, Birkenhead
Laid down: 2 June 1894[1]
Launched: 30 March 1896[2]
Completed: June 1897
Commissioned: 8 June 1897[3]
Decommissioned: 7 July 1920[4]
Fate: Sold for scrapping 9 May 1921
Notes: Disarmed and converted to troopship 1915; converted to harbor depot ship 1916[5]
General characteristics
Class and type: Majestic class battleship
Displacement: 14,900 tons
Length: 390 ft (120 m)
Beam: 75 ft (23 m)
Draught: 27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion: oil and coal, triple expansion, 10,000 hp (7.5 MW)
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Range: 4,700 miles at 10 knots (7560 km at 19 km/h)
Complement: 675
Armament: 2 × 12 inch (300 mm) guns
12 × 6 inch (200 mm) guns
16 × 12 pounders
12 × 3 pounders
Armour: 9-inch Harvey steel
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Mars.

HMS Mars was a Royal Navy predreadnought battleship of the Majestic class.

Contents

[edit] Technical Characteristics

HMS Mars was laid down by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead on 2 June 1894 and launched on 3 March 1896.[6] Labor troubles delayed the delivery of her machinery, and she was not completed until June 1897.[7]

In common with her sister ships, Mars was armed with new 12-inch (305-mm), 46-ton guns which offered greater accuracy and penetration than the 13.5-inch (343-mm)guns used on the previous Royal Sovereign class battleships. One hundred thirteen miles (182 km) of wire were wrapped around the gun barrel, and each gun took nine months to manufacture. She carried four such guns in two barbettes with up to 400 rounds for each. She also sported a 6-inch (152-mm) secondary battery, and four submerged torpedo tubes in the bow with one above water in the stern. She was armoured with 9-inch (229-mm) Harvey steel and divided into 150 watertight compartments.

[edit] Operational History

HMS Mars commissioned on 8 June 1897 for service with the Channel Fleet. She was present at the Fleet Review at Spithead for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on 26 June 1897 and at the Coronation Fleet Review for King Edward VII on 16 August 1902.[8]

On 16 August 1904, Mars began a refit at Portsmouth. During her refit, the Channel Fleet became a new Atlantic Fleet in a reorganization on 1 January 1905, she became a unit of the Atlantic Fleet. Her refit was completed in March 1905. Her Atlantic Fleet service ended on 31 March 1906, when she commissioned into the Reserve at Portsmouth.[9]

Mars recommissioned at Portsmouth for service in the new Channel Fleet on 31 October 1906. This service ended when she paid off at Portsmouth on 4 March 1907.[10]

Mars recommissioned on 5 March 1907 for service in the Devonport Division of the new Home Fleet which had been organized in January 1907, and was based at Devonport. During this service, she underwent refits in 1908-1909 and 1911-1912.[11] By July 1914, she was in the 4th Division, Home Fleet.[12]

With war appearing to be imminent, the Royal Navy undertook a precautionary mobilization on 27 July 1914. As part of this, Mars and her sister ships HMS Hannibal, HMS Magnificent, and HMS Victorious formed the 9th Battle Squadron, which was based in the Humber under the Admiral of Patrols. Mars was serving as a guard ship at the Humber when World War I began in August 1914, and continued in that duty after the 9th Battle Squadron was dissolved on 7 August 1914.[13]

Mars was transferred to the Dover Patrol on 9 December 1914, and was based at Dover briefly before moving to Portland on 11 December 1914. She was based at Portland until February 1915.[14]

The Majestic-class ships were by then the oldest and least effective battleships in service in the Royal Navy. In February 1915, Mars transferred to Belfast, where she paid off on 15 February 1915. In March and April 1915 she was disarmed there by Harland and Wolff, retaining only four of her 6-inch (152-mm) guns and some lighter guns; her 12-inch (305-mm) guns were taken to arm the new Lord Clive-class monitors HMS Earl of Peterborough and HMS Sir Thomas Picton.[15] After that, she was laid up in Loch Goil in April 1915.[16]

In September 1915, Mars recommissioned to serve as a troopship in the Dardanelles campaign. Mars and her similarly disarmed sister ships Hannibal and Magnificent, also acting as troopships, arrived at Mudros on 5 October 1915. At the Dardanelles, Mars took part in the evacuation of Allied troops from Anzac Beach on 8 December 1915 and 9 December 1915 and from West Beach at Cape Helles on 8 January 1916 and 9 January 1916. During the West Beach evacuation, Mars was covered by what had once been her 12-inch (305-mm) guns, now mounted on monitor Sir Thomas Picton.[17]

Mars returned to Devonport in February 1916, then paid off at Chatham, where she underwent a refit for conversion to a harbor depot ship. She recommissioned as a harbor depot ship on 1 September 1916, and served in this capacity at Invergordon until July 1920.[18]

Mars was placed on the sale list at Invergordon on 7 July 1920. She was sold for scrapping on 9 May 1921 and left Invergordon for scrapping at Briton Ferry in November 1921.[19]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Burt, p. 114
  2. ^ Burt, p. 114
  3. ^ Burt, p. 133
  4. ^ Burt, p. 134
  5. ^ Burt, p. 134
  6. ^ Burt, p. 114
  7. ^ Burt, p. 114, 133
  8. ^ Burt, p. 134
  9. ^ Burt, p. 133
  10. ^ Burt, p. 133
  11. ^ Burt, p. 133; Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921, p. 7
  12. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921, p. 7
  13. ^ Burt, p. 133
  14. ^ Burt, p. 133
  15. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921, p. 7
  16. ^ Burt, p. 133-134
  17. ^ Burt, p. 134
  18. ^ Burt, p. 134
  19. ^ Burt, p. 134

[edit] References

  • Burt, R. A. British Battleships 1889-1904. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0870210610.
  • Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Dittmar, F. J. and J. J. Colledge. "British Warships 1914-1919". London: Ian Allen, 1972. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Gray, Randal, Ed. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870219073.
  • Pears, Randolph. British Battleships 1892-1957: The Great Days of the Fleets. G. Cave Associates, 1979. ISBN 978-0906223147
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Majestic class battleship
List of battleships of the Royal Navy