HMS Princess Royal (1911)

HMS ''Princess Royal'' was the second of two s built for the Royal Navy before the First World War. Designed in response to the s of the Imperial German Navy, the ships significantly improved on the speed, armament, and armour of the preceding . The ship was named after Louise, The Princess Royal, a title occasionally granted to the Monarch's eldest daughter.

Completed in 1913, ''Princess Royal'' participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight a month after the start of World War I in August 1914. She was then sent to the Caribbean Sea to prevent the German East Asia Squadron from using the Panama Canal. After the East Asia Squadron was sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December, ''Princess Royal'' rejoined the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (BCS). During the Battle of Dogger Bank, the ship scored only a few hits, although one crippled the German armoured cruiser . Shortly afterward, she became the flagship of the 1st BCS, under the command of Rear-Admiral Osmond Brock.

''Princess Royal'' was moderately damaged during the Battle of Jutland and required a month and a half of repairs. Apart from providing distant support during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917, the ship spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols of the North Sea. She was placed into reserve in 1920, then was sold for scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.

Design

The ''Lion''-class battlecruisers, nicknamed the "Splendid Cats", were designed by Philip Watts, the Director of Naval Construction, to be as superior to the new German battlecruisers of the ''Moltke'' class as the German ships were to the ''Indefatigable'' class. The increase in speed, armour and gun size forced a 70% increase in size over the preceding battlecruisers. ''Princess Royal'' had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of at deep load. The ship normally displaced and at deep load, over more than the earlier ships. She had a metacentric height of at deep load.

Propulsion

The ''Lion''-class ships had two paired sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines housed in separate engine-rooms, each set driving two propeller shafts using steam provided by 42 Yarrow large-tube boilers. Designed power was for a speed of . In September 1912, ''Princess Royal'' began her sea trials and developed for a speed of . During maximum power trials in July 1913, the battlecruiser achieved for a speed of while at the unusually high displacement of . Maximum bunkerage was of coal and an additional of fuel oil to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At , the ship's range was .

Armament

''Princess Royal'' was armed with eight BL 13.5-inch Mk V guns ("BL" for breech-loading) in four twin hydraulically powered turrets, designated 'A', 'B', 'Q' and 'X' from bow to stern. Her secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch Mk VII guns, most of which were mounted in casemates in the superstructure. The two guns mounted on the deck above the forward group of casemates were fitted with gun shields in 1913 and 1914 to better protect their crews from enemy fire.

The battlecruiser was built without anti-aircraft (AA) guns, but from October 1914 to December 1916 she was fitted with a single QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss gun ("QF" for quick-firing) on a high-angle mount. A single QF 3-inch 20 cwt AA gun was added in January 1915 and carried until April 1917.

''Princess Royal'' received a fire-control director between mid-1915 and May 1916 that centralised fire-control under the gunnery officer who now fired the guns. To align their guns on the target, the turret crewmen had to follow pointers whose position was transmitted from the director. This greatly increased accuracy as it was easier for the director to spot the fall of shells and eliminated the shell spread caused by the ship's roll as the turrets fired individually.

By early 1918, ''Princess Royal'' carried a Sopwith Pup and a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on flying-off ramps fitted on top of 'Q' and 'X' turrets. The Pup was intended to shoot down Zeppelins while the 1½ Strutter was used for spotting and reconnaissance. Each platform had a canvas hangar to protect the aircraft during inclement weather.

Armour

The armour protection given to ''Lion'' and ''Princess Royal'' was heavier than on the ''Indefatigable''s. The waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour measured thick amidships; this thinned to 4 inches towards the ships' ends, and did not reach the bow or stern. The upper armour strake had a maximum thickness of 6 inches over the same length as the thickest part of the waterline armour and thinned to abreast of the end turrets. The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by of armour, except for the turret roofs which used . The thickness of the nickel steel deck ranged from . Nickel-steel torpedo bulkheads thick were fitted abreast of the magazines and shell rooms. The sides of the conning tower were thick. After the Battle of Jutland revealed a vulnerability to plunging shellfire, 1 inch of additional armour, weighing approximately , was added to the magazine crowns and turret roofs.

Construction and career

''Princess Royal'' was laid down at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness on 2 May 1910. She was launched on 29 April 1911 by Louise, Princess Royal, and commissioned on 14 November 1912. She cost £1,955,922 plus an additional £120,300 for her armament. Upon commissioning, ''Princess Royal'' joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron, which was renamed the 1st BCS in January 1913. Rear-Admiral David Beatty assumed command of the 1st BCS on 1 March 1913. The squadron, including ''Princess Royal'', visited Brest in February 1914 and ports in the Russian Empire during June.

Battle of Heligoland Bight

''Princess Royal'' first saw combat during the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. She was part of Beatty's battlecruiser force, which was originally to provide distant support to the British cruisers and destroyers closer to the German coast if the German High Seas Fleet sortied in response. The battlecruisers headed south at full speed at 11:35, when the British light forces failed to disengage on schedule, as the rising tide meant that German capital ships would be able to clear the bar at the mouth of the Jade Estuary. The British light cruiser had been crippled earlier in the battle and was under fire from the German light cruisers and when Beatty's battlecruisers appeared out of the mist at 12:37. ''Strassburg'' was able to duck into the mists and evade fire, but ''Cöln'' was quickly crippled by the squadron's guns. Before ''Cöln'' could be sunk, Beatty was distracted by the sudden appearance of the German light cruiser directly to his front, and ordered pursuit. ''Ariadne'' was reduced to a burning hulk after only three salvos at less than .

''Princess Royal'' sailed from Cromarty on 28 September to rendezvous with a Canadian troop convoy bound for the United Kingdom. She rejoined the 1st BCS on 26 October, but was detached again a few days later to reinforce the North Atlantic and Caribbean Squadrons in the search for Admiral Graf Spee's German East Asia Squadron after it destroyed the British West Indies Squadron on 1 November during the Battle of Coronel. ''Princess Royal'' arrived at Halifax on 21 November, then spent several days off New York City before she steamed down to the Caribbean to guard against the possibility that Graf Spee would use the Panama Canal. The East Asia Squadron was sunk off the Falkland Islands on 7 December, and ''Princess Royal'' left Kingston, Jamaica, en route to the UK on 19 December.

Battle of Dogger Bank

On 23 January 1915, a force of German battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Franz von Hipper sortied to clear the Dogger Bank of any British vessels that might be collecting intelligence on German movements. The British were reading the German coded messages, and a large battlecruiser force under Beatty sailed to intercept. Contact was initiated at 07:20 on the 24th, when the British light cruiser ''Arethusa'' spotted the German light cruiser . By 07:35, the Germans had seen Beatty's force; Hipper – aboard – ordered his ships south at , thinking he could outpace any British battleships, and could increase to ''Blücher''s maximum speed of if the pursuing ships were battlecruisers.

Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to catch the Germans before they could escape. The leading ships – ''Lion'', ''Princess Royal'' and – pursued at , and ''Lion'' opened fire at 08:52 at a range of . The other ships followed a few minutes later, but the extreme range and decreasing visibility meant they did not start scoring hits until 09:09. The German battlecruisers opened fire two minutes later at a range of and concentrated their fire on ''Lion'', hitting her once. At 09:35, Beatty signalled to "engage the corresponding ships in the enemy's line", but ''Tiger''s captain – believing that was already engaging ''Blücher'' – joined ''Lion'' in attacking ''Seydlitz'', which left unengaged and able to fire on ''Lion'' without risk. ''Moltke'' and combined their fire to badly damage ''Lion'' over the next hour, even with ''Princess Royal'' attacking ''Derfflinger''.

Meanwhile, ''Blücher'' had been heavily damaged; her speed had dropped to , and her steering gear was jammed. Beatty ordered ''Indomitable'' to attack her at 10:48. Six minutes later, he spotted what he thought was a submarine periscope on the starboard bow and ordered an immediate 90° turn to port to avoid the submarine, although the submarine warning flag was not raised because most of ''Lion''s signal halyards had been shot away. Soon afterward, ''Lion'' lost her remaining dynamo to the rising water, which knocked out all remaining light and power. At 11:02, Beatty had flags hoisted signalling "course north-east", to bring his ships back to their pursuit of Hipper, and "attack the rear of the enemy". Rear-Admiral Sir Gordon Moore – temporarily commanding the squadron from – thought the signals meant to attack ''Blücher'', which was about to the north-east, and ordered the four other battlecruisers away from the pursuit of Hipper's main force to engage. Beatty tried to correct the mistake, but he was so far behind the leading battlecruisers that his signals could not be read in the smoke and haze.

Beatty transferred to the destroyer at 11:50 and set off in pursuit of his battlecruisers, reaching them shortly before ''Blücher'' sank. He boarded ''Princess Royal'' at 12:20 and ordered the ships to pursue the main German force. This order was rescinded when it became clear that the time lost in sinking ''Blücher'' meant the rest of Hipper's battlecruisers would reach friendly waters before they could be caught. Beatty's battlecruisers turned for home, catching up to ''Lion'', which was limping along at .

''Princess Royal'' hit ''Derfflinger'' once, but only damaged two armour plates and caused a coal bunker to flood. She hit ''Blücher'' at least twice, including the shot that crippled her, out of a total of 271 shells fired during the battle, a hit rate of only 0.7%. By way of contrast, her sister made four hits out of 243 shells fired, a rate of 1.6%. She also fired two 13.5-inch shrapnel shells at the German airship L 5 as its crew attempted to bomb the sinking ''Blücher'', mistaking it for a British ship, despite the fact that the maximum elevation of those guns was only 20°. ''Princess Royal'' was not damaged during the battle.

Battle of Jutland

On 31 May 1916, ''Princess Royal'' was flagship of the 1st BCS under Beatty's overall command; they had put to sea with the rest of the Battlecruiser Fleet to intercept a sortie by the High Seas Fleet into the North Sea. The British had decoded the German radio messages, and left their bases before the Germans put to sea. Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 15:20, but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east for another 10 minutes. At 15:32, Beatty ordered a course change to east south-east, positioning the British ships to cut off the Germans' line of retreat, and signalled action stations. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and reduced speed to to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. With this turn, Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet, behind him. Beatty altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off.

This began what was to be called the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east south-east at 15:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than away. The Germans opened fire first at 15:48, followed by the British. The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships – ''Lion'' and ''Princess Royal'' – had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire. The two battlecruisers engaged , the leading German ship, while ''Derfflinger'' targeted ''Princess Royal''. The German fire was accurate from the start, with two hits on ''Princess Royal'' within the first three minutes. British gunnery was less effective; the range was incorrectly estimated as the German ships blended into the haze. ''Princess Royal''s 'A' turret stopped working effectively early in the battle: the left gun was rendered inoperable when the breech pinion gear sheared, and the right gun misfired frequently. By 15:54, the range was down to ; Beatty ordered a course change two points to starboard to open up the range three minutes later.

At 16:11, a torpedo fired by ''Moltke'' passed under ''Princess Royal''. Those aboard the British ship saw the torpedo's track, but incorrectly concluded that a U-boat was positioned on the opposite side of the British line – away from the German battlecruisers – and was firing toward both groups of ships. This false impression was compounded by reports of a periscope sighting by the destroyer . By this time, the distance between the British and German ships was too great for accurate fire, so Beatty altered course four points to port between 16:12 and 16:15, closing the range. This manoeuvre exposed ''Lion'' to the fire of the German battlecruisers, and the smoke from multiple successful hits caused ''Derfflinger'' to lose sight of ''Princess Royal'' and switch targets to at 16:16. By 16:25, the range was down to and Beatty turned two points to starboard to open the range again. Around this time, ''Queen Mary'' was hit multiple times in quick succession and her forward magazines exploded. At 16:30, the light cruiser , scouting in front of Beatty's ships, spotted the lead elements of the High Seas Fleet charging north at top speed. Three minutes later, they sighted the topmasts of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer's battleships, but did not report this to the fleet for another five minutes. Beatty continued south for another two minutes to confirm the sighting before ordering his force to turn north.

The German battlecruisers made their own turn north in pursuit, but Beatty's ships maintained full speed, and gradually moved out of range. The British battlecruisers turned north, then north-east, to try to rendezvous with the main body of the Grand Fleet, and at 17:40 opened fire again on their German counterparts. Facing the setting sun, the Germans could not make out the British ships and turned away to the north-east at 17:47. Beatty gradually turned towards the east so his ships could cover the Grand Fleet as it deployed into battle formation, but he mistimed his manoeuvre and forced the leading British division to manoeuvre away from the Germans. About 18:22, ''Princess Royal'' was hit by two shells fired by the battleship ; one of these disabled 'X' turret and the other penetrated the ship's side armour. By 18:35, Beatty was following the 3rd BCS as they were leading the Grand Fleet east-southeast, and continuing to engage Hipper's battlecruisers to their south-west. A few minutes earlier, Scheer had ordered a simultaneous 180° starboard turn, and Beatty lost sight of them in the haze. At 18:44, Beatty turned his ships south-east, then south-southeast four minutes later, to find Hipper's force. He then ordered the two surviving ships of the 3rd BCS to take position astern of ''New Zealand'', while slowing to and altering course to the south. Beatty then ordered his ships to make a complete circle to stay within visual range of the Grand Fleet. At 18:55, Scheer ordered another 180° turn, which put the German ships on a converging course again with the Grand Fleet. However, the British had altered course to the south, allowing the Grand Fleet to cross Scheer's "T" and inflict damage on the leading German ships. Scheer ordered yet another 180° turn at 19:13, and successfully extricated the High Seas Fleet from the danger precipitated by his previous turn. About this time, ''Princess Royal'' fired at the leading German battlecruiser for three minutes without result.

The British lost sight of the Germans until the light cruiser spotted smoke to the west-northwest at 20:05, then identified and engaged several German torpedo boats. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Beatty ordered his ships west, and spotted the German battlecruisers only away. ''Inflexible'' opened fire at 20:20, followed almost immediately by the rest of the battlecruisers. Shortly after 20:30, the pre-dreadnought battleships of Konteradmiral (Rear-Admiral) Franz Mauve's II Battle Squadron were spotted. The British battlecruisers and German pre-dreadnoughts exchanged fire; the Germans fired only a few times before turning away to the west because of poor visibility and the more accurate British gunnery, disappearing into the mist around 20:40. Beatty's battlecruisers sailed south-southeast, ahead of both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, until the order to reverse course for home was given at 02:55.

Along with the rest of the battlecruisers, ''Princess Royal'' reached Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland on the morning of 2 June, and she immediately received temporary repairs over the next eight days. She then sailed for Plymouth, where permanent repairs were completed on 15 July, and returned to Rosyth by 21 July. ''Princess Royal'' was hit nine times during the battle – six times by ''Derfflinger'' during the "Run to the South", twice by ''Markgraf'' during the "Run to the North", and once by just after II Battle Squadron appeared – with 22 killed and 81 injured. The battlecruiser fired only 230 main-gun shells during the battle, as her visibility was often impaired by the funnel smoke and fires aboard ''Lion''. She was credited with three hits on ''Lützow'' and two on ''Seydlitz''.

Post-Jutland career

The Grand Fleet sortied on 18 August to ambush the High Seas Fleet while it advanced into the southern North Sea but miscommunications and mistakes prevented Jellicoe from intercepting the German fleet before it returned to port. Two light cruisers were sunk by German U-boats during the operation, prompting Jellicoe to decide to not risk the major units of the fleet south of 55° 30' North due to the prevalence of German submarines and mines. The Admiralty concurred and stipulated that the Grand Fleet would not sortie unless the German fleet was attempting an invasion of Britain or that it could be forced into an engagement at a disadvantage.

''Princess Royal'' provided support for British light forces involved in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight on 17 November 1917, but never came within range of any German ships. She sailed with the 1st BCS on 12 December after German destroyers sank seven ships of a Norway-bound convoy, including the escorting destroyer , four naval trawlers and four cargo ships earlier that day, but the British were unable to intercept and returned to base the following day. ''Princess Royal'', along with the rest of the Grand Fleet, sortied on the afternoon of 23 April 1918 after radio transmissions revealed that the High Seas Fleet was at sea after a failed attempt to intercept the regular British convoy to Norway. However, the Germans were too far ahead of the British, and no shots were fired. Starting in July, the Grand Fleet was affected by the 1918 flu pandemic; at one point, ''Princess Royal'' lacked sufficient healthy crewmen to sail.

Following the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at the end of the war, ''Princess Royal'' and the 1st BCS made up part of the guard force at Scapa Flow. ''Princess Royal'' was reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet in April 1919. The battlecruiser was placed in reserve the following year, and an attempt to sell her to Chile later in 1920 was unsuccessful. She became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief of the Scottish Coast on 22 February 1922 and was sold on 22 January 1923 to J&W Purves for £25,000. Her contract was immediately transferred to the Rosyth Shipbreaking Co. which had leased facilities at Rosyth Dockyard for that purpose, and her demolition was completed during 1925.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Imperial War Museums: Lives of the First World War: HMS Princess Royal at the Battle of Jutland (Crew List)

Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project – HMS Princess Royal Crew List

{{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Royal (1911)
1911 ships
Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
Lion-class battlecruisers
World War I battlecruisers of the United Kingdom