HMS Audacious (1912)

HMS "Audacious" was a "King George V" class battleship of the Royal Navy. The vessel did not survive its first conflict, being sunk by a naval mine off the northern coast of Donegal in Ireland in 1914.

At the beginning of World War I "Audacious" was part of the Second Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet. On 27 October 1914 the Second Battle Squadron, consisting of the 'super-dreadnoughts' HMS|King George V|1911|6, HMS|Ajax|1912|6, HMS|Centurion|1911|6, "Audacious", HMS|Monarch|1911|6, HMS|Thunderer|1911|6 and HMS|Orion|1910|6, left Lough Swilly to conduct gunnery exercises.

At around 08:45 on 27 October, "Audacious" ran upon a mine laid by the German auxiliary mine-layer "Berlin", resulting in the flooding of several compartments. [Massie suggests 28 October but Colledge, p. 25 and van der Vat, p. 78 among others agree on 27 October] The ship tried to return to port, but two hour later water leaking through the bulkheads flooded the engine rooms, forcing them to be abandoned. This left "Audacious" without power and led to the evacuation of all non-essential crewmembers, leaving a crew of 250. At 13.30 the nearby White Star Liner RMS "Olympic" arrived in answer to distress calls and volunteered to assist. Throughout the afternoon "Olympic" and the cruiser HMS|Liverpool|1909|6 attempted to take "Audacious" into tow, but the lines snapped time and again in heavy seas. ['Castles of Steeel' p. 142]

At 18:00 the ship was abandoned by the remaining crew and capsized at 20:45, becoming the first British battleship to be lost in World War I and the only one without loss of life (although when the "Audacious" exploded upon capsizing, a piece of debris flew 800 yards and killed a member of the crew of another ship, the "Liverpool").

The Royal Navy tried to keep the loss a secret, officially listing the ship as in service during the entire war, but this proved to be a futile attempt, due to the fact that many American passengers on the "Olympic" had witnessed and photographed the sinking.

The following short announcement appeared in The Times of November 14 1918. * [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/emailArticleViewer.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1918-11-14-07-006,ARCHIVE-The_Times-1918-11-14-07] . :" "HMS Audacious: A Delayed Announcement: The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement:- HMS Audacious sank after striking a mine off the North Irish coast on October 27 1914. This was kept secret at the urgent request of the Commander in Chief, Grand Fleet, and the Press loyally refrained from giving it any publicty"

A Royal Navy review board judged that a contributory factor in the loss was that "Audacious" was not at battle stations, with water-tight doors locked and damage control teams ready. Note that HMS|Marlborough|1912|6, of the subsequent (and fairly similar) "Iron Duke" class, was torpedoed at Jutland and for a time continued to steam at 17 knots.

Image gallery

See also

* List of battleships
* List of battleships of the Royal Navy
* List of ship launches in 1912
* List of ship commissionings in 1913

References

*Colledge
*Cite book |author=Robert Massie|title= | location = London |year= 2004| publisher= Johnathan Cape |isbn= 0224 040928
*Cite book |author=Dan van der Vat|title= Standard of Power: The Royal Navy in the Twentieth Century| location = London |year= 2000| publisher= Pimlico |isbn= 0712665358
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/audacious.htm Loss of HMS "Audacious"]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/emailArticleViewer.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1918-11-14-07-006,ARCHIVE-The_Times-1918-11-14-07] The Times report of November 14 1918 at Timesonline Archive

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/battleships/audacious/hms_audacious.htm Maritimequest HMS "Audacious" Photo Gallery]