RN Armoured Cruisers: Warrior Class

[Brian James]

Warrior Class Armoured Cruiser HMS Cochrane pictured at Scapa Flow c1912...... with original builders plans.

[Brian James]

The ill fated Warrior Class Armoured Cruiser HMS Warrior pictured c1910.Built at Pembroke Dockyard in 1905 and commissioned in 1906,Warrior joined the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot.At the Battle of Jutland on May 31st 1916, the 1st Cruiser Squadron was in front of the Grand Fleet, on the right side. At 5:47 p.m.,the squadron flagship, HMS Defence, and Warrior spotted the German II Scouting Group and opened fire. Their shells felt short and the two ships turned to port in pursuit, cutting in front of the Battlecruiser HMS Lion, which was forced to turn away to avoid a collision. Shortly afterwards they spotted the disabled German Light Cruiser SMS Wiesbaden and closed to engage. When the two ships reached a range of 5,500 yards from Wiesbaden they were spotted in turn at 6:05 by the German Battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger and four Battleships who were less than 8,000 yards away. The fire from the German ships was heavy and Defence blew up at 6:20.Warrior was hit by at least fifteen 11 inch and six 5.9 inch shells,but was saved when the German ships switched their fire to the Battleship HMS Warspite when its steering jammed and caused Warspite to make two complete circles within sight of much of the High Seas Fleet.
Warrior was heavily damaged by the German shells, which caused large fires and heavy flooding, although the engine room crew - of whom only three survived - kept the engines running for long enough to allow her to withdraw to the west.She was taken in tow by the Seaplane Tender HMS Engadine who took off her surviving crew of 743. She was abandoned in a rising sea at 8:25 a.m. on June 1st when her upper deck was only 4 feet above the water,and subsequently foundered.

[Brian James]

Warrior Class Armoured Cruiser HMS Cochrane pictured c 1908..Built at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Shipyards, Govan and launched in 1905. She served in the 2nd Cruiser Squadron during the First World War under Rear-Admiral Herbert Heath, taking part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was based in Murmansk in mid-1918 during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. She became stranded in the River Mersey on November 14th 1918 and broke in two, her wreck was broken up in place by June 1919.

[Brian James]

Warrior Class Armoured Cruiser HMS Achilles pictured in 1911.

[Brian James]

Warrior Class Armoured Cruiser HMS Natal pictured at Cromarty Firth in early December 1915...On December 30th 1915, Natal was lying in the Cromarty Firth with her squadron, under the command of Captain Eric Back. The captain was hosting a film party aboard and had invited the wives and children of his officers, one civilian friend and his family, and nurses from the nearby Hospital Ship Drina to attend. A total of seven women, one civilian male, and three children were in attendance that afternoon. Shortly after 15:25, and without warning, a series of violent explosions tore through the rear part of the ship. She capsized five minutes later. Some thought that she had been torpedoed by a German U-Boat or detonated a Submarine-laid mine, but examination of the wreckage revealed that the explosions were internal. The divers sent to investigate the ship reported that the explosions began in either the rear 9.2-inch shellroom or the 3-pounder and small arms magazine. The Admiralty court-martial into the causes of her loss concluded that it was caused by an internal ammunition explosion, possibly due to faulty cordite. The Admiralty issued a revised list of the dead and missing that totaled 390 in January 1916, but did not list the women and children on board that day. Losses are listed from 390 to 421. With her hull still visible at low water, it was Royal Navy practice on entering and leaving Cromarty right up to World War II for every warship to sound 'Still', and for officers and men to come to attention as they passed the wreck. After numerous attempts, much of the ship was salvaged. The remainder was blown up in the 1970s to level the wreck so that it would not be a hazard to navigation.

[emason]

A couple more of HMS Natal.

HMS Natal 1.jpg

Natal entering dock on the 22nd November 1915 for a refit, less than six weeks before she blew up.

HMS Natal entering dock.jpg

My wife's grandfather (Ernest Mason - my avatar) served on the Natal prior to WW1.

[Brian James]

Warrior Class Armoured Cruiser HMS Cochrane pictured c1912.