HMS Mersey (1913)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Mersey.
HMS Mersey
Career (UK)
Class and type: Humber-class monitor
Name: HMS Mersey
Builder: Vickers
Laid down: 24 August 1912
Launched: 30 September 1913
Acquired: 3 August 1914
Fate: Sold 1921 for scrapping
General characteristics
Displacement:1,260 long tons (1,280 t)
Length:266 ft 9 in (81.3 m)
Beam:49 ft (14.9 m)
Draught:5 ft 7.2 in (1.7 m)
Installed power:1,450 ihp (1,080 kW)
Propulsion:2 × triple expansion engines
2 × Yarrow boilers
2 × screws
Speed:12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:140
Armament:2 × 6 in (152 mm) guns
2 × 4.7 in (119 mm) howitzers
4 × 3-pounder guns
1 × 3-pounder anti-aircraft gun
Armour:Belt: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm)
Bulkheads: 1.5 in (38 mm)
Barbette: 3.5 in (89 mm)
Turret Face: 4 in (102 mm)

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

Service history

She had a relatively successful career in the First World War and had two prominent incidents. At the Battle of the Yser in 1914, off the coast of Belgium, she bombarded German troops as well as artillery positions. In July 1915, she was towed to the Rufiji River delta in German East Africa, where she and Severn then assisted in the destruction of the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg. Her log books from March 1915 to December 1917 can be viewed online at naval-history.net.

She later went to the Mediterranean and served on the River Danube. In 1921, she was sold to the breakers.

Battle honours

References