HMS Russell
was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 11 March
1899 and launched on 19 February 1902. She arrived at Sheerness later the same
month and went to Chatham Dockyard for steam and gun-mounting trials.
Construction of Russell was completed in February 1903. Armed with 4 × BL
12-inch (305 mm) Mk IX guns, 12 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) 45-caliber Mk VII guns, 10
× 12-pounder (76 mm) guns, 6 × 3-pounder (47 mm) guns, 2 × machine guns & 4
× 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged).
Russell and
her five sisters of the Duncan class were ordered in response to large French
and Russian building programmes, including an emphasis on fast battleships in
the Russian programme; they were designed as smaller, more lightly armoured,
and faster versions of the preceding Formidable class. As it turned out, the
Russian ships were not as heavily armed as initially feared, and the Duncans
proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and
protection.
The Duncans
had machinery of 3,000 indicated horsepower (2,200 kW) more than the
Formidables and Londons and were the first British battleships with 4-cylinder
triple-expansion engines. They also had a modified hull form to improve speed.
The ships had a reputation as good steamers, with a designed speed of 19 knots
(35 km/h; 22 mph) and an operational speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), good
steering at all speeds, and an easy roll. They were the fastest battleships in
the Royal Navy when completed, and the fastest predreadnoughts ever built.
When World
War I began in August 1914, plans originally called for Russell and battleships
Agamemnon, Albemarle, Cornwallis, Duncan, Exmouth, and Vengeance to combine in
the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, where the squadron was
to patrol the English Channel and cover the movement of the British
Expeditionary Force to France. However, plans also existed for the 6th Battle
Squadron to be assigned to the Grand Fleet, and, when the war began, the Commander-in-Chief,
Grand Fleet, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, requested that Russell and her four
surviving sister ships of the Duncan class (Albemarle, Cornwallis, Duncan, and
Exmouth) be assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet for patrol
duties to make up for the Grand Fleet's shortage of cruisers. Accordingly, the
6th Battle Squadron was abolished temporarily, and Russell joined the 3rd
Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow on 8 August 1914. She worked with Grand Fleet cruisers
on the Northern Patrol.
Russell and
her four Duncan-class sisters, as well as the battleships of the King Edward
VII class, temporarily were transferred to the Channel Fleet on 2 November 1914
to reinforce that fleet in the face of German Navy activity in the Channel
Fleet's area. On 13 November 1914, the King Edward VII-class ships returned to
the Grand Fleet, but Albemarle and the other Duncans stayed in the Channel
Fleet, where they reconstituted the 6th Battle Squadron on 14 November 1914,
with Russell serving as the squadron's flagship. This squadron was given a
mission of bombarding German submarine bases on the coast of Belgium, and was
based at Portland, although it transferred to Dover immediately on 14 November
1914. However, due a lack of antisubmarine defences at Dover, the squadron
returned to Portland on 19 November 1914. Russell participated in the
bombardment of German submarine facilities at Zeebrugge on 23 November 1914.
On 6
November 1915, a division of the 3rd Battle Squadron consisting of battleships
Hibernia (the flagship), Zealandia, Albemarle, and Russell was detached from
the Grand Fleet to reinforce the British Dardanelles Squadron in the
Dardanelles Campaign at the Gallipoli Peninsula. Albemarle had to turn back
almost immediately due to heavy weather damage, but the other ships continued
to the Mediterranean, where Russell took up her duties at the Dardanelles in
December 1915,based at Mudros with Hibernia and held back in support. Her only
action in the campaign was her participation in the evacuation of Cape Helles
from 7 January 1916 to 9 January 1916, and she was the last battleship of the
British Dardanelles Squadron to leave the area. She relieved Hibernia as
Divisional Flagship, Rear Admiral, in January 1916, she was then transferred to
Malta.
Russell was
steaming off Malta early on the morning of 27 April 1916 when she struck two
naval mines that had been laid by the German submarine U-73. A fire broke out
in the after part of the ship and the order to abandon ship was passed; after
an explosion near the after 12-inch (305 mm) turret, she took on a dangerous
list. However, she sank slowly, allowing most of her crew to escape. A total of
27 officers and 98 ratings were lost.
Today
sitting on the Sea Bed This is a serious TEC Dive for Experienced tec
divers/teams Turtle -115 meters, the area is littered with gun cases and some of the
guns can be seen on the sand but a lot of them have not been found yet as they
were held in place by weight of the guns.
No comments:
Post a Comment