RN Dreadnought Battleships: HMS Agincourt

[Brian James]

Dreadnought Battleship HMS Agincourt pictured at Portsmouth in August 1914...Originally part of Brazil's role in a South American naval arms race, she holds the distinction of mounting more heavy guns (fourteen 12 inch) and more turrets (seven) than any other Dreadnought Battleship, in keeping with the Brazilians' requirement for an especially impressive design.
Brazil ordered her in 1911 as Rio de Janeiro from Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Shipyards at Elswick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. However, the collapse of Brazil's rubber boom and a warming in relations with Argentina, the country's chief rival, led to the ship's sale while under construction to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans renamed her Sultan Osman I, after the empire's founder, and the ship was nearly complete when the First World War broke out. The British government seized her for use by the RN, together with another Ottoman Dreadnought being constructed in Britain. This act caused resentment in the Ottoman Empire, as the payments for both ships were complete, and contributed to the decision of the Ottoman government to join the Central Powers.
Renamed Agincourt by the RN, she joined the Grand Fleet in the North Sea. During the war, the ship spent the bulk of her time on patrols and exercises, although she did participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Agincourt was put into reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.

[Brian James]

Dreadnought Battleship HMS Agincourt pictured at Portsmouth c1915.

[Brian James]

Dreadnought Battleship HMS Agincourt pictured being scrapped and cut in two in Rosyth Dry Dock No 3 in 1929, with some interesting notes from the Rosyth Shipbreaking Company.

[Brian James]

HMS Princess Royal, HMS Agincourt and HMS New Zealand in various stages of breaking at Rosyth Shipbreaking Company Yard's leased premises at Rosyth Dockyard in 1924.