Difference between revisions of "H.M.S. Audacious (1912)"

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search
(Made Changes.)
Line 6: Line 6:
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Pendant Number:
 
| Pendant Number:
| 54 (1914)
+
| 54 (1914){{CN}}
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Built By:
 
| Built By:
Line 39: Line 39:
  
 
:H.M.S. Audacious.<br>A Delayed Announcement.<br><br>The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement:—<br>H.M.S. Audacious sank after striking a mine off the North Irish coast on October 27 1914.<br>This was kept secret at the urgent request of the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, and the Press loyally refrained from giving it any publicity.<ref>"H.M.S. Audacious: A Delayed Announcement" (News in Brief).  ''The Times''.  Thursday, 14 November, 1918.  Issue '''41947''', col C, pg. 7.</ref>
 
:H.M.S. Audacious.<br>A Delayed Announcement.<br><br>The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement:—<br>H.M.S. Audacious sank after striking a mine off the North Irish coast on October 27 1914.<br>This was kept secret at the urgent request of the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, and the Press loyally refrained from giving it any publicity.<ref>"H.M.S. Audacious: A Delayed Announcement" (News in Brief).  ''The Times''.  Thursday, 14 November, 1918.  Issue '''41947''', col C, pg. 7.</ref>
 +
 +
==Alterations==
 +
''Audacious'' was fitted with a director after December, 1915 but prior to the [[Battle of Jutland]].<ref>''The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships'', pp. 9-11.</ref>
 +
 +
==See Also==
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Audacious_(1912) Wikipedia]
  
 
==Footnotes==
 
==Footnotes==
Line 51: Line 57:
 
*{{BibParkesBritishBattleships}}
 
*{{BibParkesBritishBattleships}}
 
*{{BibScheerHSF}}
 
*{{BibScheerHSF}}
 +
*{{BibUKFireControlInHMShips1919}}
 
{{refend}}
 
{{refend}}
 
{{Template:HMS King George V Class (1911)}}
 
  
 
[[Category:Ships|Audacious]]
 
[[Category:Ships|Audacious]]
 +
 +
{{King George V Class (1911)}}

Revision as of 15:12, 26 September 2009

H.M.S. Audacious
Career Details
Pendant Number: 54 (1914)[Citation needed]
Built By: Cammell, Laird, Birkenhead
Laid Down: 23 March, 1911
Launched: 14 September, 1912
Commissioned: 21 October, 1913
Sunk: 27 October, 1914

Loss

The Second Battle Squadron put out from its Mull anchorage on 26 October for firing practice. It rendezvoused at 05:00 on 27 October thirty miles North-by-West of Tory Island, at Lat. 55° 45' N., Long. 8° 30' W., where it met the light cruiser Liverpool with the targets. At 08:45 the Second Battle Squadron was steaming twenty miles N. ¼ E. of Tory Island in line ahead, Audacious being third ship in line. In the middle of a turn to take the ship onto the gunnery range, she struck a mine, which exploded under the port engine room about 5-10 ft forward of the of the after transverse engine room bulkhead. No water was thrown up by the explosion which suggests that the mine exploded well under the bottom—D. K. Brown cites a report which says 16 ft. The crew were going to their battle practice stations at the time, and many doors and watertight hatches were open to facilitate movement. It was claimed that all openings had been shut before flooding reached them.[1][2]

The mine's explosion quickly flooded the port engine room, the port auxiliary M/C, water tight compartments below and outside these rooms, and "X" turret shell room. Audacious quickly assumed a 10-15° heel, which was corrected to less than 9° by 09:45 by counter-flooding the double bottom and starboard bunkers.[1] Captain Dampier, thinking that the ship had been attacked by a submarine, hoisted the submarine warning and the rest of the squadron steamed away from possible danger.[3] Audacious was still capable of making 9 knots with her starboard engine running at full power.[1] Dampier believed that he had a chance of making the 25 miles to land and beach the ship.[4] Liverpool circled repeatedly in case a submarine was present, and the tugs which had towed in the targets closed and stood by,[5] while Audacious broadcast distress signals by wireless. The Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, Sir John Jellicoe ordered every available destroyer and tug out to assist, but did not dare send out battleships to tow Audacious in because of the apparent submarine threat. Meanwhile the White Star liner Olympic arrived on the scene.[4] As Audacious settled lower in the water stern-first, a whaler and the accomodation ladder were dislodged, carrying away a number of mushroom tops from vents and damaging hatches, hastening the ingress of water.[6]

At 10:00, with flooding spread to the starboard engine room, Audacious stopped.[1] Dampier brought the head of the ship round to sea and ordered all non-essential crew off. Boats from Liverpool and Olympic assisted until all but 250 men were taken off. At 13:30 the captain of Olympic, Commodore Haddock, suggested that his ship attempt to take Audacious in tow. Dampier agreed and with the assistance of the destroyer Fury a tow line was passed within half an hour. The ships began moving toward Lough Swilly, but Audacious was so unmanageable that the tow line parted. Liverpool and the collier Thornhill attempted to take the battleship in tow, but to no avail.[4] In the mean time, at 13:08 a message had arrived from the coastguard station at Mulroy that the steamer Manchester Commerce had been mined in the same area the day before. At 16:60 Malin Head reported that the sailing vessel Cardiff had also been mined the previous night. Upon learning this, at 17:00 Jellicoe ordered the pre-dreadnought battleship Exmouth out to attempt to tow Audacious in. In case the ship was saved he also requested an officer from the Construction Department at the Admiralty in anticipation of major repairs.[5][7][4]

Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, commander of the First Battle Squadron, arrived on the scene in the boarding vessel Cambria and took over the rescue operation.[4] With dark approaching, Bayly, Dampier and the remaining men on Audacious were taken off at 19:15.[8] At 20:45 Audacious heeled over to 120°, hung there then capsized. She remained floating, 45° hull up, until 21:00 when a magazine (probably "B") exploded, sending débris 300 ft into the air. There were two smaller explosions. It has been suggested that a Lyddite H.E., Mk. 15 Fuse shell fell from a rack in a shell room, exploded, and detonated the magazine.[6] A piece of armour plate fell on and killed a petty officer on Liverpool, which was 800 yards distant. This was the only casualty in connection with the sinking.[9]

Jellicoe immediately proposed that the sinking be kept a secret, which the Board of Admiralty and the British Cabinet agreed to, an act ridiculed later on. For the rest of the war Audacious's name remained on all public lists of ship movements and activities. Many Americans on board Olympic were beyond British jurisdiction and discussed the sinking—Many photos had been taken and even one moving film. By 19 November the loss of the ship was accepted in Germany.[10] Jellicoe's opposing number in Germany, High Sea Fleet commander Reinhard Scheer, wrote after the war: "In the case of the Audacious we can but approve the English attitude of not revealing a weakness to the enemy, because accurate information about the other side's strength has a decisive effect on the decisions taken."[11]

On 14 November, 1918, shortly after the war ended, a notice officially announcing the loss appeared in The Times newspaper:

H.M.S. Audacious.
A Delayed Announcement.

The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement:—
H.M.S. Audacious sank after striking a mine off the North Irish coast on October 27 1914.
This was kept secret at the urgent request of the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, and the Press loyally refrained from giving it any publicity.[12]

Alterations

Audacious was fitted with a director after December, 1915 but prior to the Battle of Jutland.[13]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Brown. The Grand Fleet. p. 160.
  2. Corbett. Naval Operations. I. p. 249.
  3. Goldrick. The King's Ships were at Sea. pp. 139-140.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Goldrick. The King's Ships were at Sea. p. 140.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Corbett. Naval Operations. I. p. 250
  6. 6.0 6.1 Brown. The Grand Fleet. p. 161.
  7. Jellicoe. The Grand Fleet. pp. 149-150.
  8. Jellicoe. The Grand Fleet. p. 149.
  9. Goldrick. The King's Ships were at Sea. p. 141.
  10. Goldrick. The King's Ships were at Sea. pp. 141-142.
  11. Scheer. Germany's High Sea Fleet in the War. p. 62.
  12. "H.M.S. Audacious: A Delayed Announcement" (News in Brief). The Times. Thursday, 14 November, 1918. Issue 41947, col C, pg. 7.
  13. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, pp. 9-11.

Bibliography

Template:King George V Class (1911)