HMS Hibernia (1905)

HMS "Hibernia" was a "King Edward VII"-class predreadnought battleship of Britain's Royal Navy. Like all ships of the class (apart from HMS "King Edward VII") she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely Ireland.

Technical Characteristics

HMS "Hibernia" was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 6 January 1904, launched on 17 June 1905, and completed in December 1906. She was the last of the eight "King Edward VII"-class battleships to be completed. [Burt, p. 232]

Although "Hibernia" and her seven sister ships of the "King Edward VII" class were a direct descendant of the "Majestic" class, they were also the first class to make a significant departure from the "Majestic" design, displacing about 1,000 tons more and mounting for the first time an intermediate battery of four 9.2-inch (234-mm) guns in addition to the standard outfit of 6-inch (152-mm) guns. The 9.2-inch was a quick-firing gun like the 6-inch, and its heavier shell made it a formidable weapon by the standards of the day when "Hibernia" and her sisters were designed; it was adopted out of concerns that British battleships were undergunned for their displacement and were becoming outgunned by foreign battleships that had begun to mount 8-inch (203-mm) intermediate batteries. The four 9.2-inch were mounted in single turrets abreast the foremast and mainmast, and "Hibernia" thus could bring two of them to bear on either broadside. Even then, "Hibernia" and her sisters were criticized for not having, a uniform secondary battery of 9.2-inch guns, something considered but rejected because of the length of time it would have taken to design the ships with such a radical revision of the secondary armament layout. In the end, it proved impossible to distinguish 12-inch and 9.2-inch shell splashes from one another, making fire control impractical for ships mounting both calibers, although "Hibernia" had fire-control platforms on her fore- and mainmasts rather than the fighting tops of earlier classes. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

Like all British battleships since the "Majestic" class, the "King Edward VII"-class ships had four 12-inch (305-mm) guns in two twin turrets (one forward and one aft), although the final three "King Edwards", including "Hibernia", mounted the Mark X 12-inch, a improvement on the Mark IX mounted by the first five "King Edwards". Mounting of the 6-inch guns in casemates was abandoned in "Hibernia" and her sister ships, the 6-inch instead being placed in a central battery amidships protected by 7-inch (178-mm) armored walls. Otherwise, "Hibernia's" armor was much as in the "London" class battleships, although there were various differences in detail from the "London"s. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

"Hibernia" and her sisters were the first British battleships with balanced rudders since the 1870s and were very maneuverable, with a tactical diameter of 340 yards (311 m) at 15 knots (27.75 km/h). However, they were difficult to keep on a straight course, and this characteristic led to them being nicknamed "the Wobbly Eight" during their 1914-1916 service in the Grand Fleet. They had a slightly faster roll than previous British battleship classes, but were good gun platforms, although very wet in bad weather. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

Primarily powered by coal, "Hibernia" had oil sprayers installed during her construction, as did all of her sisters except HMS "New Zealand", the first time this had been done in British battleships. These allowed steam pressure to be rapidly increased, improving "Hibernia's" acceleration. The eight ships between them were given four different boiler installations for comparative purposes; "Hibernia's" outfit of boilers, reported as 12 Babcock and Wilcox and three cylindrical by some sources ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38] and as 18 Babcock and Wilcox and three cylindrical by others, [Burt, p. 233] allowed her to exceed her designed speed on trials. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

"Hibernia" was a powerful ship when she was designed, and completely fulfilled the goals set for her at that time. However, she was unlucky in that the years of her design and construction were ones of revolutionary advancement in naval guns, fire control, armor, and propulsion. She joined the fleet at the beginning of 1907, but aleady had been made obsolete by the commissioning of the revolutionary battleship HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6 at the end of 1906, and large numbers of the new dreadnought battleships would commission in succeeding years. By 1914, "Hibernia" and her "King Edward VII"-class sisters were, like all predreadnoughts, so outclassed that they spent much of their 1914-1916 Grand Fleet service steaming at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, protecting the dreadnoughts from naval mines by being the first battleships to either sight or strike them. [Burt, p. 235]

Operational History

HMS "Hibernia" commissioned on 2 January 1907 at Devonport Dockyard for service as Flagship of the Rear-Admiral, Atlantic Fleet. She transferred to the Channel Fleet for service as Flagship, Rear-Admiral on 27 February 1907. [Burt, p. 257] During this period, William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, served as her executive officer. In January 1909 she became Flagship, Vice-Admiral commanding. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9] Under a fleet reorganization on 24 March 1909, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division, Home Fleet, and "Hibernia" became a Home Fleet unit in that division. On 14 July 1910 she was rammed by the barque "Loch Trool" just after "Loch Trool" had collided with battleship "Britannia", but suffered no noteworthy damage. In January 1912, she was relieved in the Second Division by battleship "Orion" and was reduced to a nucleus crew in the Third Division at the Nore. [Burt, p. 257]

In January 1912, aviation experiments began at Sheerness aboard battleship "Africa", during which the first British launch of an airplane from a ship took place. "Africa" transferred her flying-off equipment, including a runway constructed over her foredeck above her forward 12-inch (305-mm) turret and stretching from her bridge to her bows, to "Hibernia" in May 1912, and "Hibernia" hosted further experiments. Among these was the first launch of an airplane from a warship underway; Commander Charles Samson became the first man to take off from a ship which was underway on 2 May 1912 ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9, claims the date of the flight was 4 May 1912] in a Shorts S27 biplane from "Hibernia" while "Hibernia" steamed at 10.5 knots (19 km/h) at the Royal Fleet Review in Weymouth Bay, England, during which King George V witnessed a number of flights at Portland over a period of four days. "Hibernia" then transferred her aviation equipment to battleship "London". [Burt, p. 257] Based on the experiments, the Royal Navy concluded that aircraft were useful aboard ship for spotting and other purposes, but that interference with the firing of guns caused by the runway built over the foredeck and the danger and impracticality of recovering seaplanes that alighted in the water in anything but calm weather more than offset the desirability of having airplanes aboard. However, shipboard naval aviation had begun in the Royal Navy, and would become a major part of fleet operations by 1917. [Burt, p. 242]

Under a fleet reorganization in May 1912, "Hibernia" and all seven of her sisters of the "King Edward VII" class ("Africa", "Britannia", "Commonwealth", "Dominion", "Hindustan", "King Edward VII", and "Zealandia") were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, assigned to the First Fleet, Home Fleet. "Hibernia" returned to full commission on 14 May 1912 for service as Second Flagship, Rear-Admiral, of the squadron. [Burt, p. 257, although "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9, claims that she already was serving as flagship by 4 May 1912] The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean in November 1912 because of the First Balkan War (October 1912-May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November 1912 and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in 1913 and rejoined the Home Fleet on 27 June 1913 [Burt, p. 255]

Upon the outbreak of World War I, the 3rd Battle Squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth. It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the Northern Patrol, and "Hibernia" continued her service as Second Flagship of the squadron. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914. [Burt, pp. 255, 257]

"Hibernia" served in the Grand Fleet until November 1915. [Burt, p. 257] During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sister ships often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them. [Burt, p. 235]

In November 1915, a division of the 3rd Battle Squadron consisting of "Hibernia" (which served as flagship of the division commander, Rear-Admiral Sydney Fremantle) and battleships "Zealandia", "Russell", and "Albemarle" was detached for service in the Dardanelles Campaign. The ships departed Scapa Flow on 6 November 1915; "Albemarle" suffered heavy damage in a storm on the first night of the voyage and had to return for repairs, but the other battleships pressed on and arrived at the Dardanelles on 14 December 1915. "Hibernia" served as stand-by battleship at Kephalo and covered the evacuation of V and W Beaches at Cape Helles on 8 January 1916 and 9 January 1916. Among those serving aboard her during this time was Augustus Agar, later V.C. and famous for exploits against the Bolsheviks and as captain of heavy cruiser "Dorsetshire" in World War II. Later in January "Hibernia" was stationed at Milo in case she was needed to cover an evacuation of the French force at Salonika. Before the end of January, "Russell" relieved her as divisional flagship, ad "Hibernia" returned to the United Kingdom, being reassigned to the Grand Fleet upon arrival at Devonport Dockyard on 5 February 1916. She underwent a refit there in February and March 1916 before rejoining the Grand Fleet. [Burt, p. 257]

On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was rebased at Sheerness, and on 3 May 1916 it was separated from the Grand Fleet, being transferred to the Nore Command. "Hibernia" remained there with the squadron until October 1917. [Burt, p. 257]

In 1917 "Hibernia's" ten 6-inch (152-mm) guns were removed from their casemates because they were flooded in heavy seas and replaced with four 6-inch (152-mm) guns on the higher shelter deck. In October 1917, "Hibernia" left the 3rd Battle Squadron and paid off into the Nore Reserve at Chatham Dockyard, where she served as an overflow accommodation ship. In July 1919 she was placed on the disposal list at Chatham, and on 8 November 1921 was sold for scrapping to Stanlee Shipbreaking Company of Dover. She was resold to Slough Trading Company in 1922, resold yet again to German scrappers, and towed to Germany for scrapping in November 1922.

Notes

References

*Burt, R. A. "British Battleships 1889-1904". Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0870210610.
*Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, eds. "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905". New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1979. ISBN 0831703024.
*Gibbons, Tony. "The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day". London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1983.
*Gray, Randal, Ed. "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870219073.

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/battleships/hibernia/hms_hibernia.htm Maritimequest HMS Hibernia Photo Gallery]