- HMS Royal Oak (1892)
HMS "Royal Oak" was a pre-dreadnought
Royal Navy battleship of the seven-ship Royal Sovereign class.Technical Characteristics
"Royal Oak" was ordered under the Naval Defence Act Programme of 7 March 1889Burt, p. 81] and built by
Cammell Laird atBirkenhead at a cost of £977,996. She was launched on 5 November 1892. She arrived at Portsmouth on 29 October 1893 for fitting out for trials and completed trials in June 1894."Royal Oak" was the only ship of the "Royal Sovereign" class not fitted with steam pipes abaft her funnels. [ [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_royal_oak.htm HMS Royal Oak ] ] She displaced 14,150 tons and was 380 feet (115.8 m)long with a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m) and a draught of 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 m). She produced 13,000 horsepower and could make 18.2 knots. At full strength she carried a compliment of over seven hundred.
At the time of their completion, she and her sisters were perhaps the best all round battleships in the world. Their greater freeboard enhanced their seagoing capabilities, enabling them to engage the enemy in rougher seas than previous designs, an important consideration in the
North Sea andNorth Atlantic ; however, they tended to roll heavily in certain conditions, and after HMS "Resolution" rolled badly in heavy seas in 1893 they were nicknamed the "Rolling Ressies," which stuck even though the problem was quickly corrected by the fitting ofbilge keel s. The ships were also faster and better armoured than their predecessors and carried a potent secondary armament but these features inevitably increased their weight, with previous battleships seldom topping 10,000 tonnes. [2]Her main armament consisted of four 13.5-inch (343-mm) guns in two barbettes with a secondary set of ten 6-inch (152-mm) guns. She also sported an array of smaller guns and seven 18-inch (457-mm) torpedo tubes. She had a partial belt of 18-inch- (457-mm-) thick steel.
Operational History
"Royal Oak" commissioned on 14 January 1896 for service in the
Particular Service Squadron , which was soon renamed the Flying Squadron. When the squadron disbanded on 25 November 1896, she was reduced to Fleet Reserve at Portsmouth.She recommissioned at Portsmouth on 9 March 1897 for service in the
Mediterranean Fleet , where she was to relieve battleship HMS "Collingwood". She departed Portsmouth on 24 March 1897, and arrived atMalta on 5 April 1897. On 31 March 1899, she recommissioned at Malta for further Mediterranean Fleet service. On 7 June 1902, "Royal Oak" paid off and was relieved by battleship HMS "Bulwark"."Royal Oak" departed the Mediterranean, arriving at Portsmouth on 6 June 1902. [Burt, p. 81. Note that this date must be in error, as it would require "Royal Oak" to arrive in Portsmouth the day before she was relieved in the Mediterranean. A possible correct date could be 16 June 1902.] She soon moved to
Chatham for a refit.On 16 February 1903, "Royal Oak" commissioned at Portsmouth for service in the
Home Fleet . She relieved battleship HMS "Nile" and received "Nile's" nucleus crew. In the summer of 1903, she participated in combined exercises in theAtlantic involving theHome Fleet ,Channel Fleet ,Mediterranean Fleet , andCruiser Squadron . [Burt, p. 81-82]In April 1904, while operating with the Home Fleet off the
Scilly Isles , "Royal Oak" and her sister ship HMS "Revenge" struck a sunken wreck and suffered bottom damage. On 9 May 1904, "Royal Oak" becameflagship of the Home Fleet's second-in-command, relieving her sister ship HMS "Empress of India" in that role. "Royal Oak" took part in annual maneuvers in July and August 1904.Burt, p. 82]On 7 March 1905, "Royal Oak" paid off at Portsmouth into the
Chatham Reserve , and her crew transferred to battleship HMS "Caesar". On 8 March 1905, "Royal Oak" recommissioned with a nucleus crew for service in theSheerness-Chatham Division of theFleet in Commission in Reserve at Home . While she was under refit at Chatham, an explosion on board "Royal Oak" killed one workman and injured three others on 11 May 1905.In July 1905, "Royal Oak" participated in Reserve Fleet manoeuvres. These completed, she transferred her crew to battleship HMS "Ocean", the recommissioned with a new nucleus crew to serve as an emergency reserve ship at Chatham.
As a unit of the the First Division of the Blue Fleet, "Royal Oak" took part in annual maneuvers off the coast of Portugal and in the eastern
Atlantic from 12 June 1906 to 2 July 1906. On 1 January 1907, she recommissioned in reserve at Devonport with a nucleus crew.In April 1909 "Royal Oak" and the other reserve ships with nucleus crews at Devonport were formed into the 4th Division of the Home Fleet. In June 1911 she relieved her sister ship HMS "Ramillies" as Parent Ship of the division, and was in turn relieved of this duty by her sister ship HMS "Empress of India" in November 1911.
Impressive as they were upon their completion, ships such as "Royal Oak" were entirely outclassed by the new
dreadnoughts that began to appear in 1906. "Royal Oak" paid off into Material Reserve in December 1911. She was towed to theMotherbank by battleship HMS "Bellerophon" in August 1912 and was sold for scrap on 14 January 1914.During her career, "Royal Oak" was commanded by Captain
Burges Watson among others.Notes
References
*Burt, R.A. "British Battleships 1889-1904". Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0870210610.
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