HMS Superb (1907)
| Company type | Battleship |
|---|---|
| Industry | Naval warfare |
| Founded | 6 February 1907 (laid down) |
| Defunct | 1923 (scrapped) |
| Fate | Sold for scrap and dismantled |
| Headquarters | Elswick , United Kingdom |
| Products | Dreadnought battleship |
HMS Superb Overview
HMS Superb was among the trio of Bellerophon-class dreadnought battleships constructed for the Royal Navy during the early 1900s. Throughout nearly her entire operational life, she served predominantly within the Home and Grand Fleet formations. Her wartime activities included participation in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the indecisive engagement on 19 August, but otherwise, her duties mainly involved standard patrols and training missions across the North Sea during the First World War.
In October 1918, Superb was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, where she assumed the role of flagship. Following the armistice in November, she provided support to Allied operations throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Considered outdated by early 1919, she was placed into reserve status upon returning to British waters and subsequently repurposed as a training ship. During 1920, Superb was employed in gunnery trials before being converted into a target ship in 1922. The vessel was ultimately sold for scrap at the end of that year and dismantled in 1923.
Design and description
The Bellerophon class was developed as an evolution of the groundbreaking[Note 1] battleship HMS Dreadnought, incorporating modest increases in dimensions, armor protection, and an enhanced secondary armament.[2] The Superb measured an overall length of 526 feet (160.3 m), a beam spanning 82 feet 6 inches (25.1 m), and maintained a typical draught of 27 feet (8.2 m).[3] Its displacement was 18,596 long tons (18,894 t) under normal loading conditions and reached 22,359 long tons (22,718 t) at deep load. In 1914, the vessel's complement consisted of 840 officers and ratings.[4]
Propulsion for the Bellerophon class came from two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each powering a pair of shafts, supplied with steam by eighteen Yarrow boilers. These turbines were rated at 23,000 shaft horsepower (17,000 kW), designed to propel the ship up to speeds of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). During sea trials on 2 April 1909, Superb achieved a peak velocity of 21.56 knots (39.93 km/h; 24.81 mph) powered by 27,407 shp (20,437 kW). The ship’s fuel capacity included coal and fuel oil, enabling a cruising range of approximately 5,720 nautical miles (10,590 km; 6,580 mi) at a steady speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[5]
Armament and armour
The main battery of the Bellerophon class consisted of ten breech-loading (BL) 12-inch (305 mm) Mk X guns, arranged in five twin-gun turrets—three positioned along the centerline and two mounted as wing turrets. The centerline turrets were labeled 'A', 'X', and 'Y' from bow to stern, while the port and starboard wing turrets were designated 'P' and 'Q', respectively. Its secondary armament, intended primarily for defense against torpedo boat attacks, comprised sixteen BL 4-inch (100 mm) Mk VII guns mounted singly. Two guns were installed atop each fore and aft centerline turret as well as on the wing turrets in open mounts without shields; the remaining eight were situated within the ship's superstructure.[6][Note 2] Additionally, the ships featured three 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes: one on each broadside and one located in the stern.[3]
Protection included a waterline belt made from Krupp cemented armour, measuring 10 inches (250 mm) thick between the foremost and aftmost barbettes. The vessel was equipped with three armored decks varying in thickness from 0.75[convert: needs unit name] to 4[convert: needs unit name] inches. The faces of the main battery turrets were shielded by armor 11 inches (280 mm) thick, supported by barbettes ranging between 9[convert: needs unit name] and 10[convert: needs unit name] inches in thickness.[10]
Alterations
In 1914, the guns originally positioned on the roof of the forward turret were relocated to the superstructure, while those from the wing turrets were reinstalled in the aft superstructure during 1914–1915. All four-inch guns situated within the superstructure received protective enclosures to enhance crew safety. Additionally, a single three-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft (AA) gun was mounted on the former searchlight platform located between the rear turrets. Soon after, the armament on the aft turret was removed, along with one pair of guns from the superstructure. Around this period, another three-inch AA gun was installed atop the aft turret roof.
By May 1915, a fire-control director had been placed high on the forward tripod mast, and following the Battle of Jutland a year later, roughly 23 long tons of extra deck armor were added. By April 1917, Superb had replaced the three-inch AA gun on 'Y' turret with a four-inch gun and had eliminated the stern torpedo tube. In 1918, a high-angle rangefinder was installed; concurrently, the starboard aft four-inch gun was removed and the four-inch AA gun was repositioned to the quarterdeck. At this stage, the vessel carried eleven four-inch guns alongside one three-inch and one four-inch AA gun. After World War I concluded, both AA guns were taken off.
Construction and service
The Royal Navy's eighth vessel to bear the name Superb was ordered on 26 December 1906 and laid down at Armstrong Whitworth’s shipyard in Elswick on 6 February 1907. She was launched on 7 November and completed by May 1909. Including weaponry, her cost is reported as either £1,676,529 or £1,641,114. Commissioned on 29 May 1909 under Captain Frederick Tudor’s command, she joined the Home Fleet’s 1st Division. On 31 July that year, King Edward VII and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia reviewed her during Cowes Week. The ship engaged in fleet exercises in April and July before undergoing a refit at Portsmouth late in 1910. Captain Herbert Heath succeeded Tudor on 16 August.
In January 1911, Superb participated in combined drills involving the Mediterranean, Home, and Atlantic Fleets and later appeared at King George V’s Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 24 June. Captain Ernest Gaunt took over command on 22 September. On 1 May 1912, the 1st Division was redesignated as the 1st Battle Squadron (BS). The ship attended the Parliamentary Naval Review at Spithead on 9 July and took part in maneuvers that October. Captain George Hope assumed command on 30 April 1913. The following July, her squadron made a visit to Cherbourg, France.
First World War
Superb participated in a test mobilisation and fleet review from 17 to 20 July 1914, conducted as part of Britain's response to the July Crisis. She arrived at Portland on 27 July and was instructed two days later to join the Home Fleet's movement to Scapa Flow, aiming to protect the fleet against a potential German surprise assault. On 28 July, Captain Price Lewes took over command from Hope. After the outbreak of World War I in August, the Home Fleet was reorganised into the Grand Fleet under Admiral John Jellicoe's leadership. For a brief period between 22 October and 3 November, much of the fleet was stationed at Lough Swilly, Ireland, while Scapa Flow’s defences were being reinforced. Due to ill health, Lewes was relieved on 4 November and passed away five days later from kidney disease; Captain Rudolf Bentinck assumed command on 6 November. On 22 November, the Grand Fleet undertook an unsuccessful sweep of the southern North Sea, with Superb positioned within the main force supporting Vice-Admiral David Beatty’s 1st Battlecruiser Squadron. The fleet returned to Scapa Flow by 27 November. The 1st Battlecruiser Squadron conducted gunnery exercises northwest of the Shetland Islands between 8 and 12 December. Four days afterward, during the German raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby, the Grand Fleet sortied but did not engage the High Seas Fleet. Another North Sea sweep occurred from 25 to 27 December with Superb participating alongside the rest of the Grand Fleet.
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On 18 January 1915, Superb left Scapa Flow for turbine repairs at Portsmouth and rejoined her squadron on 11 March. During this interval, Captain Edmond Hyde Parker replaced Bentinck in command. Between 7 and 10 March, the Grand Fleet conducted training sweeps in the northern North Sea, followed by another exercise from 16 to 19 March. From 11 to 14 April, patrols covered the central North Sea; additional patrols occurred from 17 to 19 April, succeeded by gunnery drills near Shetland on 20 and 21 April. The fleet undertook further central North Sea sweeps on both 17–19 May and 29–31 May without encountering German forces. After completing a refit at Devonport, Superb required an escort departing on 16 June. Beginning on 11 July, training exercises resumed off Shetland. The fleet conducted a northern North Sea cruise with gunnery practice from 2 to 5 September and continued numerous training operations throughout that month before another sweep between 13 and 15 October. In early November (2–5), Superb took part in fleet training west of Orkney. Shortly thereafter, on 10 November, she was reassigned to the 4th Battle Squadron.
On 26 February 1916, the fleet embarked on a North Sea cruise; Jellicoe had planned for the Harwich Force of cruisers and destroyers to clear the Heligoland Bight but poor weather restricted operations to northern sectors. A subsequent sweep commenced on 6 March but was abandoned on the following day due to worsening weather conditions unsuitable for destroyer escorts. On the night of 25 March, Superb sailed with the fleet from Scapa Flow to support Beatty’s battlecruisers and accompanying light forces during a raid against Germany’s Zeppelin base at Tondern. By their arrival on 26 March, both sides had disengaged amid gale conditions that endangered lighter vessels; thus, the fleet returned to base. On 21 April, a demonstration off Horns Reef aimed to divert German attention while Russian naval forces relaid Baltic minefields; after refuelling at Scapa Flow on 24 April, the fleet moved south responding to intelligence about an impending German raid on Lowestoft but arrived after German withdrawal. Another demonstration off Horns Reef occurred from 2 to 4 May to maintain focus on North Sea operations. Later that month, when HMS Emperor of India entered refit, Superb replaced her as flagship of the Third Division of the Fourth Battle Squadron under Rear-Admiral Alexander Duff.
Battle of Jutland
Seeking to draw out and eliminate a segment of the Grand Fleet, the High Seas Fleet set sail early on 31 May from the Jade Bight. This force consisted of 16 dreadnought battleships, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, along with various support vessels, operating alongside Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's squadron of five battlecruisers. Thanks to intercepted and decoded German radio communications by the Royal Navy's Room 40, the Admiralty was forewarned of the planned operation. Consequently, orders were issued for the Grand Fleet—comprising approximately 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers—to deploy overnight with the objective of intercepting and destroying the High Seas Fleet.[11]
During the initial phase of the engagement on 31 May, Superb occupied the eleventh position in the battle line formation.[12] At 18:26[Note 3], she commenced firing her main battery against the damaged light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden, registering multiple hits. Later, at 19:17, she launched seven salvos targeting the battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger, though none struck their mark. This instance marked her final gunfire during the confrontation. Throughout the battle, Superb remained unscathed and discharged a total of 54 twelve-inch shells—38 being high explosive and 16 common pointed, capped rounds.[13]
Subsequent activity
On 18 August, the Grand Fleet sailed out with intentions to ambush the High Seas Fleet as it advanced into the southern North Sea. However, due to a sequence of miscommunications and errors, Admiral Jellicoe was unable to intercept the German fleet before it returned to its base. During this operation, two British light cruisers were sunk by German U-boats, leading Jellicoe to restrict deployment of major fleet units south of latitude 55° 30' North because of heightened risks from German submarines and mines. The Admiralty endorsed this precautionary stance and decreed that the Grand Fleet would only sortie if there was a credible threat of a German invasion or a strong likelihood that conditions favored engaging the enemy fleet.[14] At this time, Superb was undergoing refitting and thus did not take part in this sortie.[15] On 2 January 1918, Captain Hyde Parker was succeeded by Captain Sidney Drury-Lowe[16] before transferring to command Monarch on 3 April.[17] The vessel commenced another refit that month and was recommissioned in June.[12] Captain Stephen Radcliffe took over command on 22 June and remained in charge until mid-December 1919.[16]
In October 1918, Superb along with her sister ship, Temeraire, were reassigned to serve with the Mediterranean Fleet,[18] where she became flagship for Vice-Admiral Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe upon arrival at Mudros on 31 October. She commanded an Allied squadron that entered Constantinople, then capital of the Ottoman Empire, on 13 November following the signing of the Armistice of Mudros. A month later, Gough-Calthorpe directed Superb to supply a crew for the Russian destroyer Derzky, which had been handed over to Allied control by Germany after the Armistice of 11 November 1918. On 4 December, she transported Gough-Calthorpe to Odessa in Russia for an inspection tour; he conducted another inspection trip to Port Said, Egypt in late March 1919.[19]
The following month saw her relieved from duty and return voyage to England where she entered reserve status at Sheerness on 26 April due to being outdated compared to newer dreadnought classes. In September she was assigned as a gunnery training vessel until December when relieved from that role. On 26 March 1920 she was marked for disposal at the Nore and subsequently utilized for gunnery trials in December. Beginning May 1922, Superb served as a target ship for several months before being sold in December to Stanlee Shipbreaking Company. She was finally towed to Dover for scrapping on 7 April 1923.[12]
Notes
- ↑ The Dreadnought was the first battleship to feature a uniform main battery, and upon completion, it was the most powerful and fastest battleship globally. It rendered all previous battleships obsolete and lent its name to all subsequent vessels of the same category.[1]
- ↑ There is some disagreement regarding the exact type and configuration of the secondary weaponry. Burt asserts they were older quick-firing QF Mark III guns.[4] Preston’s works do not specify the exact model but describe them as quick-firing.[3][7] Parkes also omits precise identification but notes they were 50-calibre guns,[8] a detail Preston confirms.[7] Friedman identifies QF Mark III as a 40-calibre gun and states that early dreadnoughts were armed with the longer 50-calibre BL Mark VII guns.[9]
- ↑ The times referenced here are in UT, one hour behind CET, commonly used in German accounts.
Citations
- ↑ Konstam, pp. 4–5
- ↑ Burt, p. 75
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Preston 1972, p. 122
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Burt, p. 64
- ↑ Burt, pp. 31, 64, 68
- ↑ Parkes, pp. 498–99
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Preston 1985, p. 22
- ↑ Parkes, p. 498
- ↑ Friedman, pp. 97–98
- ↑ Burt, pp. 62, 64; Parkes, p. 498
- ↑ Tarrant, pp. 54–55, 57–58
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedb74 - ↑ Campbell, pp. 157, 196, 208, 346, 349
- ↑ Halpern 1995, pp. 330–32
- ↑ Monograph No. 33, p. 258
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs nameddread - ↑ "Sidney Robert Drury-Lowe". The Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
- ↑ Newbolt, p. 353
- ↑ Burt, p. 73; Halpern 2011, pp. 3, 12, 14–15, 17–18, 25
Bibliography
- Brooks, John (1996). "Percy Scott and the Director". In David McLean; Antony Preston (eds.). Warship 1996. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 150–170. ISBN 0-85177-685-X.
- Burt, R. A. (1986). British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-863-8.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1986). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-324-5.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Halpern, Paul, ed. (2011). The Mediterranean Fleet 1920–1929. Navy Records Society Publications. Vol. 158. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-2756-8.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-352-4.
- Jellicoe, John (1919). The Grand Fleet, 1914–1916: Its Creation, Development, and Work. New York: George H. Doran Company. OCLC 13614571.
- Konstam, Angus (2013). British Battleships 1914-18 (1): The Early Dreadnoughts. New Vanguard. Vol. 200. Botley, UK: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-78096-167-5.
- Massie, Robert K. (2003). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-45671-6.
- Monograph No. 29: Home Waters–Part IV.: From February to July 1915 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XIII. The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1925. OCLC 220734221.
- Monograph No. 33: Home Waters, Part VII: From June 1916 to November 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XVII. The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1927. OCLC 220734221.
- Newbolt, Henry (1996) [1931]. Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. V. Nashville, Tennessee: Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-255-1.
- Parkes, Oscar (1990) [1966]. British Battleships, Warrior 1860 to Vanguard 1950: A History of Design, Construction, and Armament (New & rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- Preston, Antony (1972). Battleships of World War I: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Battleships of All Nations 1914–1918. New York: Galahad Books. ISBN 0-88365-300-1.
- Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1999) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 1-86019-917-8.