HMS Blanche (1909)
 Blanche at anchor | |
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Blanche |
| Builder: | Pembroke Royal Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 12 April 1909 |
| Launched: | 25 November 1909 |
| Completed: | November 1910 |
| Decommissioned: | 1919 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 27 July 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Blonde-class scout cruiser |
| Displacement: | 3,350 long tons (3,400 t) (normal) |
| Length: | 406 ft (123.7 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 41 ft 6 in (12.6 m) |
| Draught: | 14 ft 3 in (4.3 m) |
| Installed power: | 18,000 shp (13,000 kW) 12 × Yarrow boilers |
| Propulsion: | 4 × shafts 4 × Parsons steam turbines |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) |
| Complement: | 317 |
| Armament: | 10 × single BL 4-inch (102 mm) guns 4 × single QF 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) guns 2 × single 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: |
|
HMS Blanche was the second of two Blonde-class scout cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She led the 1st Destroyer Flotilla from completion until 1912. During World War I, she was assigned to battleship squadrons of the Grand Fleet. She was present at, but did not fight in, the Battle of Jutland in mid-1916. The ship was converted into a minelayer in early 1917 and made 16 sorties to lay mines during the war. She was paid off in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1921.
Design and description
Designed to provide destroyer flotillas with a command ship capable of outclassing enemy destroyers with her 10 four-inch (102 mm) guns, Blanche proved too slow in service from the start of her career. Her 25-knot (46 km/h; 29 mph) speed was inadequate to match the speeds of the destroyers she led in her flotilla.[1]
Displacing 3,350 long tons (3,400 t),[1] the ship had an overall length of 406 feet (123.7 m), a beam of 41 feet 6 inches (12.6 m) and a deep draught of 14 feet 3 inches (4.3 m). She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines, each driving one shaft. The turbines produced a total of 18,000 indicated horsepower (13,000 kW), using steam produced by 12 Yarrow boilers, and gave a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). She carried a maximum of 780 long tons (790 t) of coal and 189 long tons (192 t) of fuel oil.[2] Her crew consisted of 314 officers and enlisted men.[1]
Her main armament consisted of 10 breech-loading (BL) four-inch Mk VII guns. The forward pair of guns were mounted side by side on a platform on the forecastle, three pairs were port and starboard amidships, and the two remaining guns were on the centreline of the quarterdeck, one ahead of the other.[1] The guns fired their 31-pound (14 kg) shells to a range of about 11,400 yards (10,400 m).[3] Her secondary armament was four quick-firing (QF) three-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) Vickers Mk I guns and two submerged 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes.[1]
As a scout cruiser, the ship was only lightly protected to maximize her speed. She had a curved protective deck that was one inch (25 mm) thick on the slope and .5 inches (13 mm) on the flat.[2] Her conning tower was protected by four inches of armour.[1]
Construction and service
Blanche, the seventh ship of that name,[4] was laid down at Pembroke Royal Dockyard, on 14 April 1909 and launched on 25 November 1910. She was completed in November 1910 and became the leader of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla through 1912.[1] At 1:30 am on 3 October 1911 she struck a rock on the Pentland Skerries and suffered damage to her bow and stern. [5] She was assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow at the start of the war.[6] On 15 December she was badly damaged due to severe weather in the Pentland Firth as she sortied to intercept German ships bombarding ports in Yorkshire and had to return to port for repairs.[7] On 28 February 1916 Blanche was one of three cruisers dispatched to patrol off the Norwegian coast during the hunt for the German raider SMS Greif, although she did not come into contact with the German ship before she was sunk. She was transferred to the 4th Battle Squadron before the Battle of Jutland; she was assigned to a position at the rear of the squadron during the battle and did not fire her guns.[8] In March 1917 Blanche was converted into a minelayer and laid 1,238 mines on 16 sorties during the war. Paid off in 1919,[1] she was sold for scrap on 27 July 1921 and broken up by Fryer, of Sunderland.[4]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Gardiner & Gray, p. 50
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Friedman 2009, p. 295
- ↑ Friedman 2011, pp. 75–76
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Colledge, p. 41
- ↑ http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000325/19111004/054/0006
- ↑ Corbett, Vol. I, p. 439; Vol. II, pp. 413, 417
- ↑ Massie, p. 335
- ↑ Corbett, Vol. III, pp. 270, 345
Bibliography
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
- Corbett, Julian. Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents I (2nd, reprint of the 1938 ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-256-X.
- Corbett, Julian (1997). Naval Operations. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents II (reprint of the 1929 second ed.). London and Nashille, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press. ISBN 1-870423-74-7.
- Corbett, Julian (1997). Naval Operations. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents III (reprint of the 1940 second ed.). London and Nashille, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press. ISBN 1-870423-50-X.
- Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-081-8.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Massie, Robert K. (2004). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-04092-8.
External links
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