H.M.S. Albemarle (1901)

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H.M.S. Albemarle
Career Details
Built By: Chatham Royal Dockyard
Laid down: 8 January, 1900
Launched: 5 March, 1901
Commissioned: 12 November, 1903
Sold: 19 November, 1919
Fate: Scrapped

Career

Albemarle was launched on 5 March, 1901, by Lady Kennedy, wife of the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore, Admiral Sir William R. Kennedy, who was also present. Also in attendance were Rear-Admiral Swinton C. Holland, Sir William H. White, and Admiral Sir Edmund R. Fremantle, amongst others.[1]

Captain Alexander L. Duff commissioned Albemarle on 12 November, 1903 at Chatham, to relieve the Repulse as flagship of Rear-Admiral William D. V. Hamilton, Rear-Admiral in the Mediterranean.[2]

Great War

In November 1915 while moving with other battleships from Rosyth to the Mediterranean, Albemarle was so badly smashed by seas that she lost her fore bridge.

The Commander-in-Chief, Sir John R. Jellicoe, wrote to the First Sea Lord, Sir Henry B. Jackson on 8 November that:

I fear Albemarle will be delayed some little time for repairs. The state of affairs is almost inconceivable. She was swept clear forward. The Lieut (G) in the lower fore top is the only officer who knows exactly what occurred as everyone else was either killed or injured & knocked out. The lower fore top filled with water & the Lieut (G) told me the green water came up to the lower part of the top. The majority of the bridge was found on the upper deck in small pieces … The ship was going too fast, 16 knots, for the strong wind against extraordinary spring tides in the Firth, but Fremantle did not realise the conditions & I am not surprise & I do not think he can be really blamed.[3]

Albemarle paid off on 18 April, 1917.[4]

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Torpedoes

In 1904, in a competition to investigate how rapidly submerged tubes could be fired four times sequentially, starting with the tube loaded and the bar out, the ship's crew was able to do this in 3 minutes, 55 seconds. The best time was achieved by Cressy at 50.75 seconds, though 2:30 was more typical.[6]

Footnotes

  1. "Naval & Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Wednesday, 6 March, 1901. Issue 36395, col A, pg. 10.
  2. "Naval & Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Tuesday, 27 October, 1903. Issue 37222, col E, pg. 10.
  3. Jackson Papers. National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth: 255/4/31.
  4. Navy List (November, 1917). p. 391f.
  5. Navy List (October, 1908). p. 274.
  6. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1904, pp. 45-7.

Bibliography

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