HMS Raleigh (1919)


HMS Raleigh grounded on Point Amour in 1922
Career
Class and type: Hawkins-class heavy cruiser
Name: HMS Raleigh
Namesake: Sir Walter Raleigh
Ordered: 12 December 1915
Builder: William Beardmore & Company, Dalmuir
Laid down: 9 December 1915
Launched: 28 August 1919
Commissioned: 1921
Struck: 1926
Fate: Wrecked off Point Amour, Strait of Belle Isle, Labrador, 8 August 1922
General characteristics
Displacement: 9,750 long tons (9,910 t) (standard)
12,190 long tons (12,390 t) (full load)
Length: 565 ft (172 m) (p.p.)
605 ft (184 m) (o/a)[1]
Beam: 58 ft (18 m) (65 ft (20 m) across bulges)
Draught: 17.25 ft (5.26 m) (20 ft 6 in (6.25 m) full load)
Installed power: 70,000 shp (52,000 kW)
Propulsion: 4 × Parsons geared steam turbines
10 × Yarrow water-tube boilers
4 × shafts
Speed: 31 kn (36 mph; 57 km/h)
Range: 5,400 nmi (10,000 km) at 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)[1]
Capacity: 2,186 tons oil fuel
Complement: 690 (standard),[1] 800+ (wartime)
Armament:
Armour:
  • Belt: 1.5–2.5 in (3.8–6.3 cm) (lower, forward); 3 in (7.6 cm) (lower, amidships); 1.5–2.25 in (3.8–5.7 cm) (lower, aft); 1.5 in (3.8 cm) (upper, forward); 2 in (5.1 cm) (upper, amidships)
  • Deck: 1–1.5 in (2.5–3.8 cm) (upper, over boilers); 1–1.5 in (2.5–3.8 cm) (lower, over engines); 1 in (2.5 cm) (lower, over steering gear)
  • Turrets: 2 in (5.1 cm) (face); 1 in (2.5 cm) (crown); 1 in (2.5 cm) (sides)
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Raleigh.

HMS Raleigh was a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned as part of the British North Atlantic squadron in 1921.

She had a full load displacement of 12,000 long tons (12,000 t) (light, 9,700 long tons (9,900 t)), an overall length of 605 ft (184 m), and carried a complement of 700 officers and men. She was the only unit of the Hawkins class to be completed with 70,000 shp (52,000 kW) machinery, and on trials off Isle of Arran from 7-9 September 1920 reached her designed speed of 31 kn (36 mph; 57 km/h) at full power of 71,350 shp (53,210 kW). At half power, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW), she still managed to make 28 kn (32 mph; 52 km/h).[2] After trials the ship proceeded to Devonport for completion as a flagship.

In April 1922, Sir William Christopher Pakenham was Admiral of the Royal Navy's America and West Indies Station and he designated HMS Raleigh as his flagship. Sir Arthur Bromley was captain of HMS Raleigh. It was through his negligence that the ship was lost. On 8 August 1922, Captain Bromley sped the flagship through a thick fog and ran her aground at Point Amour in Forteau Bay, Labrador. Eleven sailors were drowned in the shipwreck.

The cruiser was a total write-off. The ship remained hard-aground and upright for four years. During this period, she was stripped of all salvageable items and was destroyed with explosives in September 1926.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Whitley 1995 p.77
  2. ^ Raven and Roberts, British Cruisers of World War Two (London: Arms & Armour Press, 1980), p. 60, note the 31 knot full speed but state that the other details of the trials are not known. In fact the trials were written-up in detail in Engineering, issue of 24 September 1920.
  3. ^ M. J. Whitley, Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia (London: Arms & Armour Press, 1995), p. 80 states that Raleigh was blown up in July 1928 by a party from HMS Calcutta.

References

Effingham · Frobisher · Hawkins · Raleigh · Vindictive