HMS Russell (1901)

HMS "Russell" was a "Duncan"-class predreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy.

Technical Description

HMS "Russell" was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 11 March 1899 and launched on 19 February 1902. She was completed in February 1903. [Burt, p. 198]

"Russell" and her five sisters of the "Duncan"-class were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programs, ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 37] including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian program; [Gibbons, p. 159] they were designed as smaller, more lightly armored, and faster versions of the preceding "Formidable" class. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 37] As it turned out, the Russian ships were not as heavily armed as initially feared, and the "Duncan"s proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and protection. [Gibbons, p. 159]

Armor layout was similar to that of "London", with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 37]

The "Duncan"s had machinery of 3,000 more indicated horsepower than the "Formidable"s and "London"s and were the first British battleships with 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines. They also had a modified hull form to improve speed. The ships had a reputation as good steamers, with a designed speed of convert|19|kn|km/h and an operational speed of convert|18|kn|km/h, ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 37] good steering at all speeds, and an easy roll. They were the fastest battleships in the Royal Navy when completed, and the fastest predreadnoughts ever built other than the "Swiftsure"-class HMS "Swiftsure" and HMS "Triumph". [Burt, p. 202]

They had the same armament as and a smaller displacement than the "Formidable"s and "London"s. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 37]

Like all predreadnoughts, "Russell" was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906, but she nonetheless continued to perform front-line duties up through the early part of World War I.

Operational History

HMS "Russell" commissioned at Chatham Dockyard on 19 February 1903 for service in the Mediterranean Fleet, in which she served until April 1904. On 7 April 1904 she recommissioned for service in the Home Fleet. When the Home Fleet became the Channel Fleet in January 1905, she became a Channel Fleet unit. She transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in February 1907. On 16 July 1908, she collided with cruiser HMS "Venus" off Quebec, but suffered only minor damage. [Burt, p. 209]

On 30 July 1909, "Russell" transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. Under a fleet reorganization of 1 May 1912, the Mediterranean Fleet became the 4th Battle Squadron, First Fleet, Home Fleet, and changed its base from Malta to Gibraltar; [Burt, p.209] "Russell" transferred to home waters in August 1912. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9] In September 1913, "Russell" was reduced to a nucleus crew in the commissioned reserve and assigned to the 6th Battle Squadron, Second Fleet. Beginning in December 1913, she served as Flagship, 6th Battle Squadron, and Flagship, Rear Admiral, Home Fleet, at the Nore. [Burt, p. 209]

When World War I began in August 1914, plans originally called for "Russell" and battleships "Agamemnon", "Albemarle", "Cornwallis", "Duncan", "Exmouth", and "Vengeance" to combine in the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, where the squadron was to patrol the English Channel and cover the movement of the British Expeditionary Force to France. However, plans also existed for the 6th Battle Squadron to be assigned to the Grand Fleet, and, when the war began, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, requested that "Russell" and her four surviving sister ships of the "Duncan" class ("Albemarle", "Cornwallis", "Duncan", and "Exmouth") be assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet for patrol duties to make up for the Grand Fleet's shortage of cruisers. Accordingly, the 6th Battle Squadron was abolished temporarily, and "Russell" joined the 3rd Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow on 8 August 1914. She worked with Grand Fleet cruisers on the Northern Patrol. [Burt, pp. 209, 211-212]

"Russell" and her four "Duncan"-class sisters, as well as the battleships of the "King Edward VII" class, temporarily were transferred to the Channel Fleet on 2 November 1914 to reinforce that fleet in the face of German Navy activity in the Channel Fleet's area. On 13 November 1914, the "King Edward VII" class ships returned to the Grand Fleet, but "Albemarle" and the other "Duncan"s stayed in the Channel Fleet, where they reconstituted the 6th Battle Squadron on 14 November 1914, with "Russell" serving as the squadron's flagship. This squadron was given a mission of bombarding German submarine bases on the coast of Belgium, and was based at Portland, although it transferred to Dover immediately on 14 November 1914. However, due a lack of antisubmarine defenses at Dover, the squadron returned to Portland on 19 November 1914. "Russell" participated in the bombardment of German submarine facilities at Zeebrugge on 23 November 1914. [Burt, pp. 209, 212]

The 6th Battle Squadron returned to Dover in December 1914, then transferred to Sheerness on 30 December 1914 to relieve the 5th Battle Squadron there in guarding against a German invasion of the United Kingdom. [Burt, pp. 170, 212]

Between January and May 1915, the 6th Battle Squadron was dispersed. "Russell" left the squadron in April 1915 and rejoined the 3rd Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet a Rosyth. She underwent a refit at Belfast in October-November 1915. [Burt, p. 212]

On 6 November 1915, a division of the 3rd Battle Squadron consisting of battleships "Hibernia" (the flagship), "Zealandia", "Albemarle", and "Russell" was detached from the Grand Fleet to reinforce the British Dardanelles Squadron in the Dardanelles Campaign at the Gallipoli Peninsula. "Albemarle" had to turn back almost immediately due to heavy weather damage, but the other ships continued to the Mediterranean, where "Russell" took up her duties at the Dardanelles in December 1915, [Burt, p. 211] based at Mudros with "Hibernia" and held back in support. Her only action in the campaign ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9] was her participation in the evacuation of Cape Helles from 7 January 1916 to 9 January 1916, and she was the last battleship of the British Dardanelles Squadron to leave the area. She relieved "Hibernia" as Divisional Flagship, Rear Admiral, in January 1916. [Burt, p. 209, 211-212]

After the conclusion of the Dardanelles Campaign, "Russell" stayed on in the eastern Mediterranean. She was steaming off Malta early on the morning of 27 April 1916 when she struck two mines that had been laid by the German submarine "U-73". A fire broke out in the after part of the ship and the order to abandon ship was passed; after an explosion near the after 12-inch (305-mm) turret, she took on a dangerous list. However, she sank slowly, allowing most of her crew to escape. A total of 27 officers and 98 ratings were lost. [Burt, p. 211, although "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", p. 9, puts the loss of life at 126 rather than 125] John H. D. Cunningham served aboard her at the time and survived her sinking; he would one day become First Sea Lord.

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.