HMS Montagu (1901)

HMS Montagu was a sclass|Duncan|battleship (1901)|0 Pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy.

Technical Description

"HMS Montagu" was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 23 November 1899 and launched on 5 March 1901. She began trials in February 1903.

"Montagu" 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] "Montagu" and her sisters 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 "Montagu" and the other "Duncan"s proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and protection. [Gibbons, p. 159]

"Montagu" had an armor layout similar to that of the preceding "London" subclass of the "Formidable" class, with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt. ["Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905", p. 37]

"Montagu" and her sisters 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 "Duncan"s 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]

"Montagu" and her sister ships 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]

As a predreadnought, "Montagu" would have been outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear at the end of 1906, but she was lost that year, several months before HMS "Dreadnought"'s commissioning ushered in the new battleship era.

Operational History

HMS "Montagu" commissioned on 28 July 1903 at Devonport Dockyard for service in the Mediterranean Fleet. In February 1905, she transferred to the Channel Fleet. [Burt, p. 205]

. The force of impact was so great that her foremast was raked forward. The ship settled hard aground, with may holes in her hull, the worst of which was a convert|91|ft|m|sing=on long gash in her starboard side. [Burt, p. 205]

The ship's captain, believing "Montagu" was stuck at Hartland Point on the mainland of England, sent a party on a rowing boat to the north, instructing them to contact the Hartland Lighthouse. They instead got to the North light on Lundy Island, where officers asked the lighthouse keeper to inform the British Admiralty that they were aground south of Hartland Point. An argument ensued with the keeper until his unanswerable "I know what bloody light I'm keeping" convinced them they were wrong.

alvage Attempts

It quickly became apparent that the damage to "Montagu" was even worse than initailly feared. Divers went over the side at daybreak and found that a rock had pushed the hull 10 feet (3 m) inward. Help arrived on the afternoon of 30 May 1906, but the ship settled in such a way that water rose and fell through the holes in her hull; within 24 hours her boiler rooms, steering compartment, starboard engine room, and forward capstan engine room, as well as other compartments, flooded, and she began to list to starboard. All moveable objects were secured and the port engine room flooded to stop the list from increasing. Sometimes only her upper deck was above water. [Burt, p. 205]

From June through August 1906, "Montagu" was lightened through the removal of her 12-inch (305-mm) (by the [http://www.thehds.com/events/liverpool.html Liverpool Salvage Association] ) and 6-inch (152-mm) guns, heavy machinery, parts of her boilers, heavy fittings, and some of her bow armor. Neither pumping nor attempts to blow water out of her machinery spaces using compressed air had any effect, and nothing that salvage experts tried succeeded in refloating the ship. [Burt, pp. 205-206]

At the end of the summer of 1906, salvage efforts were suspended for the year, with plans to resume them in 1907. However, an inspection of the ship conducted from 1 October to 10 October 1906 found that the action of the sea was driving her further ashore and bending and warping her hull so that her seams were beginning to open, her deck planking was coming apart, and her boat davits had collapsed. [Burt, p. 206]

A guard was put aboard to prevent looting; later, the guard was taken off and replaced by men in boats and ashore. By 1907, however, "Montagu" was in such bad shape that any hope of salvaging her was abandoned. The Western Marine Salvage Company of Penzance completed salvage of the wreck for scrap metal over the next 15 years. [Burt, p. 206]

The [http://www.lundy.org.uk/tour/location.php?2 Montagu Steps] which subsequently appeared on OS maps were constructed adjacent to the wreck during the salvage.

The loss of "Montagu" during the 1900-1912 naval arms race with Germany was a significant blow to the Royal Navy. The court martial convened for the affair blamed the thick fog and faulty navigation for the wreck, [Burt, p. 206] and her unfortunate captain, [http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/rn1906channelfleet.html Thomas B. S. Adair] , and navigating officer were dismissed from the service.

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". London: Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
* Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allen, London, 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.
* Pears, Randolph. (1979). "British Battleships 1892-1957: The Great Days of the Fleets". G. Cave Associates. ISBN 978-0906223147.

External links

* http://www.bobhenneman.info/grounding.htm
* http://www.01271-ilfracombe.co.uk/20wrecks.htm