H.M.S. Magnificent (1894)

H.M.S. Magnificent (1894)
Pendant Number:	D.13 (1914) P.83 (Sep 1915) P.3A (1918)
Builder:	Chatham Royal Dockyard
Ordered:	1893
Laid down:	18 Dec, 1893
Launched:	19 Dec, 1894
Completed:	Dec, 1895
Commissioned:	12 Dec, 1895
Sold:	9 May, 1921
Fate:	Scrapped

H.M.S. Magnificent was a Majestic class battleship of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1894 and sold for scrap in 1921. She was the third Royal Navy warship to bear the name.

Construction & Launch

Magnificent was laid down in No. 7 dock at Chatham Royal Dockyard on 18 December, 1893. Her main propulsion machinery was constructed by Messrs. John Penn and Son of Greenwich. All her armour plate bar four plates was fitted before floating out, owing to her being constructed in a dry dock. She was floated out on 19 December, 1894, in a ceremony performed by Countess Spencer, wife of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Spencer, who was also present. In attendance were Rear-Admiral G. Digby Morant, Admiral Superintendent; Rear-Admiral Lord Walter Kerr, Second Naval Lord; Sir Ughtred J. Kay-Shuttleworth, Bart, Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Board of Admiralty; Vice-Admiral Richard Wells, Commander-in-Chief at the Nore; Captain Lord Charles Beresford, Captain of the Medway Dockyard Reserve; William H. White, the Assistant Controller of the Navy and Director of Naval Construction, and others.

Service

Officers Portrait c. 1905. From photo album of George Napier Tomlin

The ship's 6-in gunnery trials were conducted on 5 October, and her 12-in on 18 October, 1895 off Sheerness. Twelve rounds of 12-in ammunition were fired "without a hitch".

On 10 December, 1895, Magnificent was inspected by Admiral Sir Frederick W. Richards, First Naval Lord; Rear-Admiral Sir John A. Fisher, Controller of the Navy and Sir Evan MacGregor, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty. They were conducted over the ship by the new Admiral Superintendent, Rear-Admiral Hilary G. Andoe, and Captain Beresford.

Upon completion of the ship Rear-Admiral Andoe received a communication from the Board of Admiralty:

I aim to express their lordships' gratification at the remarkable feat in shipbuilding accomplished in completing for commission her Majesty's ship Magnificent within the unprecedented date of two years from the date her keel-plates were laid down. This result reflects the highest credit on the Admiral Superintendent, the officers of the yard, the workmen, and Dockyard Reserve. Unless all had most cordially and loyally cooperated in the work it would have been impossible for so unexampled a result to have been achieved.

She was commissioned at Chatham on 12 December, 1895, by Captain Charles J. Barlow, as flagship of Rear-Admiral Arthur H. Alington, Second-in-Command of the Channel Squadron, with a complement of 773 officers and men, largely taken from the crew of the Empress of India.

She was commissioned at Devonport on 16 July 1904 for service with the Channel Fleet.

In 1905 or so, the ship had a dog named "Sweep" aboard. She undertook a training cruise with as many as fourteen midshipmen in her company, returning to pay off on 5 November, 1906.^{[Citation needed]}

Great War

Magnificent arrived at Scapa Flow in company with Hannibal for local defence at 4 p.m. on 10 August.

Magnificent paid off on 8 August, 1917.

Radio

By the end of 1901, she was fitted or due to receive a Marconi W/T set.

Torpedoes

In 1895, Majestic and Magnificent were the first ships provided the newest torpedoes, each with seventeen 18-in Mark IX torpedoes and five 14-in Mark IV torpedoes for use with their boats.

The weapons proved amenable to the latest innovations, as in October 1898, they became two of the first in the Royal Navy to receive torpedoes fitted for gyroscopes, drawn from the Portsmouth Depot. Though there were four torpedoes, only two gyros were initially supplied:

• two 18-in Mark IV torpedoes, S.L. type manufactured by Whitehead
• two 14-in Mark IX torpedoes, S.L. type

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain Charles J. Barlow, 12 December, 1895 – 28 January, 1897
• Captain Gerald C. Langley, 28 January, 1897  (encompassed the Jubilee Review and Annual Manoeuvres of 1897)
• Captain John Ferris, 18 January, 1899 – 23 October, 1900
• Captain Arthur J. Horsley, 23 October, 1900 – 16 October, 1902  (including Annual Manoeuvres of 1901?)
• Captain Sackville H. Carden, 16 October, 1902 – 2 February, 1904
• Captain Arthur M. Farquhar, 16 July, 1904 – 5 November, 1906
• Captain Richard B. Farquhar, 6 November, 1906 – 3 December, 1906
• Captain Sackville H. Carden, 3 December, 1906 – 21 May, 1907
• Captain Edward F. B. Charlton, 21 May, 1907 – 27 November, 1908
• Captain Richard M. Harbord, 27 November, 1908 – 24 March, 1909
• Captain George P. W. Hope, 24 March, 1909 – 18 March, 1910
• Captain Cunningham R. de C. Foot, 28 February, 1910 – 28 February, 1911
• Commander Wyndham L. Bamber, 7 March, 1911 – 15 May, 1912  (ship is now a turret drill ship)
• Captain Hugh L. P. Heard, 13 May, 1912 – 1 July, 1913
• Commander James D. D. Stewart, 1 July, 1913 – January, 1915
• Captain Frederic A. Whitehead, 1 August, 1914 – January, 1915
• Captain Percival H. Warleigh, 7 September, 1915 – 3 March, 1916
• Commander (retired) Norman McC. Lewis, May, 1916 – 27 October, 1916
• Commander (retired) George W. Gubbins, 27 October, 1916 – 15 July, 1917

See Also

• Wikipedia