H.M.S. Southampton (1912)

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H.M.S. Southampton (1912)
Pendant Number: 89 (1914)
9A (Jan 1918)
35 (Apr 1918)[1]
Builder: John Brown[2]
Laid down: 6 Apr, 1911[3]
Launched: 16 May, 1912[4]
Commissioned: Nov, 1912[5]
Sold:

Service

Completed to full crew at Portsmouth, 25 February, 1913.[6] Initially attached to the First Battle Squadron Captain Arthur A. M. Duff took command the next month. She was ordered to transfer to the First Light Cruiser Squadron on 1 July.[7] William Edmund Goodenough would become captain almost at the same time as this transfer.[8]

Battle of Jutland

Southampton was flagship of the Second Light Cruiser Squadron, screening the battlecruisers under the command of Commodore William Edmund Goodenough.[9]

She was equipped with 21-in Mark II** torpedoes, and fired one at high speed setting from the starboard tube at a gyro angle of 15° left at 10.20 or 10.30pm (not clear in hand-corrected source) at a line of five enemy cruisers at 1,500 to 2,000 yards range. Multiple observers felt it may have hit the foremost ship, whose searchlights went out.[10]

Southampton recommissioned at Portsmouth on 20 May, 1919.[11]

Alterations

In October 1914, the ship was to be given 5 Pattern 1582 Electric Radiators to warm cabins whose stoves could not be used for heating them.[12]

A detailed report from the Battle of Jutland makes it clear that the ship had some form of an elevation-only director at the time of the battle, though its use was as a resort for instances where the target could not be seen by the guns.[13]

One source, however, indicates that Southampton was only fitted with a director in March, 1918, almost certainly referring to a proper Vickers light director outfit.[Inference] This alteration may have required her pole mast to be replaced with a tripod mast for greater rigidity.[14]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 46.
  2. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 46.
  3. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 53.
  4. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 46.
  5. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 53.
  6. The Navy List. (April, 1914). p. 375.
  7. The Navy List. (July, 1913). p. 376.
  8. The Navy List. (April, 1914). p. 375.
  9. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. p. 46.
  10. Beatty Papers at the National Maritime Museum. (BTY ?/?), item 1.
  11. The Navy List. (January, 1921). p. 865.
  12. Admiralty Weekly Order No. 512 of 16 Oct, 1914.
  13. Beatty Papers at the National Maritime Museum. (BTY 6/6), item 1, sections 2 and 11.
  14. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. pp. 11-12.
  15. Chatfield Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 346.
  16. Chatfield Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 346.
  17. The Navy List. (July, 1913). p. 376.
  18. The Navy List. (December, 1916). p. 398c.
  19. Goodenough Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 433.
  20. Goodenough Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 433.
  21. Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  22. The Navy List. (December, 1918). p. 909.
  23. The Navy List. (December, 1920). p. 865.
  24. Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.

Bibliography

  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.
  • Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
  • Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
  • Admiralty, Technical History Section (1919). The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in H.M. Ships. Vol. 3, Part 23. C.B. 1515 (23) now O.U. 6171/14. At The National Archives. ADM 275/19.


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