HMS Canopus (1897)
Canopus, c. 1901
| |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Canopus |
Namesake | Canopus, Egypt |
Ordered | 1896 Programme |
Builder | Portsmouth Dockyard |
Laid down | 4 January 1897 |
Launched | 12 October 1897 |
Completed | 5 December 1899 |
Commissioned | 5 December 1899 |
Decommissioned | April 1919 |
Fate | Sold for scrapping 18 February 1920 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | ) |
Length | 421 ft 6 in (128.5 m) ( loa ) |
Beam | 74 ft (22.6 m) |
Draught | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
Complement | 750 |
Armament |
|
Armour |
|
HMS Canopus was a
Canopus served in the Mediterranean Fleet upon commissioning until 1903, when she was decommissioned for refitting. In 1905, she was sent to East Asia, but the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance that year rendered her presence in Asian waters unnecessary. She instead returned to Britain and served with several fleet commands in British waters, including the Atlantic Fleet, the Channel Fleet, and finally the Home Fleet. Another short deployment to the Mediterranean followed in 1908–1909. Upon returning to Britain, she was placed in reserve.
At the beginning of the
Canopus was transferred to the Mediterranean in early 1915 for the
Design
Canopus and her five
The Canopus-class ships were powered by a pair of 3-cylinder
Canopus had a
To save weight, Canopus carried less armour than the Majestics—6 inches (152 mm) in the
Service history
Canopus's
Canopus returned to full commission on 9 May 1905 and relieved the battleship
First World War
After the
South Seas Station
Canopus departed the
Canopus was still some 300 nautical miles (560 km) south of Cradock when he encountered Spee's squadron, and the German ships were faster than the British cruisers, preventing Cradock from rejoining Canopus. In the ensuing Battle of Coronel, the East Asia Squadron sank both of Cradock's armoured cruisers and damaged Glasgow; by the time Cradock was defeated, Canopus was still 250 nautical miles (460 km) away. Glasgow and Otranto escaped to the south and rendezvoused with Canopus.[14] Spee broke off the pursuit of the fleeing British ships when he became aware that Canopus was in the area, writing the following day that, "against this ship, we can hardly do anything. If they had kept their forces together we should most likely have come off second best."[15] Shortly after news of the battle reached Britain, the Royal Navy ordered all naval forces in the region to consolidate; this included the remnants of Cradock's command, along with the armoured cruisers Defence, Carnarvon, and Cornwall. In addition, a pair of battlecruisers—Invincible and Inflexible—were detached from the Grand Fleet to hunt down and destroy Spee's squadron.[16]
Canopus and Glasgow returned to Stanley, arriving there on 8 November 1914; they immediately proceeded to join the British warships concentrating off the River Plate. Canopus was ordered to return to the Falklands and place herself in Stanley to guard the port on 9 November. She arrived three days later, and began to make preparations for the defence of the harbour.[17] At Stanley, Canopus's crew set up defences against an attack by Graf Spee. Canopus herself was beached in the mudflats[9] in a position that allowed her to cover the entrance to the harbour and have a field of fire landward to the southeast; to reduce her visibility, her topmasts were struck and she was camouflaged. An observation post was established ashore on high ground and connected to the ship by telephone, allowing Canopus to use indirect fire against approaching ships. Some of her 12-pounder guns and a detachment of seventy Royal Marines were put ashore to defend Stanley and its environs.[8] On 25 November, Canopus intercepted a radio message that indicated that Spee's squadron had rounded Cape Horn, though the message was erroneous; Spee actually made the passage on the night of 1–2 December. By 4 December, Canopus's crew had completed their preparations.[18]
On 7 December, the main British squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee, arrived in Stanley and began coaling, with the intention of departing two days later to search for Spee. Instead, on the morning of 8 December, the German squadron arrived off Stanley; at 07:50, lookouts aboard Canopus raised the alarm. Shortly after 09:00, by which time the German cruisers—Gneisenau and Nürnberg—had approached to within 11,000 yards (10,000 m) , Canopus fired two salvos, both of which fell short. Observers stated that fragments from the second salvo hit one of Gneisenau's funnels,[8][19] though according to modern historians, including Robert Gardiner and Randal Gray,[9] Hew Strachan,[20] and Paul Halpern,[21] Canopus made no hits with either salvo. Under fire from Canopus and spotting the tripod masts of Sturdee's battlecruisers, Spee called off his force's planned attack on the Falklands. At 09:31, Canopus ceased firing, as the Germans had begun to withdraw. Sturdee's battlecruisers, much faster than Spee's ships, eventually caught and destroyed the East Asia Squadron, with the exception of the light cruiser SMS Dresden, which was able to outrun the British pursuers.[22] Canopus, still moored in the mud, remained behind at Stanley and missed the rest of the battle. Canopus left the Falklands on 18 December 1914 to return to her South American Station duties at the Abrolhos Rocks.[8]
Dardanelles campaign
In February 1915, Canopus transferred to the Mediterranean to take part in the
The heavy Ottoman fire forced Canopus and Swiftsure to withdraw from their bombardment position, though this placed them in range of the guns at Erenköy as well, while those at Dardanus could still engage them. Cornwallis, having silenced the guns at Intepe, started shelling Erenköy, while Canopus and Swiftsure kept their fire on Dardanus. The Ottomans repeatedly straddled the three battleships, but being further out in the strait, they had more room to manoeuvre and so avoided any direct hits. By 16:40, the guns at Dardanus fell silent, allowing all three ships to concentrate their fire at Erenköy, where the batteries were quickly neutralised. The three ships then withdrew, seemingly having achieved their objective, though that night, when destroyers and minesweepers tried to clear the minefields blocking the straits, they were met with very heavy fire and were forced to withdraw.[24] During the third landings on 4 March 1915, she demonstrated off the Aegean coast to keep Ottoman ground forces tied down.[8][25]
She covered the bombardment of the forts by the
The French ships began to retreat, but Canopus and the other British battleships continued the bombardment. Shortly thereafter, Inflexible struck a mine and was badly damaged but managed to withdraw. The battleships Irresistible and
Fate
After the Dardanelles campaign ended with the evacuation of Allied forces from
Notes
- ^ a b Lyon & Roberts, p. 35.
- ^ a b Lyon & Roberts, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Burt 1988, p. 141.
- ^ Paine, pp. 29–30.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36778. London. 27 May 1902. p. 10.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36801. London. 23 June 1902. p. 6.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36923. London. 12 November 1902. p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Burt 1988, p. 154.
- ^ a b c d e f g Preston, p. 7.
- ^ Corbett 1920, p. 13.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 77, 84, 272–273, 336.
- ^ Massie, p. 217.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 331–332, 355–359.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 360–369.
- ^ Kieler Neueste Nachrichten, 20 April 1915, quoted in Corbett (1920), p. 369
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 379–380.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 418–420.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 427, 429.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 429–433.
- ^ Strachan, p. 47.
- ^ Halpern, p. 98.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 433–445.
- ^ Corbett 1921, p. 170–171.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 171–172.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 178–179.
- ^ Marder, p. 242.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 213–218.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 219–223.
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 59.
- ^ Corbett 1923, pp. 25, 28.
- ^ Burt reports the towing date as 23 May 1915 on p. 154 but as 24 May 1915 on p. 159
- ^ Corbett 1923, p. 29.
References
- Burt, R. A. (2013) [1988]. British Battleships 1889–1904. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-173-1.
- Burt, R. A. (1986). British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-863-7.
- OCLC 174823980.
- Corbett, Julian Stafford (1921). Naval Operations: From The Battle of the Falklands to the Entry of Italy Into the War in May 1915. Vol. II. London: Longmans, Green & Co. OCLC 924170059.
- Corbett, Julian Stafford (1923). Naval Operations: The Dardanelles Campaign. Vol. III. London: Longmans, Green & Co. OCLC 174824081.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
- Lyon, David & Roberts, John (1979). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 1–113. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-163-2.
- Paine, Lincoln P. (2000). Warships of the World to 1900. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-98414-7.
- Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- Strachan, Hew (2001). The First World War: Volume 1: To Arms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926191-8.