HMS Albion (1898)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Albion.

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Albion
Ordered1896 Programme
Builder
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Leamouth, London
Laid down3 December 1896
Launched21 June 1898
CompletedJune 1901
Commissioned25 June 1901
DecommissionedAugust 1919
FateSold for scrapping 11 December 1919
General characteristics
Class and type
pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Full load: 14,300 long tons (14,500 t
)
Length421 ft 6 in (128.5 m) (
loa
)
Beam74 ft (22.6 m)
Draught26 ft (7.9 m)
Installed power
  • 20 ×
    water tube boilers
  • 15,400 
    kW
    )
Propulsion
  • 2 ×
    screw propellers
  • 2 ×
    triple-expansion steam engines
Speed18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement750
Armament
Armour

HMS Albion was a

Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Albion was laid down
in December 1896, launched in June 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in June 1901.

Albion spent the first few years of her career abroad on the

German Southwest Africa
.

The ship was transferred to the

Salonika to support the Allied operations against Bulgaria through then-neutral Greece, but she saw no further action. She was transferred back to Ireland in April 1916 for service as a guard ship, a role she filled until October 1918, when she was reduced to a barracks ship. Albion was sold for scrap in December 1919 and broken up
the following year.

Design

Main article: Canopus-class battleship
Right elevation, deck plan and hull section as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1906

Albion and her five

fully loaded. Her crew numbered 682 officers and ratings.[1]

The Canopus-class ships were powered by a pair of 3-cylinder

Belleville boilers. They were the first British battleships with water-tube boilers, which generated more power at less expense in weight compared with the fire-tube boilers used in previous ships. The new boilers led to the adoption of fore-and-aft funnels, rather than the side-by-side funnel arrangement used in many previous British battleships. The Canopus-class ships proved to be good steamers, with a high speed for battleships of their time—18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) from 13,500 indicated horsepower (10,100 kW)—a full two knots faster than the Majestics.[2]

Albion had a

18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes submerged in the hull, two on each broadside near the forward and aft barbette.[1]

To save weight, Albion carried less armour than the Majestics—6 inches (152 mm) in the

Harvey armour in the Majestics to Krupp armour in Albion meant that the loss in protection was not as great as it might have been, Krupp armour having greater protective value at a given weight than its Harvey equivalent. Similarly, the other armour used to protect the ship could also be thinner; the bulkheads on either end of the belt were 6 to 10 in (152 to 254 mm) thick. The main battery turrets were 10 in thick, atop 12 in (305 mm) barbettes, and the casemate battery was protected with 6 in of Krupp steel. Her conning tower had 12 in thick sides as well. She was fitted with two armoured decks, 1 and 2 in (25 and 51 mm) thick, respectively.[2]

Service history

The disaster at the launch of HMS Albion at Blackwall. The Graphic 1898

HMS Albion was laid down by

videojournalism.[6]

Albion's completion then was delayed by late delivery of her machinery. She finally began trials late in 1900, during which she was further delayed by machinery and gun defects, and she was not finally completed until June 1901.

China Station.[8]

She arrived at

Portsmouth.[5]

On 26 February 1907, Albion recommissioned at Portsmouth for temporary service with the

King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.[13] Albion ended her Atlantic Fleet service by paying off on 25 August 1909. She then began service at the Nore as parent ship of the 4th Division, Home Fleet. She became a unit of the 3rd Fleet at the Nore in May 1912, and underwent a refit at Chatham that year. She was stationed at Pembroke Dock in 1913.[5][12]

World War I

When

German Southwest Africa.[16] Later in January, Albion returned to port in Simon's Town, South Africa, before proceeding to the Mediterranean Sea.[18]

Dardanelles campaign

See also:
Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign
Map showing the Ottoman defences at the Dardanelles in 1915

Albion transferred to the Mediterranean in January 1915 to participate in the

Dardanelles campaign.[19] She took part in the bombardment of the Ottoman Turkish forts guarding the outer entrance to the Dardanelles on 19 February 1915. This was the first stage in a plan to force the Dardanelles and enter the Sea of Marmara. Albion was joined by three other British battlecruisers and battleships—Inflexible, Triumph, and Cornwallis—and two French battleships—Bouvet and Suffren. Once these ships had cleared the initial defences, additional ships would join the attack; heavy Ottoman resistance instead stalled the initial attack before Albion could begin her part of the operation, and she did not see action that day. Nevertheless, she did sweep an area for naval mines along with the protected cruiser Amethyst; while on the operation, Albion fired eight 6-inch shells in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Ottoman attention so their guns could be destroyed by counter-battery fire.[20]

Albion participated in another attack on the forts on 25 February; she was tasked with covering a group of minesweepers, along with Triumph and several destroyers after the main bombardment force suppressed the Ottoman batteries. During their operation, Albion came under fire from a 9.4-inch (240 mm) gun from Battery "Orkaniye"; counter fire from Albion, Agamemnon and Irresistible forced the Ottomans to check their fire. By the afternoon, most of the Ottoman artillery had ceased firing, apart from some field guns that could not be observed, and so the minesweepers were ordered to begin clearing the mines, covered by Albion, Triumph, and Vengeance. The following day, Albion, Triumph, and Majestic were assigned to the force that was to break into the Dardanelles and destroy the fortresses at close range. Albion was assigned to the fort at Dardanus, and she opened fire with her main battery at a range of 12,000 yards (11,000 m), though the Ottoman response was light. After the guns fell silent, Albion and Majestic moved on but quickly came under fire from dispersed, mobile field guns, and both vessels were forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid serious damage. After Majestic was holed below the waterline, Admiral John de Robeck ordered them to break off the attack.[21]

On 28 February, Albion took part in another attempt to suppress the Ottoman defences in the Dardanelles; she and Triumph led the operation, and were tasked with neutralizing the repaired fortress at Dardanus, while Majestic and Ocean supported them by engaging the mobile field guns. As Albion and Triumph approached Dardanus, they came under heavy fire from Ottoman guns on the European side of the straits, including the fortress at Erenköy, and were forced to circle to avoid taking hits. Unable to engage Dardanus under these conditions, the ships instead opened fire on the guns at Erenköy, which initially seemed to be effective, as the Ottoman fire slackened. Ocean and Majestic approached in an attempt to attack Dardanus, but they too came under renewed, furious fire from Erenköy, and de Robeck again ordered a withdrawal. The only success came after the four battleships withdrew from the straits and a landing party from Triumph went ashore and disabled a number of light guns. The inability of the British and French fleets to neutralize the mobile field guns convinced the Allied command that the only way forward would be to make a major amphibious assault to clear the guns by land.[22]

Albion during operations off the Dardanelles; a pair of Ottoman shells splash near the ship

Albion supported another operation in the Dardanelles on 3 March; she, Triumph and Prince George covered a landing force that was to raid Sedd el Bahr. Heavy weather delayed the start of the attack, but the landing took place without incident. Albion shelled Erenköy, which did not return fire, and the landing party discovered a battery of six 15-pounder field guns that they destroyed. Two days later, Albion conducted an indirect fire test to determine the efficacy of attempting to neutralize the fortresses at ranges where the Ottomans would be unable to reply; this was planned to demonstrate the feasibility of using the powerful dreadnought Queen Elizabeth, armed with 15-inch (380 mm) guns, in that role. Albion was tasked with shelling one of the fortresses protecting Çanakkale, and she was covered by several British and French battleships. On entering the straits, Albion came under heavy fire, particularly from Dardanus; three of the covering battleships joined her to suppress those guns, briefly allowing Albion to anchor and begin the planned bombardment. Queen Elizabeth joined the bombardment, but mobile howitzers quickly found both vessels and forced de Robeck to break off the operation.[23]

On 18 March, the Anglo-French fleet mounted a major attack on the Ottoman defences; Albion joined ten British battleships and one battlecruiser and four French battleships for the operation. The plan called for the battleships to enter the narrows and suppress the fortresses while minesweepers cleared paths in the Ottoman minefields. At the same time, transport ships outside the straits would conduct a demonstration to convince the Ottomans they were going to land troops; the Entente commanders hoped this would tie down the Ottoman mobile guns. The British ships initially succeeded in inflicting heavy damage on the fortresses, but the battleship Formidable and then Inflexible began taking serious damage from the coastal batteries. The French battleships also began to take damage, and the battleship Bouvet struck a mine and exploded. Albion and several other battleships attempted to suppress Ottoman guns firing on the boats that went to rescue Bouvet's crew.[24]

She supported the main landings at V Beach at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915. Starting at around 04:30 on the morning of the landings, Albion bombarded the high ground overlooking the beach, but by around 05:30, heavy smoke and mist prevented her gunners from observing targets and so she ceased fire. After the Allied forces began to go ashore, Albion supported their advance on the village of Sedd el Bahr, but by around 07:30 had to check fire again, as friendly troops had entered the town. She then shifted fire to support the men going ashore at W Beach, but heavy Ottoman fire repulsed the landing and the Allied soldiers were forced to withdraw. As it turned out, the report of Allied troops in Sedd el Bahr proved to be erroneous, and further attacks were launched against the Ottoman defenders the following day, which Albion supported. After Albion knocked out a machine gun position on the south-west corner of the village, the troops were able to advance into the town and force the Ottomans to retreat.[25]

On 28 April 1915 she took part in an attack on

Gaba Tepe and came under heavy fire from Ottoman shore batteries. About 200 fragmentation shells hit her, but they could not penetrate her armour and did no serious damage, and Albion suffered fewer than a dozen casualties. After efforts were made to free her by reducing her weight and by using the recoil of firing her main guns simultaneously, her sister ship Canopus towed her to safety on 24 May 1915, Albion still firing at the Ottoman forts while being towed clear. Albion left the area for repairs on 26 May 1915 and underwent a refit at Malta in May–June 1915.[16]

Later operations

In late September, after Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the

Devonport for a refit; that completed, she moved on to the Humber in August 1916 for service as a guard ship there. In October 1918, Albion's service as a guard ship came to an end, and she was reduced to service as an accommodation ship. In August 1919, Albion was placed on the disposal list at Devonport. She was sold for scrapping on 11 December 1919. She left Devonport under her own steam on 3 January 1920, arriving at Morecambe for scrapping on 6 January 1920.[19]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Lyon & Roberts, p. 35.
  2. ^ a b Lyon & Roberts, pp. 34–35.
  3. ^ Burt, p. 141.
  4. ^ "The Tragic Launch of HMS Albion". News - National Historic Ships UK. 18 January 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Burt, p. 159.
  6. ^ Cohen, Nathalie (19 February 2011). "The Launch of the HMS Albion". Thames Discovery Programme. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  7. ^ Burt, pp. 141, 159.
  8. ^ "Naval & military intelligence". The Times. No. 36491. London. 26 June 1901. p. 11.
  9. ^ "Naval & military intelligence". The Times. No. 36559. London. 13 September 1901. p. 10.
  10. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36709. London. 7 March 1902. pp. 3, 8.
  11. ^ Burt, pp. 97, 159.
  12. ^ a b c Preston, p. 7.
  13. ^ Burt, p. 153.
  14. ^ Corbett 1920, p. 77.
  15. ^ Corbett 1920, p. 84.
  16. ^ a b c Burt, pp. 159–160.
  17. ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 423–424.
  18. ^ Corbett 1921, p. 235.
  19. ^ a b c d Burt, p. 160.
  20. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 142–149.
  21. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 157–168.
  22. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 166–169.
  23. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 172–173, 189–190.
  24. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 213–219.
  25. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 330–332, 334–334, 354–455.
  26. ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 362, 368, 377.
  27. ^ Corbett 1923, pp. 160–165.

References

External links

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