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Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk Royal Navy Monitors Abercrombie Class |
[UP] - Humber Class - Abercrombie Class - Roberts Class |
Abercrombie Class Monitors. Soon after the outbreak of World war One the president of the Bethlehem Steel company contacted Winston Churchill the First Lord of the admiralty. on the 3rd of November 1914. and offered for sale Four Twin Turrets armed with two 14-inch Guns in each. (This guns were originally for the Greek Naval ship Salamis, but would never get their destination due to the British Blockade. ) Winston Churchill saw the possibility. The Royal navy were in need of shallow draft ships with the armament for heavy shore bombardment. The Admiralty purchased the guns and set to work in investigating the potential of producing Four monitors. The final design was rushed through without thorough testing including tank tests. the final ships were unwieldy and slow. Initially they were called the Styx class but soon were allocated M1 - to M4. These names remained until February 1915, when it was arranged to give them American names to acknowledge the guns US Origins. M! was to be Admiral Farragut, M2 General Grant, M3 was to be Robert E Lee M4 was to be Stonewall Jackson. But because the guns were sold to Britain, which was a flagrant breach of US Neutrality they were horridly renamed. M1 was to be HMS Abercrombie, M2 HMS Havelock, M3 was to be called Lord raglan but the name was shortened to HMS raglan, M4 was to be called Earl Roberts but again shortened to HMS Roberts. These four ships had been designed to carry seaplanes but did not carry them for very long as it was found that land based aircraft called do naval sea spotting more efficiently, also the aircraft which were fitted on top of the turret, had to be hoisted off and over the side, while the ships guns were used to protect the aircraft against blast damage. In September 1917 HMS Abercrombie experimented with a Sopwith Schneider, and HMS Ragland on two occasions carried seaplanes, In October 1916 a Short166 and In September 1917 a Short 184, HMS Roberts also carried a Short 166 in September 1915 for a few weeks. |
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HMS Abercrombie, 1919. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP636 |
HMS Abercrombie, 1919. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP637 |
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HMS Havelock, at breakers, 1927. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP638 |
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HMS Raglan, 1915. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP639 |
HMS Raglan, 1915. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP640 |
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You ask for details of former crew of the Raglan. Attached is a picture of Charles Thomas Grant of Brighton, killed in the |
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Built by Harland and Wolff, at Belfast and laid down on the 1st December 1914, launched 29h April 1915 and completed in June 1915. and commissioned June 1915, It went straight to the Dardanelle's (in company with the cruiser HMS Diana) to carry out bombardment duties and became part of the 1st division between September 1915 to January 1916. After the evacuation form the Dardanelle's HMS Raglan served in the Aegean . At Port Said she was involved in operation against the Turks in Southern Palestine, returning to Imbros in January 1917. Along with HMS Abercrombie her duty was to Guard against the possible breakout of the German ships Breslau and Goeben. forming the 2nd detached Squadron along with some smaller monitors.. On the Morning of the 20th January 1920. HMS Raglan was being shelled by accurate fire from the Breslau soon followed by shots form the Goeben. She quickly became engulfed in Fire and after being abandoned she sank in shallow water. she lost a total of 127 dead during the action. Later the Guns and other valuable equipment was salvaged. |
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HMS Roberts with Short 166 on board, 1915. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP641 |
HMS Roberts, 1915. Original republished ? MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price ?5 Click here to order. Order Code MP642 |
Everything we obtain for this site is shown on the site, we do not have any more photos, crew lists or further information on any of the ships. COPYRIGHT NOTICE. ALL IMAGES DISPLAYED ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT LAW, AND ARE OWNED BY CRANSTON FINE ARTS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. NO REPRODUCTION OR COPYING ALLOWED ON OTHER WEBSITES, BOOKS OR ARTICLES WITHOUT PRIOR AGREEMENT. |
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