H.M.S. Vanguard (1909)

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to navigationJump to search
H.M.S. Vanguard (1909)
Pendant Number: 39 (1914)[1]
Builder: Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness
Ordered: 1907
Laid down: 2 Apr, 1908[2]
Launched: 22 Feb, 1909[3]
Commissioned: 1 Mar, 1910
Exploded: 9 Jul, 1917[4]
Fate: accident

H.M.S. Vanguard (ex-Rodney) was one of three St. Vincent class battleships, built at Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness.

Service

Vickers won the contract for the construction of Vanguard with a tender of £628,000 for the hull and machinery. The unsuccessful tenders were: John Brown and Company, £667,000; William Beardmore and Company, £704,000; Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company, £712,000; Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, £734,000; Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company, £738,000; Scott's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, £764,000.[5]

Laid down in mid-1908, she completed in early 1910, joining the First Battle Squadron. She would serve with this squadron until April, 1916. At the outbreak of war, the two 4-in guns on "A" turret were removed. On 1 September, 1914 she fired on a suspected enemy submarine at Scapa Flow in a case of friendly fire.

The Lords of the Admiralty were pleased to commend Devonport Royal Dockyard for taking just 23 hours to clean and paint Vanguard's bottom and repair underwater defects between 17-18 September, having her back afloat at 5pm.[6]

On 22 January, 1916 Captain J. D. Dick (late of Black Prince) became captain of Vanguard.

Vanguard was fitted with a director for her main battery after December, 1915 but prior to the Battle of Jutland.[7]

Jutland

Main article: H.M.S. Vanguard at the Battle of Jutland

At the Battle of Jutland she sailed under the command of Captain James D. Dick in the 4th Division of the Fourth Battle Squadron in company with the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee. She fired eighty 12-inch rounds without suffering damage.

After the battle she participated in North Sea sweeps with the rest of the Grand Fleet, spending the rest of her time in the anchorage at Scapa Flow. On 15 August, 1916 she was joined by an observer from the Imperial Japanese Navy, Commander Kyosuke Eto, a decorated gunnery officer. He was no doubt hosted to a degree by the ship's own Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant-Commander Wilfred Neville Custance, who had been assigned to the ship in 1913. In the end, Eto would die aboard the ship and Custance would be the senior officer to avoid this fate in July 1917.

Explosion

The ship exploded shortly before midnight on 9 July 1917. Approximately twenty-four of her crew survived the event, as they were not on board at the time. Two were loaned to destroyers, and two were supporting submarine operations, but the largest parcel of men thus spared was comprised of sixteen of her crew which were visiting Royal Oak for an evening of entertainment.[8]

Habitability

In October 1914, the ship was to be given 2 Pattern 1582 Electric Radiators to warm cabins whose stoves could not be used for heating them.[9]

Radio

By the end of 1913, she and the rest of the First Battle Squadron were all equipped with Battleship Auxiliary W/T sets.[10]

Ship's Logs

  • ADM 53/31468 through ADM 53/31471, for 1 March, 1910 to 29 March, 1913.
  • ADM 53/66864 through ADM 53/66893 for 20 March, 1913 to 30 June, 1917.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 32.
  2. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 23.
  3. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 23.
  4. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 32.
  5. ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Thursday, 2 January, 1908. Issue 38532, col C, p. 8.
  6. ↑ Admiralty Weekly Order No. 469 of 9 Oct, 1914.
  7. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, pp. 9-11.
  8. ↑ The National Archives. ADM 137/3680. f. 445.
  9. ↑ Admiralty Weekly Order No. 512 of 16 Oct, 1914.
  10. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1913. W/T Appendix, p. 13.
  11. ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Wednesday, 2 March, 1910. Issue 39209, col B, p. 4.
  12. ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1911). p. 388.
  13. ↑ Eustace Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/38. f. 429.
  14. ↑ Ricardo Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 464.
  15. ↑ The Navy List. (August, 1912). p. 388.
  16. ↑ Ricardo Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 464.
  17. ↑ Hickley Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 330.
  18. ↑ Hickley Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/88. f. 57.
  19. ↑ Dick Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 204.
  20. ↑ Dick Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 204.

Bibliography


St. Vincent Class Dreadnought
  Collingwood St. Vincent Vanguard  
<– Bellerophon Class Battleships (UK) H.M.S. Neptune –>
Retrieved from "http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php?title=H.M.S._Vanguard_(1909)&oldid=287680"