H.M.S. King Alfred (1901)

H.M.S. King Alfred (1901)
Pendant Number:	P.10 (1914) P.98 (Jan 1918)
Builder:	Vickers, Barrow
Ordered:	1898-99 Programme
Laid down:	11 Aug, 1899
Launched:	28 Oct, 1901
Commissioned:	22 Dec, 1903
Sold:	30 Jan, 1920
Fate:	Scrapped

Service

On 18 June 1910, King Alfred collided with S.S. Chesapeake. It was determined that Captain Doughty was to blame, and he was admonished in the incident.

In or around September 1912, King Alfred collided with Carnarvon while turning over gunnery targets. Captain John Douglas Edwards was faulted for the mishap, as his arrangements for exchanging these materials "were not good."

On 31 July 1913, King Alfred again collided, this time with the Spanish steamship Umbe. The cruiser was steaming on a northeasterly course in the North Sea in company with the cruisers Good Hope and Drake as well as the light cruisers Active and Amphion when the steamer was first sighted at considerable distance on a converging course between 7 and 7.15am. The steamer passed astern of Amphion – near enough that both vessels had to alter course to manage it, but then resumed her course and collided bow-to-bow with King Alfred. Acting Lieutenant R.N.R. Douglas George Jeffrey in King Alfred ordered "full speed ahead", and did not order the engines stopped before the yawing cruiser's propellers cut into the steamer so badly that the other ship sank. Jeffrey would be subjected to a Court Martial in February, 1914 in which he would be severely reprimanded for having negligently or by default having hazarded his ship.

Alterations

In mid-1913 it was approved that King Alfred receive a Mark III Dumaresq, Pattern 760. Having been supplied with the Mark III variant, she was to surrender a Mark I instrument previously allotted.

In October 1914, the ship was to be given 22 Pattern 1582 Electric Radiators to warm cabins whose stoves could not be used for heating them.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain Frederick L. Campbell, 21 July, 1903 – 31 August, 1903  (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1903)
• Captain Herbert G. King-Hall, 22 December, 1903 – 18 April, 1904
• Captain Godfrey H. B. Mundy, 3 January, 1905 – 14 July, 1905
• Captain Charles D. Granville, 14 July, 1905 – 12 December, 1905
• Captain Cecil F. Thursby, 1 December, 1905 – 20 March, 1908  (and as Flag Captain)
• Captain Lewis Clinton-Baker, 1 February, 1908 – 6 June, 1910
• Captain Eric P. C. Back, 7 June, 1910 – 13 June, 1910  (temporary)
• Captain Henry M. Doughty, 13 June, 1910 – 9 January, 1911  (and as Flag Captain)
• Captain Eustace La T. Leatham, 5 January, 1911 – 5 January, 1912
• Captain John D. Edwards, 5 January, 1912 – 6 January, 1913
• Captain Walter M. Ellerton, January, 1913 – February, 1913
• Commander Reginald L. Crichton, 12 February, 1913 – 21 January, 1914
• Captain John D. Edwards, 16 July, 1913  (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1913)
• Commander Richard H. Walters, 21 January, 1914 – 3 October, 1914
• Captain George P. W. Hope, 29 July, 1914 – 1 October, 1914
• Captain Henry B. T. Somerville, 14 September, 1915 – September, 1916
• Captain Frank O. Lewis, September, 1916 – 1 September, 1917
• Captain John G. Armstrong, 1 September, 1917 – 2 May, 1918
• Captain John C. H. Lindsay, 2 January, 1919 – 13 January, 1919
• Captain Frederic H. Walter, 28 January, 1919 – 8 February, 1919

See Also

• Transcribed Ship Logs at naval-history.net
• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.