HMS Empress of India

Coordinates: 50°29′42″N 2°57′54″W / 50.49500°N 2.96500°W / 50.49500; -2.96500
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Empress of India at anchor, 1906
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Empress of India
NamesakeRegnal title of Queen Victoria
Ordered1889 Naval Programme
BuilderPembroke Dockyard
Cost£912,612
Laid down9 July 1889
Launched7 May 1891
CompletedAugust 1893
Commissioned11 September 1893
Out of serviceEarly 1912
FateSunk as target, 4 November 1913
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type
predreadnought battleship
Displacement14,150 long tons (14,380 t) (normal)
Length380 ft (115.8 m) (pp)
Beam75 ft (22.9 m)
Draught27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range4,720 nmi (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) @ 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement692 (as flagship, 1903)
Armament
  • 2 × twin
    13.5 in (343 mm) guns
  • 10 × single
    6 in (152 mm) guns
  • 10 × single 6-pdr (57 mm (2.2 in)) guns
  • 12 × single 3-pdr (47 mm (1.9 in)) guns
  • 7 ×
    18-inch (450 mm) torpedo
    tubes
Armour

HMS Empress of India was one of seven

coast guard ship in Ireland before she became the second flagship of the Home Fleet. The ship was reduced to reserve in 1905 and accidentally collided with the submarine HMS A10 the following year. Empress of India was taken out of service in early 1912 and accidentally struck a German sailing ship while under tow. She was sunk as a target ship
in 1913.

Design and description

The design of the Royal Sovereign-class ships was derived from that of the

deep load. They had a length between perpendiculars of 380 feet (115.8 m) and an overall length of 410 feet 6 inches (125.1 m), a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m), and a draught of 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 m).[2] As a flagship, Empress of India's crew consisted of 692 officers and ratings in 1903.[3]

Propulsion

The Royal Sovereigns were powered by a pair of three-cylinder, vertical

forced draught. The ships carried a maximum of 1,420 long tons (1,443 t) of coal which gave them a range of 4,720 nautical miles (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3]

Armament

in the 1890s

Their main armament consisted of four

6-inch (152 mm) guns.[2] 200 rounds per gun were carried by the ships.[3] Sixteen QF 6-pounder (2.2 in (57 mm)) guns of an unknown type and a dozen QF 3-pounder (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss guns were fitted for defence against torpedo boats. The two 3-pounders in the upper fighting top were removed in 1903–04 and all of the remaining light guns from the lower fighting tops and main deck followed in 1905–09. The Royal Sovereign-class ships mounted seven 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes, although Empress of India had four of hers removed in 1902.[5]

Armour

The Royal Sovereigns' armour scheme was similar to that of the Trafalgars, as the waterline belt of compound armour only protected the area between the barbettes. The 14–18-inch (356–457 mm) belt and transverse bulkheads 14–16 inches (356–406 mm) thick closed off the ends of the belt. Above the belt was a strake of 4-inch (102 mm) nickel-steel armour closed off by 3-inch (76 mm) transverse bulkheads.[2] The barbettes were protected by compound armour, ranging in thickness from 11 to 17 inches (279 to 432 mm) and the casemates for the 6-inch guns had a thickness equal to their diameter. The thicknesses of the armour deck ranged from 2.5 to 3 inches (64 to 76 mm). The walls of the forward conning tower were 12–14 inches (305–356 mm) thick and the aft conning tower was protected by 3-inch plates.[3]

Construction and career

Empress of India at anchor, about 1897

HMS Empress of India, named after a

launched[8] on 7 May 1891 by Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn. One man was killed when a cable snapped the following day. The ship was then transferred to Chatham Dockyard, where she was completed in August 1893, at a cost of £912,612.[9]

Empress of India was commissioned at Chatham on 11 September 1893 to relieve the ironclad battleship

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria at Spithead on 26 June 1897.[8]

The ship arrived at

Salonica. Their departure marked the end of 229 years of Ottoman occupation of Crete.[11][12]

Coast of Ireland Station.[8] The ship began an extensive refit at Plymouth in early March 1902.[15] During this refit her upper deck six-inch guns received casemates to improve their protection.[10]

Empress of India was assigned to the Home Fleet on 7 May 1902, in which she served as flagship in port and as flagship of the second-in-command when the fleet was at sea. The ship participated in the

King Edward VII held at Spithead on 16 August 1902,[16] and was back in Ireland later that month when she received the Imperial Japanese Navy armored cruiser Asama and protected cruiser Takasago at Cork.[17] Captain Cecil Burney was appointed in command on 16 September, as flag captain to the second-in-command of the Home Fleet (Rear-Admiral George Atkinson-Willes), who transferred his flag to the ship on the same day.[18] She was assigned as flag ship of the Home Squadron, which was at the time the permanent sea-going nucleus of the Home Fleet.[19] Empress of India served as flagship of "B Fleet" during combined manoeuvres of the Home Fleet, Mediterranean Fleet, and Channel Fleet off Portugal from 5 August to 9 August 1903, but her port engine broke down for 14 hours and the fleet had to leave her behind. Her sister ship Royal Oak relieved her as flagship of the second-in-command of the Home Fleet on 1 June 1904,[20] and she became a private ship in the Home Fleet. The battleship Hannibal relieved her on 22 February 1905, and the ship paid off the next day.[8]

That same day, Empress of India recommissioned in reserve at Devonport and relieved the battleship Barfleur as flagship of the new Fleet in Commission in Reserve at Home. In July 1905 she participated in Reserve Fleet manoeuvres. In September 1905, the protected cruiser Aeolus relieved her of her duties, but she recommissioned on 31 October 1905 with a new nucleus crew to resume her Reserve Fleet duties. She then underwent a refit that lasted into 1906.[8] Empress of India collided with the submarine A10 in Plymouth Sound on 30 April 1906.[8]

When the Reserve Fleet was abolished in February 1907 and became the Home Fleet, Empress of India continued her service as flagship, but now for the Rear-Admiral, Devonport Division. On 25 May she was relieved as flagship by the protected cruiser

armoured cruiser Warrior, en route to the Motherbank, where she was to be laid up, but she collided with the German barque Winderhudder en route and had to return to Portsmouth for repairs. She finally arrived at the Motherbank two months later and was laid up, awaiting disposal.[8]

Sinking

On 4 November 1913,

dreadnought battleships Thunderer and Orion and the predreadnought battleship King Edward VII, and finally the four dreadnoughts Neptune, King George V, Thunderer, and Vanguard. By 16:45, "Empress of India was blazing furiously and down by the stern, sinking at" 18:30.[22] She had received forty-four 12-inch (305-mm) and 13.5-inch (343-mm) hits and "it is not surprising that an elderly ship sank,"[22] though the intention had been to repeat the firing at longer range before she did.[22]

When Empress of India sank, she settled upside-down on the seabed, and some salvage was soon carried out by a Jersey company which owned the rights to the vessel. A big hole in her side was made not by a shell, but by salvage divers removing a condenser. The wreck is accessible and is a deep dive for recreational divers.[23]

Details of the firing are given in the table below.[22]

Ship firing Type of ship Range Firing order Ammunition Fired Hits
Liverpool Light cruiser 4,750 yd (4,340 m) First 6-inch
HE
shell
16 7
4-inch (102 mm) HE shell 66 22
Thunderer
Orion
Dreadnought battleship 9,800 yd (9,000 m) Second 13.5-inch common shell 40 17
King Edward VII Predreadnought battleship 9,800 yd (9,000 m) Second 12-inch common shell 16 5
9.2-inch (234 mm) common shell 18 7
6-inch common shell 27 5
Neptune
King George V
Thunderer
Vanguard
Dreadnought battleships 8,000–10,000 yd (7,300–9,100 m) Third 13.5-inch and
12-inch common shell
95 22

Notes

  1. ^ Gardiner, p. 116; Parkes, pp. 359
  2. ^ a b c d Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 32
  3. ^ a b c d e Burt, p. 73
  4. ^ Parkes, p. 355
  5. ^ Burt, pp. 73, 85, 87, 100
  6. ^ Silverstone, p. 229
  7. ^ Colledge, p. 244
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Burt, p. 100
  9. ^ Phillips, pp. 245–46
  10. ^ a b c Parkes, p. 362
  11. ^ McTiernan, p. 36.
  12. ^ The British in Crete, 1896 to 1913: Ottomans Evacuate Crete
  13. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36577. London. 4 October 1901. p. 8.
  14. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36582. London. 10 October 1901. p. 8.
  15. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36715. London. 14 March 1902. p. 9.
  16. ^ "The Coronation - Naval Review". The Times. No. 36845. London. 13 August 1902. p. 4.
  17. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36852. London. 21 August 1902. p. 8.
  18. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36857. London. 27 August 1902. p. 4.
  19. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36869. London. 10 September 1902. p. 8.
  20. ^ But note that Burt, p. 92, places the relief date on 9 May
  21. ^ Burt, p. 92
  22. ^ a b c d e Brown, pp. 176–77
  23. ^ "HMS Empress of India Wreck in Lyme Bay". Teign Dive. Teign Diving Centre. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.

References

External links

50°29′42″N 2°57′54″W / 50.49500°N 2.96500°W / 50.49500; -2.96500