HMS Princess Royal (1911)
 Princess Royal
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Princess Royal |
| Namesake | Louise, Princess Royal |
| Ordered | 1909–10 Contingent Programme |
| Builder | Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Cost | £2,076,222 (including armament) |
| Laid down | 2 May 1910 |
| Launched | 29 April 1911 |
| Sponsored by | Princess Louise, The Princess Royal |
| Commissioned | 14 November 1912 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 19 December 1922 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Lion-class battlecruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 700 ft (213.4 m) |
| Beam | 88 ft 7 in (27 m) |
| Draught | 32 ft 5 in (9.9 m) at deep load |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Range | 5,610 nmi (10,390 km; 6,460 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 985 (in 1912) |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
HMS Princess Royal was the second of two Lion-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy before the First World War. Designed in response to the Moltke-class battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy, the ships significantly improved on the speed, armament, and armour of the preceding Indefatigable class. The ship was named after Louise, The Princess Royal, a title occasionally granted to the Monarch's eldest daughter.[1]
Completed in 1913, Princess Royal participated in the
Princess Royal was moderately damaged during the Battle of Jutland and required a month and a half of repairs. Apart from providing distant support during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917, the ship spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols of the North Sea. She was placed into reserve in 1920, then was sold for scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.
Design
The Lion-class battlecruisers, nicknamed the "Splendid Cats",
Propulsion
The Lion-class ships had two paired sets of
Armament
Princess Royal was armed with eight
The battlecruiser was built without
Princess Royal received a fire-control director between mid-1915 and May 1916 that centralised fire-control under the gunnery officer who now fired the guns. To align their guns on the target, the turret crewmen had to follow pointers whose position was transmitted from the director. This greatly increased accuracy as it was easier for the director to spot the fall of shells and eliminated the shell spread caused by the ship's roll as the turrets fired individually.[8]
By early 1918, Princess Royal carried a Sopwith Pup and a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on flying-off ramps fitted on top of 'Q' and 'X' turrets. The Pup was intended to shoot down Zeppelins while the 1½ Strutter was used for spotting and reconnaissance.[9] Each platform had a canvas hangar to protect the aircraft during inclement weather.[10]
Armour
The armour protection given to Lion and Princess Royal was heavier than on the Indefatigables. The waterline
Construction and career
Princess Royal was
Battle of Heligoland Bight
Princess Royal first saw combat during the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. She was part of Beatty's battlecruiser force, which was originally to provide
Princess Royal sailed from
Battle of Dogger Bank
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On 23 January 1915, a force of German battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Franz von Hipper sortied to clear the Dogger Bank of any British vessels that might be collecting intelligence on German movements. The British were reading the German coded messages, and a large battlecruiser force under Beatty sailed to intercept. Contact was initiated at 07:20 on the 24th, when the British light cruiser Arethusa spotted the German light cruiser Kolberg. By 07:35, the Germans had seen Beatty's force; Hipper – aboard Seydlitz – ordered his ships south at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), thinking he could outpace any British battleships, and could increase to Blücher's maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) if the pursuing ships were battlecruisers.[18]
Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to catch the Germans before they could escape. The leading ships – Lion, Princess Royal and Tiger – pursued at 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph), and Lion opened fire at 08:52 at a range of 20,000 yards (18,000 m). The other ships followed a few minutes later, but the extreme range and decreasing visibility meant they did not start scoring hits until 09:09. The German battlecruisers opened fire two minutes later at a range of 18,000 yards (16,000 m) and concentrated their fire on Lion, hitting her once. At 09:35, Beatty signalled to "engage the corresponding ships in the enemy's line", but Tiger's captain – believing that Indomitable was already engaging Blücher – joined Lion in attacking Seydlitz, which left Moltke unengaged and able to fire on Lion without risk. Moltke and Derfflinger combined their fire to badly damage Lion over the next hour, even with Princess Royal attacking Derfflinger.[19]
Meanwhile, Blücher had been heavily damaged; her speed had dropped to 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), and her steering gear was jammed. Beatty ordered Indomitable to attack her at 10:48. Six minutes later, he spotted what he thought was a submarine periscope on the starboard bow and ordered an immediate 90° turn to port to avoid the submarine, although the submarine warning flag was not raised because most of Lion's signal halyards had been shot away. Soon afterward, Lion lost her remaining dynamo to the rising water, which knocked out all remaining light and power. At 11:02, Beatty had flags hoisted signalling "course north-east", to bring his ships back to their pursuit of Hipper, and "attack the rear of the enemy". Rear-Admiral Sir Gordon Moore – temporarily commanding the squadron from New Zealand – thought the signals meant to attack Blücher, which was about 8,000 yards (7,300 m) to the north-east, and ordered the four other battlecruisers away from the pursuit of Hipper's main force to engage. Beatty tried to correct the mistake, but he was so far behind the leading battlecruisers that his signals could not be read in the smoke and haze.[20]
Beatty transferred to the destroyer Attack at 11:50 and set off in pursuit of his battlecruisers, reaching them shortly before Blücher sank. He boarded Princess Royal at 12:20 and ordered the ships to pursue the main German force. This order was rescinded when it became clear that the time lost in sinking Blücher meant the rest of Hipper's battlecruisers would reach friendly waters before they could be caught. Beatty's battlecruisers turned for home, catching up to Lion, which was limping along at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[21]
Princess Royal hit Derfflinger once, but only damaged two armour plates and caused a coal bunker to flood.[22] She hit Blücher at least twice, including the shot that crippled her, out of a total of 271 13.5-inch (343 mm) shells fired during the battle, a hit rate of only 0.7%. By way of contrast, her sister Lion made four hits out of 243 shells fired, a rate of 1.6%. She also fired two 13.5-inch shrapnel shells at the German airship L 5 as its crew attempted to bomb the sinking Blücher, mistaking it for a British ship,[23] despite the fact that the maximum elevation of those guns was only 20°.[24] Princess Royal was not damaged during the battle.[25]
Battle of Jutland
On 31 May 1916, Princess Royal was flagship of the 1st BCS under Beatty's overall command;
This began what was to be called the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east south-east at 15:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than 18,000 yards (16,000 m) away. The Germans opened fire first at 15:48, followed by the British. The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships – Lion and Princess Royal – had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire. The two battlecruisers engaged
At 16:11, a torpedo fired by Moltke passed under Princess Royal. Those aboard the British ship saw the torpedo's track, but incorrectly concluded that a
The German battlecruisers made their own turn north in pursuit,[32] but Beatty's ships maintained full speed, and gradually moved out of range. The British battlecruisers turned north, then north-east, to try to rendezvous with the main body of the Grand Fleet, and at 17:40 opened fire again on their German counterparts. Facing the setting sun, the Germans could not make out the British ships and turned away to the north-east at 17:47.[33] Beatty gradually turned towards the east so his ships could cover the Grand Fleet as it deployed into battle formation, but he mistimed his manoeuvre and forced the leading British division to manoeuvre away from the Germans.[34] About 18:22, Princess Royal was hit by two 12-inch (305 mm) shells fired by the battleship Markgraf; one of these disabled 'X' turret and the other penetrated the ship's side armour.[35] By 18:35, Beatty was following the 3rd BCS as they were leading the Grand Fleet east-southeast, and continuing to engage Hipper's battlecruisers to their south-west. A few minutes earlier, Scheer had ordered a simultaneous 180° starboard turn, and Beatty lost sight of them in the haze.[34] At 18:44, Beatty turned his ships south-east, then south-southeast four minutes later, to find Hipper's force. He then ordered the two surviving ships of the 3rd BCS to take position astern of New Zealand, while slowing to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) and altering course to the south.[36] Beatty then ordered his ships to make a complete circle to stay within visual range of the Grand Fleet.[37] At 18:55, Scheer ordered another 180° turn, which put the German ships on a converging course again with the Grand Fleet. However, the British had altered course to the south, allowing the Grand Fleet to cross Scheer's "T" and inflict damage on the leading German ships. Scheer ordered yet another 180° turn at 19:13, and successfully extricated the High Seas Fleet from the danger precipitated by his previous turn.[38] About this time, Princess Royal fired at the leading German battlecruiser for three minutes without result.[39]
The British lost sight of the Germans until the light cruiser Castor spotted smoke to the west-northwest at 20:05, then identified and engaged several German torpedo boats. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Beatty ordered his ships west, and spotted the German battlecruisers only 8,500 yards (7,800 m) away. Inflexible opened fire at 20:20, followed almost immediately by the rest of the battlecruisers.[40] Shortly after 20:30, the pre-dreadnought battleships of Konteradmiral (Rear-Admiral) Franz Mauve's II Battle Squadron were spotted. The British battlecruisers and German pre-dreadnoughts exchanged fire; the Germans fired only a few times before turning away to the west because of poor visibility and the more accurate British gunnery, disappearing into the mist around 20:40.[41] Beatty's battlecruisers sailed south-southeast, ahead of both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, until the order to reverse course for home was given at 02:55.[42]
Along with the rest of the battlecruisers, Princess Royal reached Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland on the morning of 2 June, and she immediately received temporary repairs over the next eight days. She then sailed for Plymouth, where permanent repairs were completed on 15 July, and returned to Rosyth by 21 July. Princess Royal was hit nine times during the battle – six times by Derfflinger during the "Run to the South", twice by Markgraf during the "Run to the North", and once by Posen just after II Battle Squadron appeared – with 22 killed and 81 injured. The battlecruiser fired only 230 main-gun shells during the battle, as her visibility was often impaired by the funnel smoke and fires aboard Lion. She was credited with three hits on Lützow and two on Seydlitz.[23][43]
Post-Jutland career
The Grand Fleet sortied on 18 August to ambush the High Seas Fleet while it advanced into the southern North Sea but miscommunications and mistakes prevented Jellicoe from intercepting the German fleet before it returned to port. Two light cruisers were sunk by German U-boats during the operation, prompting Jellicoe to decide to not risk the major units of the fleet south of 55° 30' North due to the prevalence of German submarines and mines. The Admiralty concurred and stipulated that the Grand Fleet would not sortie unless the German fleet was attempting an invasion of Britain or that it could be forced into an engagement at a disadvantage.[44]
Princess Royal provided support for British light forces involved in the
Following the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at the end of the war, Princess Royal and the 1st BCS made up part of the guard force at Scapa Flow.[48] Princess Royal was reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet in April 1919.[17] The battlecruiser was placed in reserve the following year, and an attempt to sell her to Chile later in 1920 was unsuccessful.[25] She became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief of the Scottish Coast on 22 February 1922[17] and was sold on 22 January 1923 to J&W Purves for £25,000. Her contract was immediately transferred to the Rosyth Shipbreaking Co. which had leased facilities at Rosyth Dockyard for that purpose, and her demolition was completed during 1925.[49]
Notes
- ^ "cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 30 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
- ^ The times used in this article are in UTC, which is one hour behind CET, which is often used in German works.
- ^ The compass can be divided into 32 points, each corresponding to 11.25 degrees. A two-point turn to port would alter the ships' course by 22.5 degrees.
References
- ^ Silverstone, p. 258.
- ^ a b Preston, p. 29.
- ^ Burt, pp. 172, 176.
- ^ Roberts, pp. 43–45.
- ^ Roberts, pp. 33, 70–76, 78–80.
- ^ a b Roberts, p. 83.
- ^ Burt, p. 179.
- ^ Roberts, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Layman, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Roberts, p. 92.
- ^ Roberts, pp. 109, 112.
- ^ Roberts, p. 113.
- ^ Roberts, p. 41.
- ^ Burt, p. 176.
- ^ Burt, p. 180, 183.
- ^ Massie, pp. 109–113.
- ^ a b c Roberts, p. 123.
- ^ Massie, pp. 376–384.
- ^ Massie, pp. 386–396.
- ^ Massie, pp. 398–402.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 38.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 35–39.
- ^ a b c d Campbell 1978, pp. 29, 32.
- ^ Campbell 1978, p. 27.
- ^ a b Burt, p. 183.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 69, 71, 75.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 80–82.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 83.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 85.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 89–91.
- ^ Massie, pp. 598–600.
- ^ Massie, p. 601.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 109.
- ^ a b Tarrant, pp. 130–138.
- ^ Campbell 1985, pp. 153, 170–171.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 145.
- ^ Brooks, p. 263.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 149, 157.
- ^ Campbell 1985, p. 208.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 175.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 177–178.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 178, 224.
- ^ "Understanding the Battle". The Battle of Jutland - Centenary Initiative. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 330–332.
- ^ Newbolt, pp. 169, 193.
- ^ Massie, p. 748.
- ^ Stevens & Goldrick, p. 186.
- ^ Marder, V, p. 273.
- ^ Dodson, p. 219.
Bibliography
- Brooks, John (2005). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control. Naval Policy and History. Vol. 32. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-40788-5.
- Burt, R. A. (2012). British Battleships of World War One (Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-053-5.
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-459-2.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1978). Battle Cruisers. Warship Special. Vol. 1. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-130-4.
- Dodson, Aidan (2022). "Warship Gallery: The Scrapping of HMS Agincourt, New Zealand, Princess Royal at Rosyth, 1923—1925". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 219–224. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
- Layman, R. D. (1996). Naval Aviation in the First World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-617-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-215187-2.
- ISBN 0-679-45671-6.
- ISBN 0-89839-255-1.
- ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Roberts, John (1997). Battlecruisers. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-068-7.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-88254-979-8.
- Stevens, David & Goldrick, James (2010). 1918 Year of Victory. Auckland, NZ: Exisle. ISBN 978-1-921497-42-1.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1999) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 978-1-86019-917-2.
External links
- Imperial War Museums: Lives of the First World War: HMS Princess Royal at the Battle of Jutland (Crew List) Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project – HMS Princess Royal Crew List