Royal Sovereign-class battleship
HMS
Ramillies
was a
Royal Sovereign-
class
pre-dreadnought
battleship
of the
Royal Navy
, named after the
Battle of Ramillies
. The ship was built by
J. & G. Thompson
at
Clydebank
, starting with her
keel laying
in August 1890. She was
launched
in March 1892 and
commissioned
into the
Mediterranean Fleet
as
flagship
the following October. She was armed with a main battery of four 13.5-inch guns and a secondary battery of ten 6-inch guns. The ship had a top speed of 16.5 knots.
Ramillies
served as flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet up to 1899, and again from 1900 to 1902. After taking part in manoeuvres off the coast of
Portugal
, she returned to England for a refit in 1903. Upon completion, she was commissioned into the Reserve in 1905. She suffered damage while participating in combined manoeuvres the following year, and was recommissioned into the Special Service Division of the
Home Fleet
in 1907, becoming the Parent Ship of the 4th Division of the Home Fleet in 1910. She was relieved of that role a year later, before being reduced to material reserve at
Devonport
in August 1911, and stripped and laid up at
Motherbank
for disposal in July 1913. She was sold for scrap in October 1913 and towed to
Italy
to be broken up the following month.
Design
[
edit
]
Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1905.
The
Royal Sovereign
-class
battleships
were based on
Admiral
-class barbette ships
, but contained several alterations. The
freeboard
was raised, the
barbettes
' armour was extended and an upper
belt
and secondary armour were added. They could also obtain a higher speed, but were 4,000 tons larger.
Ramillies
was 410 feet (120 m)
long overall
and had a
beam
of 75 ft and a
draft
of 27 ft 6in. She displaced up to 15,580 tons at her full combat load. Her propulsion system consisted of two 3-cylinder
triple expansion engines
powered by eight coal-fired cylindrical boilers. With natural
draught
, her engines provided a top speed of 15.5
knots
at 9,000
indicated horsepower
; 16.5 knots at 11,000 indicated horsepower could be obtained with forced draught. She had a crew of 712 officers and ratings. When built, ships of the
Royal Sovereign
class rolled too heavily under certain conditions.
Bilge keels
were added to compensate for the problem, and the ships "proved to be excellent seaboats quite capable ... of maintaining high speeds in a seaway".
[1]
The ships were well-constructed and probably the most substantial built for the Royal Navy, even if they "suffered ... from excessive weight and fittings."
[2]
In the view of R. A. Burt, they were "highly successful; at that time, they were probably unequalled in all-round fighting efficiency."
[2]
Ramillies
was armed with four
breech-loading
13.5-inch guns
on two
barbettes
with armour ranging from 11 to 17 inches in thickness. The ship also carried ten
quick-fire
(QF)
6-inch guns
, four of which were mounted in casemates on the main deck, plus 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
. She was also equipped with seven 18-inch
torpedo tubes
, two of which were submerged.
[1]
Between 1899 and 1902, the 3-pounder guns were removed from the upper tops; the above-water torpedo tubes were removed in 1902?1905.
[3]
The remaining 6-inch guns on the upper deck were mounted in 5-inch armoured
casemates
between 1902 and 1904. All of the armour was supplied by the builders,
J. & G. Thompson
, of
Clydebank
. The waterline belt was 252 ft long by 8 ft 8in deep, and its armour varied in thickness between 14 and 18 inches; the
bulkheads
were protected by 14 to 16 inches of armour. The middle deck covering the belt was 3 inches thick and the lower deck forward and aft of the belt was 2.5 inches thick, while the upper belt between the middle and main decks was coated in 3 to 4 inches of armour.
[1]
The casemates for the 6-inch guns were protected by an equal thickness of armour and the
conning tower
was protected with 14 inch armour on the forward side, and 3 inches of armour on the aft.
[1]
[4]
The ship's armoured deck was 2.5 to 3 inches thick.
[1]
Service history
[
edit
]
Ramillies
was built by J. & G. Thompson, of
Clydebank
,
[1]
at a cost of £902,600, plus £78,295 for guns.
[2]
She was
laid down
on 11 August 1890,
launched
on 1 March 1892 and completed the following October.
[1]
She had been constructed at such a small incline that it took nearly an hour and a half to travel down the
slipway
and into the water
[a]
; most of the crowd that had gathered dissipated in the meantime.
Ramillies
was commissioned at
Portsmouth
on 17 October 1893 as the
Flagship
of the
Mediterranean Fleet
. She departed on 28 October and arrived at
Malta
on 8 November to relieve the battleship
HMS
Sans Pareil
as acting flagship.
[5]
Francis C. B. Bridgeman-Simpson
was appointed
captain
of
Ramillies
on the day of her commission; the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet at the time was
Admiral
Sir
Michael Culme-Seymour
.
[6]
On 9 December 1896,
Ramillies
was recommissioned at Malta for further service in the Mediterranean Fleet. In July 1899, she became a
private ship
in the fleet, relieved as flagship by the battleship
HMS
Renown
, but in January 1900 she became the flagship of
Rear Admiral
Lord Charles Beresford
, second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet. When Beresford resigned from this position in January 1902, his successor Rear-Admiral
Burges Watson
took over
Ramillies
as his flagship until his death in September 1902.
[7]
In October 1902, she was once again relieved as flagship, this time by the battleship
HMS
Venerable
.
[5]
In May 1902,
Ramillies
was at
Palermo
to attend festivities in connection with the opening of an agricultural exhibition by King
Victor Emmanuel
; the King and the Italian
Minister of Marine
paid her a visit when she arrived in
Rome
later in the month.
[8]
[9]
She took part in combined manoeuvres off the coast of
Portugal
in August 1903, but that month she was paid off from Mediterranean service and transferred to the
Portsmouth Reserve
while she was refitted. Her refit complete, she was commissioned into the reserve at Chatham on 30 January 1905. In April 1905,
Ramillies
transferred her crew to the battleship
HMS
London
and was recommissioned with a new crew into the
Sheerness-Chatham Reserve Division
.
[5]
On 30 January 1906, she transferred her crew to the battleship
HMS
Albemarle
and recommissioned with yet another crew for service in the
Chatham Reserve
.
[5]
In June 1906, she participated in combined manoeuvres of the
Atlantic Fleet
,
Channel Fleet
, and
Reserve Fleet
, but in the process collided with her
sister ship
HMS
Resolution
, suffering
stern
damage. As a result, her propellers were disabled. In November 1906, her crew was transferred once more to the battleship
HMS
Africa
.
[5]
In March 1907,
Ramillies
was recommissioned at
Devonport
with a reduced crew into the
Special Service Division
of the
Home Fleet
. In October 1910, she became Parent Ship in the Home Fleet's
4th Division
.
[5]
Her sister ship
HMS
Royal Oak
relieved her of her parent ship duties in June 1911 and she was placed on the material reserve at Devonport in August 1911.
[10]
She was stripped and laid up ready for disposal in July 1913, before being auctioned off for scrap on 7 October 1913; the buyer, George Cohen, of
Swansea
, paid £42,300 for her. She was resold to an Italian company, which in November 1913 towed her to
Italy
to be broken up.
[5]
Captains
[
edit
]
The following is an incomplete list of
captains
who commanded
Ramillies
:
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
1 hour and 26 minutes
[5]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Gardiner 1979, p. 32
- ^
a
b
c
Burt 1988, p. 63
- ^
Burt 1988, pp. 78?79
- ^
Burt 1988, p. 62
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Burt 1988, p. 81
- ^
a
b
Navy List, Corrected to 18 March 1894
, 1894 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 247
- ^
The Navy List. (May, 1902). p. 216.
- ^
"Naval & Military Intelligence",
The Times
(London), 27 May 1902, p. 10
- ^
"Latest Intelligence ? Great Britain and Italy",
The Times
(London), 30 May 1902, p. 5
- ^
Burt 1988, pp. 81?82
- ^
Navy List, Corrected to 18 February 1896
, 1896 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 252
- ^
Navy List, Corrected to 18 September 1898
, 1898 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 286
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 January 1900
, 1900 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 287
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 April 1902
, 1902 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 216.
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 April 1903
, 1903 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 297
- ^
"Naval & Military intelligence".
The Times
. No. 36902. London. 18 October 1902. p. 9.
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 October 1905
, 1905 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 365
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 May 1906
, 1906 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 365
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 February 1907
, 1907 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 365
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 August 1908
, 1908 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 365
- ^
The Navy List, Corrected to 18 June 1909
, 1909 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 365
Bibliography
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Barbette ships
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Turret ship
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1906
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Shipwrecks
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Other incidents
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