HMS Marshal Soult

HMS "Marshal Soult" was a Royal Navy Marshal Ney class monitor constructed in the opening years of the First World War. Laid down as HMS "M14", she was named for the French general of the Napoleonic Wars Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult.

Designed for inshore operations along the sandbank strewn Belgian coastline, HMS "Marshal Soult" was equipped with two massive 15" naval guns. Originally, these guns were to have been stripped from one of the battlecruisers HMS "Renown" and HMS "Repulse" after they were redesigned. However the guns were not ready, and guns intended for the battleship HMS "Ramillies were used in lieu. The diesel engines used by the ships were a constant source of technical difficulty, restricting their use.

HMS "Marshal Soult" performed numerous bombardment operations against German positions in Flanders, including during the First Ostend Raid in April 1918. In October 1918, she became a tender to the Gunnery School HMS "Excellent" at Portsmouth and in March 1919 undertook a similar role at Devonport before paying off in March 1921. Recommissioned in 1924, she moved to Chatham in April 1926 as a training ship.

Her armament was removed in March 1940 and was later fitted to the new "Roberts" class monitor HMS "Abercrombie", which was completed in 1943. She served throughout the Second World War as a depot ship for trawlers at Portsmouth until being sold on July 10 1946 and scrapped at Troon.

References

* Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allen, London, 1972), ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
* Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5