HMS Humber (1913)

HMS Humber at Matruh, Western Egypt. Note additional 6-inch gun aft.
Career
Class and type: Humber-class monitor
Name: HMS Humber
Builder: Vickers
Laid down: 24 August 1912
Launched: 17 June 1913
Acquired: 8 August 1914
Fate: Sold 17 September 1920 for use as a crane lighter
General characteristics
Displacement:1,260 long tons (1,280 t)
Length:266 ft 9 in (81.31 m)
Beam:49 ft (15 m)
Draught:5 ft 7.2 in (1.7 m)
Installed power:1,450 ihp (1,080 kW)
Propulsion:2 × triple expansion steam engines
2 × Yarrow boilers
2 × screws
Speed:12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Armament:2 × 6 in (150 mm) guns
2 ×4.7 in (120 mm) howitzers
4 × 3-pounder guns
1 × 3 in (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun
Armour:Belt: 1.5–3 in (3.8–7.6 cm)
Bulkheads: 1.5 in (3.8 cm)
Barbette: 3.5 in (8.9 cm)
Turret Face: 4 in (10 cm)
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Humber.

HMS Humber was a Humber-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Originally built by Vickers for Brazil as the Javary, she was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War along with her sister ships Severn and Mersey.

Service history

Humber took part in operations along the Belgian coast October to November 1914. In March 1915, she was towed to Malta, and arrived off Gallipoli in June. She remained in Egyptian waters until August 1917, when she became a guardship at Akaba, before being sent to Mudros in October 1918 and on to Ismid, Turkey, arriving there on the 12th of November.

Humber returned to England in March 1919, and was refitted prior to being towed to Murmansk in May 1919, for service with the British forces in the Russian Civil War. She left Archangel in September 1919 and was towed back to England for paying off.

Humber was sold on 17 September 1920 to F. Rijsdijk, and converted to a crane lighter. She was still afloat in 1938 and was probably broken up post 1945.

References