HMS Africa (1905)

The most recent HMS "Africa" was a predreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. She was the penultimate ship of the "King Edward VII" class. Like all ships of the class (apart from HMS|King Edward VII) she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely Africa.

Technical characteristics

HMS "Africa" was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 27 January 1904, launched on 20 May 1905, and completed in November 1906. She was the last battleship constructed at Chatham, later classes of battleships being too large for the yard.

Although "Africa" and her seven sister ships of the "King Edward VII" class were a direct descendant of the "Majestic" class, they were also the first class to make a significant departure from the "Majestic" design, displacing about 1,000 tons more and mounting for the first time an intermediate battery of four 9.2-inch (234-mm) guns in addition to the standard outfit of 6-inch (152-mm) guns. The 9.2-inch was a quick-firing gun like the 6-inch, and its heavier shell made it a formidable weapon by the standards of the day when "Africa" and her sisters were designed; it was adopted out of concerns that British battleships were undergunned for their displacement and were becoming outgunned by foreign battleships that had begun to mount 8-inch (203-mm) intermediate batteries. The four 9.2-inch were mounted in single turrets abreast the foremast and mainmast, and "Africa" thus could bring two of them to bear on either broadside. Even then, "Africa" and her sisters were criticized for not having a uniform secondary battery of 9.2-inch guns, something considered but rejected because of the length of time it would have taken to design the ships with such a radical revision of the secondary armament layout. In the end, it proved impossible to distinguish 12-inch and 9.2-inch shell splashes from one another, making fire control impractical for ships mounting both calibers, although "Africa" had fire-control platforms on her fore- and mainmasts rather than the fighting tops of earlier classes. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

Like all British battleships since the "Majestic" class, the "King Edward VII"-class ships had four 12-inch (305-mm) guns in two twin turrets (one forward and one aft), although the final three "King Edwards", including "Africa", mounted the Mark X 12-inch, a improvement on the Mark IX mounted by the first five "King Edwards". Mounting of the 6-inch guns in casemates was abandoned in "Africa" and her sister ships, the 6-inch instead being placed in a central battery amidships protected by 7-inch (178-mm) armored walls. Otherwise, "Africa's" armor was much as in the "London" class battleships, although there were various differences in detail from the "London"s. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

"Africa" and her sisters were the first British battleships with balanced rudders since the 1870s and were very maneuverable, with a tactical diameter of 340 yards (311 m) at 15 knots (27.75 km/h). However, they were difficult to keep on a straight course, and this characteristic led to them being nicknamed "the Wobbly Eight" during their 1914-1916 service in the Grand Fleet. They had a slightly faster roll than previous British battleship classes, but were good gun platforms, although very wet in bad weather. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38]

Primarily powered by coal, "Africa" had oil sprayers installed during her construction, as did all of her sisters except HMS|New Zealand|1904|6, the first time this had been done in British battleships. These allowed steam pressure to be rapidly increased, improving "Africa's" acceleration. The eight ships between them were given four different boiler installations for comparative purposes; "Africa's" outfit of Babcock and Wilcox and cylindrical boilers, reported by some sources to have been 12 Babcock and Wilcox and three cylindrical ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38] and by others to have been 18 Babcock and Wilcox and three cylindrical [Burt, p. 233] allowed her to exceed her designed speed on trials ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 38] , during which she exceeded 18.95 knots (35 km/h). [Burt, p. 241]

"Africa" was a powerful ship when she was designed, and completely fulfilled the goals set for her at that time. However, she was unlucky in that the years of her design and construction were ones of revolutionary advancement in naval guns, fire control, armor, and propulsion. She joined the fleet in November 1906, but was made obsolete the next month by the commissioning of the revolutionary battleship HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6 and the large numbers of the new dreadnought battleships that commissioned in succeeding years. By 1914, "Africa" and her "King Edward VII"-class sisters were, like all predreadnoughts, so outclassed that they spent much of their 1914-1916 Grand Fleet service steaming at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, protecting the dreadnoughts from naval mines by being the first battleships to either sight or strike them. [Burt, p. 235]

Operational History

HMS "Africa" commissioned on 6 November 1906 at Chatham Dockyard for service in the Atlantic Fleet. She transferred to the Channel Fleet on 4 March 1907 and collided with the merchant steamer SS|Ormuz off Portland on 23 March 1907, suffering only slight damage. [Burt, p. 257]

"Africa" transferred to the Nore Division, Home Fleet, in June 1908 [Burt, p. 257] , and in April 1909 joined the Second Division, Home Fleet. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9] During this service she commissioned at Chatham as flagship of Vice Admiral Sir William Henry May, commander of the Third and Fourth Divisions, Home Fleet, on 25 April 1911; battleship "King Edward VII" relieved her of this duty on 24 July 1911. [urt, p. 257] In November 1911 she was placed in reserve at the Nore, ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9] reduced to a small permanent core crew, being brought up to full complement with reservists in time of war.

In January 1912, "Africa" took part in aircraft experiments at Sheerness. She was fitted for flying off aircraft with a 100-foot (30 m) downward-sloping runway which was installed on her foredeck, running over her forward 12-inch (305-mm) turret from her forebridge to her bows and equipped with rails to guide the aircraft. "Africa's" crew tested the strength and stability of the rails by jumping up and down on them, then held the Gnome-engined Short Brothers pusher seaplane in place as Lieutenant Charles Samson entered its cockpit to attempt the first British shipboard aircraft take-off on 10 January 1912 while the ship was at anchor in the River Medway. The aircraft moved quickly down the runway, dipped slightly after leaving it, but then pulled up and climbed easily. Samson circled "Africa" several times to the cheers of the crew, although on one pass he came uncomfortably close to the ship. After a few minutes, Samson climbed to 800 feet (244 m) and concluded his historic flight by landing safely at an airfield ashore. "Africa" transferred her flight equipment to her sister ship "Hibernia" in May 1912. Based on the 1912 flight experiments on "Africa", "Hibernia", and battleship "London", the Royal Navy concluded that shipboard aircraft were desirable for spotting and other fleet duties, but also that a fixed runway on a battleship interfered too much with the firing of the guns and that recovering seaplanes that had landed in a seaway was too difficult to be practical as a routine operation. But shipborne aviation had begun in the Royal Navy aboard "Africa", and by 1917 would become an important part of British fleet operations. [Burt, pp. 242, 257]

"Africa" underwent a refit at Chatham in 1912. Under a fleet reorganization in May 1912, "Africa" returned to full commission and she and all seven of her sisters of the "King Edward VII" class (HMS|Britannia|1904|2, HMS|Commonwealth|1903|2, HMS|Dominion|1903|2, HMS|Hibernia|1905|2, HMS|Hindustan|1903|2, HMS|King Edward VII|1903|2, and HMS|New Zealand|1904|2) were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, assigned to the First Fleet, Home Fleet. The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean in November 1912 because of the First Balkan War (October 1912-May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November 1912 and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. "Africa" and "Hindustan" returned to the United Kingdom and the Home Fleet in February 1913 and were temporarily attached to the 4th Battle Squadron; They rejoined to the 3rd Battle Squadron when it returned to the United Kingdom and rejoined the Home Fleet on 27 June 1913 [Burt, pp. 255, 256, 257]

Upon the outbreak of World War I, the 3rd Battle Squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth. It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the Northern Patrol. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914. [Burt, pp. 255, 257]

"Africa" served in the Grand Fleet until April 1916, undergoing a refit at Belfast from December 1915 to January 1916. [Burt, p. 257] During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sister ships often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them. [Burt, p. 235]

On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was rebased at Sheerness (where "Africa" arrived on 2 May 1916), and on 3 May 1916 the squadron was separated from the Grand Fleet, being transferred to the Nore Command. "Africa" remained there with the squadron until August 1916. [Burt, p. 257]

"Africa" began a refit at Portsmouth Dockyard in August 1916. Upon its completion in September 1916, she left the 3rd Battle Squadron and transferred to the Adriatic Sea, where a British squadron had reinforced the Italian Navy against the Austro-Hungarian Navy since Italy's entry into the war in 1915. She left the Adriatic in January 1917 for a refit at Gibraltar, [Burt, p. 257] during which the 6-inch (152-mm) guns on her main deck were replaced with four 6-inch (152-mm) guns a deck higher because the original guns were awash in even slightly rough weather.

When her refit was completed in March 1917, "Africa" was attached to the 9th Cruiser Squadron for service in the Atlantic Patrol and for convoy escort duties. She was based mainly at Sierra Leone and escorted convoys between Sierra Leone and Cape Town, South Africa. She undewent a refit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from December 1917 to January 1918. [Burt, p. 257]

In October 1918, "Africa" returned to the United Kingdom; she went into reserve at Portsmouth in November 1918. Following the war, she was briefly the depot ship of the 9th Cruiser Squadron and was employed as an accommodation ship. In December 1919 she was selected to replace protected cruiser HMS|Diadem|1896|2 as stokers' training ship at Portsmouth, but this was cancelled. She was placed on the sale list in March 1920, and was sold for scrapping to Ellis & Company of Newcastle upon Tyne, England on 30 June 1920. She was scrapped at Newcastle.

Notes

References

*Burt, R. A. "British Battleships 1889-1904". Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0870210610.
*Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, eds. "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905". New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1979. ISBN 0831703024.
* Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J. "British Warships 1914-1919". London: Ian Allen, 1972. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
*Gibbons, Tony. "The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day". London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1983.
*Gray, Randal, Ed. "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870219073.
*Pears, Randolph. "British Battleships 1892-1957: The Great Days of the Fleets". G. Cave Associates, 1979. ISBN 978-0906223147

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/battleships/africa/hms_africa.htm Maritimequest HMS Africa Photo Gallery]