HMS Britannia

HMS Britannia was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. She was the last British battleship to be sunk by enemy action during the First World War, torpedoed by a German U-boat just two days before the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Named for the ancient Latin name for Great Britain, her career spanned the twilight of the pre-dreadnought era and the dawn of modern naval warfare.

History

The vessel was ordered under the 1903–04 Naval Estimates as part of a sustained naval arms race with the German Empire. Her construction at Portsmouth Dockyard reflected the industrial might of the British Empire at its zenith. The launch ceremony was presided over by King Edward VII, after whom her class was named, and she was commissioned into the Home Fleet in 1906, a period dominated by the strategic theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan.

Design and description

As a member of the King Edward VII-class battleship, she was an improved derivative of the earlier ''Majestic'' and ''Formidable'' classes. Displacing over 16,000 tons, her main armament consisted of four 12-inch guns in two twin turrets, supplemented by a heavy secondary battery of four 9.2-inch guns and ten 6-inch guns, a design intended to combat enemy armored cruisers. Propulsion was provided by two vertical triple expansion steam engines, fed by Babcock & Wilcox boilers, giving a top speed of around 18.5 knots. Her armor scheme, including a 9-inch thick waterline belt, was designed to withstand fire from contemporary naval artillery.

Service history

Upon commissioning, she joined the Atlantic Fleet before transferring to the Channel Fleet in 1907. In 1912, she was assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet. At the outbreak of the First World War, the squadron was based at Rosyth and later Portland Harbour, tasked with distant blockade duties in the North Sea. She missed the Battle of Jutland in 1916, as her squadron was on patrol in the North Sea at the time. In 1917, she was transferred to the 2nd Battle Squadron and deployed to the Atlantic Ocean for convoy escort duties, based at Berehaven in Ireland.

Commanding officers

From|1906|1908|Cecil Burney|Later commanded the First Battle Squadron at Jutland and became First Sea Lord. From|1908|1910|Arthur Leveson|Went on to command the Royal Australian Navy's Australian Fleet. From|1910|1912|Edmund Radcliffe Pears|Later served as Senior Naval Officer, Yangtze. From|1912|1914|Charles Martin de Bartolomé|Served as Fourth Sea Lord during the war. From|1914|1915|Edmund Hyde Parker|From a distinguished naval family, his grandfather fought at the Battle of Trafalgar. From|1915|1917|Hugh Tothill|Later became Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station. From|1917|1918|Francis William Kennedy|Was in command during her final voyage and sinking.

Legacy

Her sinking off Cape Trafalgar by SM UB-50 on 9 November 1918 resulted in the loss of 50 officers and men. The incident, so close to the end of hostilities, became a poignant symbol of the war's persistent dangers. The wreck lies in approximately 100 meters of water and is designated as a Protected Place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. Her name was later carried by the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, and she is remembered as the final battleship loss of the Royal Navy in the First World War.

Category:King Edward VII-class battleships Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I