HMS Warrior (1905)
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HMS ''Warrior'' was a armoured cruiser built for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
in the first decade of the 20th century. She was stationed in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
when the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser and
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
. ''Warrior'' was transferred to the
Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the F ...
in December 1914 and remained there for the rest of her career. She was heavily damaged during the Battle of Jutland in 1916, after which she withdrew and was later abandoned and sank in a rising sea.


Description

''Warrior'' displaced as built and fully loaded. The ship had an
overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of , a
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of and a draught of . She was powered by four-cylinder
triple-expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up ...
s, driving two shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of .Roberts, p. 34 The engines were powered by 19
Yarrow ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...
water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gen ...
s and six cylindrical boilerss. The ship carried a maximum of of coal and an additional of fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for at a speed of .Parkes, p. 445


Armament

Her main armament consisted of six BL 9.2-inch Mk X guns in single Mk V turrets; two on the centreline (one each fore and aft) and four in the corners about the funnels. Her secondary armament of four BL 7.5-inch Mk II or Mk V guns in single Mk II turrets was carried amidships, between the wing 9.2-inch guns. Twenty-six Vickers QF 3-pounders were fitted, ten on turret roofs and eight each on the forward and aft superstructures. The last four ships of the cruisers had a secondary armament of turreted 7.5-inch guns rather than the guns in casemates of the first two ships; these latter four were sometimes referred to as the ''Warrior'' class. Because of the extra topweight of the turrets in comparison to their half-sisters their stability was reduced which made them very good seaboats and steady gun platforms. The ship also mounted three submerged 17.7-inch (450 mm)
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, one of which was mounted in the stern.


Service

''Warrior'' was ordered as part of the 1903–04 naval construction programme as the first of four armoured cruisers and
laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...
on 5 November 1903 at
Pembroke Dockyard Pembroke Dockyard, originally called Pater Yard, is a former Royal Navy Dockyard in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. History It was founded in 1814, although not formally authorized until the Prince Regent signed the necessary Order in Counc ...
. Her eponym, the once-innovative armoured frigate (at the time converted to a depot ship) , was renamed to HMS ''Vernon III'' in 1904 to free up the name. She was launched on 25 November 1905 and completed on 12 December 1906. On completion, ''Warrior'' was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron in the Channel Fleet until 1909, when she was transferred to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron.Preston, p. 13 On 15 September 1909 one of ''Warrior''s boiler tubes failed during firing practice, and she was repaired at Devonport Dockyard. In 1913 the ship was transferred to the
1st Cruiser Squadron The First Cruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of cruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the World War I then later as part of the Mediterranean during the Interwar period and World War II it first established in 190 ...
of the Mediterranean Fleet. She was involved in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser ''Goeben'' and light cruiser ''Breslau'' at the outbreak of World War I, but was ordered not to engage them. ''Warrior'' participated in the Allied sweep which led to the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
during the
Battle of Antivari The Battle of Antivari or Action off Antivari was a naval engagement between a large fleet of French and British warships and two ships of the Austro-Hungarian navy at the start of the First World War. The old Austrian protected cruiser and the ...
in August 1914. A few days later she was ordered to
Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...
to defend the Suez Canal against any Turkish attack and remained there until 6 November when she was ordered to
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...
to join a squadron of French and British ship to search for German warships still at sea off the African coast. This was cancelled on 19 November after the location of the German
East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron (german: Kreuzergeschwader / Ostasiengeschwader) was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the ...
was revealed by survivors of the
Battle of Coronel The Battle of Coronel was a First World War Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron (''Ostasiengeschwader'' or ''Kreuzergeschwader'') ...
. ''Warrior'' joined the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and was assigned to the
1st Cruiser Squadron The First Cruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of cruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the World War I then later as part of the Mediterranean during the Interwar period and World War II it first established in 190 ...
under
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Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, the 1st Cruiser Squadron was in front of the Grand Fleet, on the right side. At 5:47 p.m.,The times used in this article are in UTC, which is one hour behind
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, which is often used in German works.
the squadron flagship, , and ''Warrior'' spotted the German
II Scouting Group II is the Roman numeral for 2. II may also refer to: Biology and medicine * Image intensifier, medical imaging equipment * Invariant chain, a polypeptide involved in the formation and transport of MHC class II protein *Optic nerve, the second ...
and opened fire. Their shells felt short and the two ships turned to port in pursuit, cutting in front of the battlecruiser , which was forced to turn away to avoid a collision. Shortly afterwards they spotted the disabled German light cruiser and closed to engage. When the two ships reached a range of from ''Wiesbaden'' they were spotted in turn at 6:05 by the German battlecruiser and four battleships who were less than away. The fire from the German ships was heavy and ''Defence'' blew up at 6:20.Marder, pp. 97–98 ''Warrior'' was hit by at least fifteen and six shells,Campbell, pp. 181–82 but was saved when the German ships switched their fire to the battleship when its steering jammed and caused ''Warspite'' to make two complete circles within sight of much of the
High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet (''Hochseeflotte'') was the battle fleet of the German Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet (''Heimatflotte'') was renamed as the High Seas ...
. ''Warrior'' was heavily damaged by the German shells, which caused large fires and heavy flooding, although the engine room crew - of whom only three survived - kept the engines running for long enough to allow her to withdraw to the west.Campbell 1998, pp. 152–53 She was taken in tow by the seaplane tender who took off her surviving crew of 743. She was abandoned in a rising sea at 8:25 a.m. on 1 JuneCampbell, p. 319 when her upper deck was only 4 feet (1.2 m) above the water, and subsequently foundered.


Wreck Discovery

On 8 September 2016 Dr
Innes McCartney Innes McCartney (born 1964) is a British nautical archaeologist and historian. He is a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University in the UK. Career McCartney is a nautical archaeologist specializing in the interaction of shipwreck archaeology ...
of
Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...
announced that he and a team from the
Sea War Museum Jutland The Sea War Museum Jutland is a war museum in Thyborøn, Jutland, Denmark. It was founded by Gert Normann Andersen and was opened on am 15 September 2015. It is about the Battle of Jutland, which took place during World War I, on 31 May 1916. At ...
had discovered the wreck of the ''Warrior''. The wreck was discovered in a search on 24 August 2016. The ship lies completely upside down, at a depth of 80 meters in an area of soft
sea bed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...
, up to the level of the
upper deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United State ...
. The ship appears to be largely intact, with no sign of the illegal metal salvage that has occurred on other Jutland wrecks. ''Warrior'' is the last of the 25 ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland to be located. There are concerns that the wreck may be exploited by illegal metal scavengers, despite the wreck being protected by the
Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
.


Notes


Footnotes


References

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External links

*
Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Warrior Crew List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warrior Ships built in Pembroke Dock World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1916 Ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland Warrior-class cruisers 1905 ships