HMS Powerful was a ship of the Template:Sclass- of protected cruisers in the Royal Navy. She served with her sister ship, Terrible, on the China Station and provided landing parties which fought in the relief of the Siege of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War. Crews from the two ships also took part in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in China. After 1904 they were laid up as an economy measure.
 Sailors on deck of four-funnel cruiser HMS Powerful, Australian Squadron, Sydney Harbour (between 1902-1913)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Powerful |
| Builder | Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down | 1894 |
| Launched | 24 July 1895 |
| Renamed | Impregnable, November 1919 |
| Reclassified | Training School, November 1919 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 31 August 1929 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Template:Sclass- protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 14,200 long tons (14,400 t) (normal) |
| Length | 538 ft (164.0 m) (o/a) |
| Beam | 71 ft (21.6 m) |
| Draught | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
| Range | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement | 894 (designed); 799 (1916) |
| Armament |
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| Armour |
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Design and description
The Powerful-class cruiser was designed to counter the Russian armoured cruiser Rurik which had been designed as a long-range commerce raider. This required long range and high speed to catch the Russian ship. The ships displaced 14,200 long tons (14,400 t) at normal load. They had an overall length of 538 feet (164.0 m), a beam of 71 feet (21.6 m) and a draught of 27 feet (8.2 m). The ships were powered by a pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by 48 Belleville boilers.[1] The engines were designed to produce a total of 25,000 indicated horsepower (19,000 kW) at forced draught[2] and gave a maximum speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). Powerful reached a maximum speed of 21.8 knots (40.4 km/h; 25.1 mph) from 25,886 ihp (19,303 kW) during her sea trials. She carried enough coal to give her a range of 7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) and her complement consisted of 894 officers and ratings.[1]
The main armament of the Powerful-class cruisers consisted of two 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mk VIII guns in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.[1] Her secondary armament of sixteen 6 inches (152 mm) Mk I or II guns was arranged in casemates amidships. The end casemates were the first two-storey (guns on the main and upper decks) casemates in the RN. For defence against torpedo boats, sixteen 12-pounder 3-inch (76 mm) 12-cwt[Note 1] guns and a dozen 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) Hotchkiss guns were fitted. Two additional 12-pounder 8-cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore. The ships also mounted four submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, a pair on each broadside.[3]
With the exception of the barbettes, all of the protective plating of the cruisers was Harvey armour. The curved protective deck ranged in thickness from 2.5–4 inches (64–102 mm) and the conning tower was protected by 12 inches (305 mm). The armour of the gun turrets, their barbettes and the casemates was 6 inches thick. The casemates had 2-inch (51 mm) backs.[3]
Career
Construction and career
Powerful was laid down by Vickers Limited in their Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 10 March 1894[4] and launched on 24 July 1895 by the Louisa Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.[5] The ship was commissioned on 8 June 1897 with Captain the Hon. Hedworth Lambton in command for service on the China Station. Her departure was delayed so that she could participate in the fleet review commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee on 26 June and the annual fleet manoeuvres in July.
On the return voyage in 1899 he was ordered to Durban, South Africa at an important point in the Second Boer War. He stopped at Mauritius, and on his own initiative picked up a battalion of soldiers stationed there. Knowing that the British forces at Ladysmith urgently needed more powerful guns, Captain Percy Scott from Powerful's sister ship, Terrible, devised carriages to transport naval cannon, and Lambton then led a Naval Brigade from Powerful to the rescue with four 76 mm (3.0 in)s and two other guns.
The journey to Ladysmith from Durban was 189 miles (304 km). They began by special train then with oxen pulling the guns but when the oxen died the sailors took over pulling the guns themselves. In this endeavour they manhandled the guns "through the wild and broken country" of the South African veldt and "arrived in the nick of time" to play "a most important role in the defence of the town". Although the Boer attackers were kept at bay unfortunately the Naval brigade became besieged themselves. A second Naval brigade from Terrible left Durban for Ladysmith and joined with the relief column led by General Buller and assisted in the lifting of the siege.[6]
The field gun competition commemorates the participation of Terrible and Powerful in the relief of Ladysmith.[7]
On 30 October 1899 the Naval Brigade of Powerful attacked Boer positions at Lombards Kop, Ladysmith.[8] On 25 November 1899 the Naval Brigade from Powerful fought in the Battle of Graspan against the Boers in South Africa.[8] On 6 January 1900 the Naval Brigade from Powerful repulsed a strong Boer attack at Ladysmith.[8]
The enthusiastic response in Britain to the "heroes of Ladysmith"[9] was enormous and made Captain Hedworth Lambton a well-known public figure. Queen Victoria sent a telegram saying, "Pray express to the Naval Brigade my deep appreciation of the valuable services they have rendered with their guns."[10] while a reception and celebratory march through London were among the first events ever recorded on film.[11]
A newspaper described the Powerful's return home:
As the great vessel steamed into Portsmouth Harbour at four o'clock this afternoon, she was greeted with thunders of applause .... vessels lying off here were dressed with flags, and their crews, swarming along the yards, swelled the roar of welcome......By three o'clock the jetty was thronged with men, women and children. ... A more eager, joyous gathering I never saw.....We cheered, we waved hats and handkerchiefs and we were half wild with delight.
— Daily News[12]
Lambton was awarded the CB, and it was in this year that his caricature was published in Vanity Fair. In 1921 a new Primary School in Ladysmith was named after Lt Frederick Greville Egerton, a gunnery officer from the Powerful who lost his life during the action at Ladysmith.[13][14]
Powerful returned to the United Kingdom, and in 1901-1902 had a refit at Portsmouth Dockyard.[15]
In August 1905 Captain Lionel Halsey took command of Powerful,[16][17] as flag captain to Sir Wilmot Fawkes as Commander-in-Chief Australia Station. At the time Powerful was commissioning as Flagship on the Australia Station.[18] Halsey remained in that post until 1908.[19]
At the beginning of December 1905, Powerful was at Fremantle in Western Australia.[20]
On 3 February 1908 the first trans-Tasman radio transmission was made via Powerful which was in the Tasman Sea.[21]
A Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Charles Bean joined the ship in August 1908 as special correspondent to report the visit of sixteen American warships — the Great White Fleet. At the time Powerful was flagship of the Royal Navy squadron on the Australian Station. Bean wrote a book, With the Flagship in the South (London, 1909), based on his reports, with photographs, drawings and a water-colour frontispiece by the author, and had it published at his own expense.[22][23]
In 1911 Powerful visited Auckland, New Zealand to inspect the facilities and recommended the setting up of a Naval Store Organisation.[24]
During the First World War, Powerful and Terrible had most of their armament removed and served as troop transports and later accommodation ships.
After the end of the war, Powerful was renamed Impregnable in November 1919 and converted to a training ship. After ten years of this, she was sold on 31 August 1929 for breaking up.
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Citations
- ^ a b c Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 67
- ^ Friedman, p. 335
- ^ a b Burt, pp. 8, 13
- ^ Friedman, p. 343
- ^ Bronze medallion showing on the obverse a ship and the words 'H.M.S. "POWERFUL"'. The reverse bears the words 'H.M.S. POWERFUL LENGTH 500 FEET 2500 HORSE POWER LAUNCHED BY HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AT BARROW IN FURNESS 24TH JULY 1895 THIS MEDAL IS MADE OF BRONZE FROM H.M.S. POWERFUL'. Medallion held by the Australian War Memorial - image reference ID Number: REL/09940
- ^ "A brief history of Field Gunning". Fleet Air Arm Field Gun Association. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ "The Field Gun Run". Naval Traditions. Royal Naval Museum Library. 2000. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ a b c "Naval Military Actions". ancestry.com. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ Illustrated London News and elsewhere
- ^ Navy website
- ^ The Heroes of Ladysmith Marching Through London and The Queen's Reception to the Heroes of Ladysmith
- ^ Memorials & Monuments in Portsmouth City Centre quoting the Daily News Archived 2 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ McKenzie, R. "History of School". Egerton Primary School. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Crowe, George (1903). The commission of H.M.S. "Terrible," 1898-1902. London: G Newnes. p. 199. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36688. London. 11 February 1902. p. 11. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ "No. 27922". The London Gazette. 15 June 1906. p. 4157. Information, dated 12 April 1906, has been received from Captain L. Halsey, His Majesty's ship Powerful, that ...
- ^ "No. 27950". The London Gazette. 18 September 1906. p. 6326. Information, dated 26 July 1906, has been received from Captain L. Halsey, His Majesty's ship Powerful, that ...
- ^ Grazebrook, Lieutenant Commander A. W. "Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, GCMG, GCVO, KCIE, CB, DLJP 1872-1949". Naval Historical Society of Australia. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ "HALSEY, Sir Lionel (1872-1949), Admiral". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ "HMS Powerful at Fremantle, 1 December 1905 [picture]". State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ "Australasian telecommunications: beginnings". Caslon Analytics. 2005. Archived from the original on 27 March 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Inglis, K.S. (1979). "Bean, Charles Edwin Woodrow (1879 - 1968)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
- ^ This book is available as HMS Powerful (1895) at the Internet Archive
- ^ Bell, J. A. (1962). "DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL REPAIR FACILITIES AT AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND 1841-1962 From a Lecture by J.A. Bell, AMRINA Deputy Constructive Manager HMNZ Dockyard Devonport". RNZN Communicators' Association. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)
References
- Burt, Ray (1988). "The Powerful Class Cruisers of the Royal Navy, Part I". Warship. 48 (October). London: Conway Maritime Press: 5–15. ISSN 0142-6222.
- Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - Friedman, Norman (2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-59114-068-9.
- Jane, Fred T. (1900). All the World's Fighting Ships. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- Preston, Antony (2002). The World's Worst Warships. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-754-6.
Further reading
- Bean, Charles Edwin Woodrow (1909). With the flagship in the South. Londin: Laurie.
External links
