HMS Liverpool (1909)

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

Liverpool
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Liverpool
NamesakeLiverpool
BuilderVickers Limited
Laid down17 February 1909
Launched30 October 1909
CommissionedOctober 1910
FateSold for scrapping 8 November 1921
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeTown-class light cruiser
Displacement4,800 tons normal; 5,300 tons deep load
LengthOverall 453 ft (138 m)
Beam47 ft (14 m)
Draught15.6 ft (4.8 m)
Propulsion
  • Parsons turbines
  • Four screws
  • 12 Yarrow boilers
  • 22,000 shp (16 MW)
Speed25 kn (46 km/h)
Range
  • 5,070 nmi (9,390 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h); carried 1350 tons of coal
  • 1250 tons fuel oil
Complement480
Armament
  • 2 ×
    BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI guns
  • 10 ×
    BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk VII guns
  • 1 ×
    3-inch (76 mm)
    gun
  • 4 × 3-pounder guns
  • 4 × machine guns
  • 2 ×
    18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour

HMS Liverpool was a 4,800 ton

First World War
.

During the war, Liverpool fought in the

Adriatic and Aegean. On 27 October 1914, the cruiser assisted in the rescue of the crew of Audacious. Liverpool made efforts to tow the battleship to port, but Audacious eventually capsized and exploded. After the Armistice was signed, Liverpool operated in the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War
until placed in reserve in June 1919.

History

Grand Fleet (1914-1915)

Built by Vickers Sons & Maxim at Barrow-in-Furness, she was the first Liverpool to be named for the port city in the 20th Century and the first to be constructed of steel. Launched on 30 October 1909 and commissioned in 1910, Liverpool was one of five cruisers ordered to the Bristol sub-class specification.[1] The Bristol sub class was the first medium (or 2nd class) cruiser design to be built for the Royal Navy since the late 19th Century.[1] Their main armament consisted of two 6 in (150 mm) and ten 4 in (100 mm) guns — a mixed configuration deemed "unsatisfactory" and discontinued in the subsequent Weymouth sub-class in favour of a uniform complement of eight 6 in (150 mm) guns.[2]

She was assigned to the

Battle of Heligoland Bight, on 28 August 1914 grouped with five other Town cruisers under command of Commodore William Goodenough.[3] After the German cruiser Mainz was heavily damaged and disabled, Goodenough ordered his ships to cease firing on her at 12:55 pm and a rescue operation was subsequently undertaken. Liverpool, accompanied by the destroyers Firedrake and Lurcher, manoeuvred close to the cruiser in an effort to recover the surviving crew. Small craft from Liverpool were deployed to retrieve crewmembers who had abandoned ship while Lurcher positioned alongside Mainz to transfer the remaining personnel on board.[4] Liverpool detached from the main force at 7:45 pm to transport 86 embarked prisoners to Rosyth, including a son of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.[5]

Two-months later, on 27 October, Liverpool was in the company of Audacious when the battleship struck a mine during a morning exercise by the Grand Fleet off the coast of Ireland. Unsure of the circumstances of the incident, the Admiralty ordered the fleet to withdraw as a precaution while Liverpool remained as an escort. Audacious attempted to proceed to Lough Swilly but the flooding proved to be grievous. Other vessels, including the liner Olympic, converged on the position after Audacious transmitted an SOS. Repeated attempts to tow the immobile Audacious were ineffectual and the crew was steadily evacuated.[6] The battleship capsized and exploded at 20:45 with the loss of a petty officer on board Liverpool, killed by scattered debris fragments.

Adriatic and Aegean (1915-1918)

In 1915, Liverpool was detached from the Grand Fleet and sent to patrol the coast of

Saseno classified as "Urgent" were intercepted at 0350 am and disregarded because Liverpool's wireless room was unable to read Italian and had been the recipient of similar signals previously.[8] Ultimately, Liverpool remained in port and no order was issued by Admiral Alfredo Acton for Liverpool to sail despite the cruiser's eventual readiness and Captain Vivian's personal request.[9]

Liverpool was transferred to the

Denikin.[10] She returned to Britain in mid-1919 and was relegated to reserve status in June, berthed at Devonport Dockyard.[1]

Placed on the disposal list in March 1920,[1] Liverpool was sold to Stanlee, then acquired by Slough Trading Company in November 1921 and broken up in Germany.[11] A silver bell and plate were preserved and presented to the Birkenhead-built battleship Rodney. The objects came into the possession of the sixth Liverpool in the late 1930s as gifts following the light cruiser's commission.[12]

Image gallery

  • HMS Liverpool and another naval vessel, together with RMS Olympic, try to take HMS Audacious in tow. The view is from the passenger areas of RMS Olympic
    HMS Liverpool and another naval vessel, together with RMS Olympic, try to take HMS Audacious in tow. The view is from the passenger areas of RMS Olympic
  • View from the passenger decks of RMS Olympic as HMS Liverpool (left) strains to tow the sinking HMS Audacious (bow seen on right), dated October 26 (sic) 1914.
    View from the passenger decks of RMS Olympic as HMS Liverpool (left) strains to tow the sinking HMS Audacious (bow seen on right), dated October 26 (sic) 1914.
  • After aborting the attempts to tow, the crew of HMS Audacious take to lifeboats to be taken aboard RMS Olympic. The Olympic passengers and amateur photographers, Edith and Mabel Smith of Derby, dated the event in their album as 26 October (sic) 1914.
    After aborting the attempts to tow, the crew of HMS Audacious take to lifeboats to be taken aboard RMS Olympic. The Olympic passengers and amateur photographers, Edith and Mabel Smith of Derby, dated the event in their album as 26 October (sic) 1914.
  • HMS Liverpool (Bristol-class cruiser)
    HMS Liverpool (Bristol-class cruiser)

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gray, Randal (1985), p51
  2. ^ Gray, Randal (1985), p52
  3. ^ Osborne, Eric W. (2006), The Battle of Heligoland Bight, p52
  4. ^ Osborne, Eric W. (2006), The Battle of Heligoland Bight, pp91-2
  5. ^ Osborne, Eric W. (2006), The Battle of Heligoland Bight, p103
  6. ^ Younghusband, Norman (2006),The Development of Mine Warfare: A Most Murderous and Barbarous Conduct, p83
  7. ^ Halpern, Paul G. (1995), A Naval History of World War I, p158
  8. ^ a b Halpern, Paul G. (2004), The Battle of the Otranto Straits: Controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in WWI, p71
  9. ^ Halpern, Paul G. (2004), The Battle of the Otranto Straits: Controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in WWI, p110
  10. ^ Kinvig, Clifford (2006), Churchill's Crusade: The British Invasion of Russia, 1918-1920, p94
  11. ^ Colledge, J.J. & Warlow, Ben (2003), Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy, p193
  12. ^ A City’s Gift to Warship. H.M.S. Liverpool in the Mersey, The Times, 9 January 1939, ancs.ac.uk. Accessed 25 April 2008.

References

  • ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8
    .
  • Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One
    (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
  • Gray, Randal (1985), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921, Conway Maritime Press.
    ISBN 0-85177-245-5

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Liverpool (1909).
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