Difference between revisions of "H.M.S. Centurion (1911)"

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==Captains==
 
==Captains==
 
Dates of appointment are provided when known.
 
Dates of appointment are provided when known.
−
*Captain [[Horace Lambert Alexander Hood|The Honourable Horace L. A. Hood]], 16 January, 1913.<ref>Hood Service Record.  The National Archives.  ADM 196/43.  f. 114.</ref>
+
*{{CaptRN}} [[Horace Lambert Alexander Hood|The Honourable Horace L. A. Hood]], 16 January, 1913.<ref>Hood Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/43}}.  f. 114.</ref>
 
*Captain [[Michael Culme-Seymour, Fourth Baronet|Michael Culme-Seymour]], 10 August, 1913.<ref>''The Navy List'' (December, 1914).  p. 290.</ref>
 
*Captain [[Michael Culme-Seymour, Fourth Baronet|Michael Culme-Seymour]], 10 August, 1913.<ref>''The Navy List'' (December, 1914).  p. 290.</ref>
 
*Captain [[Roger John Brownlow Keyes, First Baron Keyes|Roger J. B. Keyes]], 21 June, 1916.<ref>''The Navy List'' (December, 1916).  p. 393.</ref>
 
*Captain [[Roger John Brownlow Keyes, First Baron Keyes|Roger J. B. Keyes]], 21 June, 1916.<ref>''The Navy List'' (December, 1916).  p. 393.</ref>
Line 51: Line 51:
 
*Captain [[Richard Greville Arthur Wellington Stapleton-Cotton|Richard G. A. W. Stapleton-Cotton]], March, 1921.{{CN}}
 
*Captain [[Richard Greville Arthur Wellington Stapleton-Cotton|Richard G. A. W. Stapleton-Cotton]], March, 1921.{{CN}}
 
*Captain [[Humphrey Wykeham Bowring|Humphrey W. Bowring]], April, 1921.{{CN}}
 
*Captain [[Humphrey Wykeham Bowring|Humphrey W. Bowring]], April, 1921.{{CN}}
 +
*Captain [[Thomas Norman James]], April 1924.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Robert S. MacFarlan, July 1927.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain [[Robert Cecil Hamilton]], July 1928.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Aubrey T. Tillard, November 1929.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Richard A. A. Plowden, January 1931.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Montague G. B. Legge, June 1933.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Irving M. Palmer, January 1935.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Walter N. T. Beckett, April 1937.{{MackieRNW}}
 +
*Captain Richard V. Symonds-Tayler, January 1939.{{MackieRNW}}
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==

Revision as of 12:25, 17 October 2012

H.M.S. Centurion (1911)
Pendant Number: 12 (Aug 1914)
35 (Jan 1918)
83 (Apr 1918)[1]
Builder: Devonport Royal Dockyard[2]
Ordered: 1910 Programme[3]
Laid down: 16 Jan, 1911[4]
Launched: 18 Nov, 1911[5]
Commissioned: 1 May, 1913
Scuttled: 9 Jun, 1944[6]
Fate: as a breakwater


H.M.S. Centurion was a dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy and formed part of the King George V class. She saw constant service throughout the First World War and during the period after during Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, where a number of British battleships patrolled the Black Sea.

After a period in reserve Centurion was converted to a Target ship, for which rôle she was essentially gutted and converted to remote control. After many years in this duty she ended up as a decoy and anti-aircraft ship during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. Towards the end of the war she was finally pronounced surplus to active requirements and was scuttled as a breakwater off Arromanches to facilitate landing of troops during the invasion of France in 1944.

Early Career

While launching she was caught by the wind and swung along side a moored cruiser, crushing one of the cruiser's boats while avoiding collision.

Doing trials off Portland on 9 December, 1912 she collided with the Italian steamship Derna which sank with the loss of 36 lives.

As completed she was equipped with an experimental searchlight director, a new innovation. She was completed with a light pole mast which eventually proved inadequate to carry the range of fire control devices developed since her launch. Progressively she was updated so as to be given a full-height tripod mast.

Jutland

Reports

Target Ship

In 1926 Centurion was slated to replace HMS Agamemnon as target ship, and under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty was demilitarised with the removal of all her secondary armament and her five 13.5 in turrets. She was converted from mostly coal oiling to diesel to facilitate radio control. Her coal bunkers, to compensate for the loss of weight incurred by the loss of armament and ammunition, were filled with shingle. Her draught was increased from 27½ feet to 31. The tops of the engineering spaces were covered with armour plating, and all un-armoured spaces below decks were filled with cork to increase buoyancy.

A number of short-range wireless receiving and transmitting sets were installed along with eleven separate aerials. Instructions were passed from the controlling destroyer (H.M.S. Shikari) by use of a standard telephone using combinations of numbers. A substantially reduced complement of officers was carried although two hundred ratings were required to oversee the ship. During a shoot the crew would retire to mess-decks below the waterline where the chance of being hit was minimal. Despite her added weight and new fuel Centurion could still steam under remote control at a speed of 16 knots.

Second World War

In 1940 it was proposed that in common with other World War I vintage warships Centurion, then lying in HM Dockyard, Devonport, should be equipped as an Anti Aircraft ship for the Norwegian campaign. Before this could be approved first Norway then France fell to the Germans. As a last ditch measure, she was equipped with a number of small calibre weapons in the event of German invasion. As the threat of invasion receded and British naval forces suffered greater and greater losses in the Mediterranean, the Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to have Centurion used as a block ship in the entrance to Tripoli (Libya).

Alterations

In 1913, Centurion was slated as part of the twelve ship order to receive a director along the lines of that developed in Neptune. She was fully equipped sometime in 1914 prior to the start of the war.[7]

By the end of 1915, she had been equipped with a Torpedo Control Plotting Instrument Mark I in her TCT. This probably made her the first ship in the class to be so equipped.[8]

Rangefinders

When in 1918 it was desired to give each capital ship possible an additional effective 9-foot rangefinder to support torpedo control, Centurion proposed one centrally on the fore bridge.[9]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 33.
  2. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 33.
  3. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 30.
  4. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 30.
  5. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 33.
  6. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 33.
  7. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, pp. 9-10.
  8. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915. p. 60. Her sisters are not mentioned in the same source, but are referenced by mid 1917.
  9. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p. 177.
  10. ↑ Hood Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 114.
  11. ↑ The Navy List (December, 1914). p. 290.
  12. ↑ The Navy List (December, 1916). p. 393.
  13. ↑ The Navy List (December, 1918). p. 754.
  14. ↑ The Monthly Navy List (August, 1919). p. 754.
  15. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  16. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  17. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  18. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  19. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  20. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  21. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  22. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  23. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.

Bibliography


King George V Class Dreadnought
  Ajax Audacious Centurion King George V  
<– Orion Class Battleships (UK) Iron Duke Class –>
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