HMS Goliath (1898)

HMS ''Goliath'' was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the . Intended for service in Asia, ''Goliath'' and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding s, but retained the same battery of four guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the ''Majestic''s. ''Goliath'' was laid down in January 1897, launched in March 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in March 1900.

The ship was deployed to the China Station from her commissioning until 1903, when she returned to Britain; she was sent back to East Asian waters, but while en route was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. In early 1906, she was transferred to the Channel Fleet, followed by a stint in the Home Fleet starting in early 1907. She was sent to the Mediterranean a second time in 1908, and later returned to the Home Fleet in 1909, before being decommissioned in 1913. With the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, ''Goliath'' was mobilised into the 8th Battle Squadron. She initially served as a guard ship in Loch Ewe, one of the harbours used by the Grand Fleet, before escorting the crossing of British troops to Belgium in late August.

''Goliath'' then took part in operations against German East Africa, participating in the blockade of the German light cruiser in the Rufiji River. From March 1915, she was part of the Dardanelles Campaign, and remained in support of the landings at Gallipoli in April. On 13 May 1915 ''Goliath'' was sunk in Morto Bay off Cape Helles by three torpedoes from the Ottoman destroyer . Out of her crew of 750, 570 were killed in the sinking.

Design

''Goliath'' and her five sister ships were designed for service in East Asia, where the new rising power Japan was beginning to build a powerful navy, though this role was quickly made redundant by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902. The ships were designed to be smaller, lighter and faster than their predecessors, the s. ''Goliath'' was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced normally and up to fully loaded. Her crew numbered 682 officers and ratings.

The ''Canopus''-class ships were powered by a pair of 3-cylinder triple-expansion engines, with steam provided by twenty Belleville boilers. They were the first British battleships with water-tube boilers, which generated more power at less expense in weight compared with the fire-tube boilers used in previous ships. The new boilers led to the adoption of fore-and-aft funnels, rather than the side-by-side funnel arrangement used in many previous British battleships. The ''Canopus''-class ships proved to be good steamers, with a high speed for battleships of their time— from —a full two knots faster than the ''Majestic''s.

''Goliath'' had a main battery of four 35-calibre guns mounted in twin-gun turrets fore and aft; these guns were mounted in circular barbettes that allowed all-around loading, although at a fixed elevation. The ships also mounted a secondary battery of twelve 40-calibre guns mounted in casemates, in addition to ten 12-pounder guns and six 3-pounder guns for defence against torpedo boats. As was customary for battleships of the period, she was also equipped with four torpedo tubes submerged in the hull, two on each broadside near the forward and aft barbette.

To save weight, ''Goliath'' carried less armour than the ''Majestic''s— in the belt compared to —although the change from Harvey armour in the ''Majestic''s to Krupp armour in ''Goliath'' meant that the loss in protection was not as great as it might have been, Krupp armour having greater protective value at a given weight than its Harvey equivalent. Similarly, the other armour used to protect the ship could also be thinner; the bulkheads on either end of the belt were thick. The main battery turrets were 10 in thick, atop barbettes, and the casemate battery was protected with 6 in of Krupp steel. Her conning tower had 12 in thick sides as well. She was fitted with two armoured decks, thick, respectively.

Operational history

Pre-First World War

The keel for ''Goliath'' was laid down on 4 January 1897, and the completed hull was launched on 23 March 1898. The ship was commissioned on 27 March 1900 by Captain Lewis Edmund Wintz to serve on the China Station, where she arrived later the same year. She underwent a refit at Hong Kong from September 1901 – April 1902. Captain Frank Hannam Henderson was appointed in command 11 July 1902. She left the China Station in July 1903 and returned home, where she paid off into the commissioned Reserve at Chatham Dockyard on 9 October 1903. While in reserve, ''Goliath'' underwent a refit at Palmers on the Tyne from January–June 1904, then participated in maneuvers later in the year. On 9 May 1905, ''Goliath'' returned to full commission at Chatham to relieve her sister ship on the China Station. However, Great Britain and Japan ratified a treaty of alliance while she was on her outbound voyage, allowing the Royal Navy to reduce its presence on the China Station and recall all battleships from those waters; when ''Goliath'' reached Colombo, Ceylon in June 1905, she was recalled, and was instead attached to the Mediterranean Fleet. In January 1906, she was transferred to the Channel Fleet.

After being fitted with fire control, ''Goliath'' transferred to the Portsmouth Division of the new Home Fleet on 15 March 1907. She was based at Portsmouth, and underwent a machinery overhaul there from August 1907 – February 1908. Upon completion of her refit, ''Goliath'' commissioned on 4 February 1908 for Mediterranean Fleet service. During her voyage to Malta, one of her propeller shafts fractured, and she required four-month repair period before she could begin her service. On 20 April 1909, she paid off at Portsmouth. On 22 April, ''Goliath'' recommissioned to serve in the 4th Division, Home Fleet, at the Nore. During this service, she was refitted at Chatham in 1910–1911 and was sent to Sheerness. In 1913, she was mothballed and joined the 3rd Fleet.

First World War

When the First World War broke out in August 1914, ''Goliath'' returned to full commission and was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron, Channel Fleet, operating out of Devonport. She was sent to Loch Ewe as guard ship to defend the Grand Fleet anchorage, and then covered the landing of the Plymouth Marine Battalion at Ostend, Belgium on 25 August 1914. For this operation, she and three other battleships—, , and —a protected cruiser, and six destroyers escorted the troopships; at the same time, elements of the Grand Fleet attacked the German patrol line off Heligoland to occupy the German High Seas Fleet.

Operations off German East Africa

''Goliath'' transferred to the East Indies Station on 20 September to support cruisers on convoy duty in the Middle East, escorting an Indian convoy to the Persian Gulf and German East Africa through October. This included a major troop convoy that left India on 16 October, in company with the battleship . ''Goliath''s arrival allowed cruisers that had been occupied with escorting convoys to join the hunt for the German light cruiser . The German cruiser, having sunk the British cruiser in the Battle of Zanzibar, was trapped by three British cruisers in the Rufiji River delta in late October. ''Goliath'' arrived shortly thereafter and was to join the blockade of the delta, but the news of the British defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November forced the Admiralty to transfer ''Goliath'' to South Africa, as it was feared that the German East Asia Squadron might attack the colony after it entered the southern Atlantic. To further complicate matters, ''Goliath'' had engine problems on arriving in Mombasa, Kenya, and was unable to proceed to South Africa, and instead the armoured cruiser was sent in her place. After her engines were repaired, ''Goliath'' resumed her previous assignment with the blockade force at the Rufiji delta.

In November, ''Goliath'' attempted to get close enough to neutralise ''Königsberg'', but the water was too shallow to permit her to get within range of the cruiser. As a result, she left to bombard Dar es Salaam on 28 November and 30 November. In the former attack, Commander Henry Ritchie, ''Goliath''s executive officer, won the Victoria Cross. ''Goliath'' and the protected cruiser destroyed the colonial governor's residence; the second bombardment proved to be less effective. ''Goliath'' underwent a refit at Simonstown, South Africa, from December 1914 to February 1915. She then returned to the Rufiji delta on 25 February, as it seemed from German activities that ''Königsberg''s commander intended to break out soon. During this period, ''Goliath'' bombarded German positions at Lindi, but she saw no action with ''Königsberg''. On 25 March, ''Goliath'' was ordered to move to the Mediterranean to take part in operations off the Dardanelles, her place being taken by the protected cruiser ; the battleship left East African waters a week later on 1 April.

Dardanelles campaign

Upon arrival in the Aegean Sea, ''Goliath'' joined the First Squadron, which included seven other battleships and four cruisers, and was commanded by Rear Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss. The First Squadron was tasked with supporting the Landing at Cape Helles, which took place on 25 April. On the morning of the landings, ''Goliath'' took up a position off Y beach, some offshore to provide gunfire support. The protected cruisers and moved in closer, and all three ships opened fire at around 05:00, signalling the start of the attack. The Ottomans made no attempt to disrupt the landing, the Allied forces having successfully launched a surprise attack. By late in the day, however, an Ottoman counterattack had advanced from Krithia to threaten the British flank, but gunfire from ''Goliath'' and the cruisers broke up the attack. That night, the Ottomans launched another counterattack, this time against the centre of the British line, which was repulsed. Once the sun began to rise, ''Goliath'' and the cruisers, which had by then been reinforced by the cruisers and , shelled the Ottomans, forcing them to retreat again.

On the morning of 26 April, wounded soldiers began to be ferried off the beach, first to ''Goliath'' and the cruisers off shore. A miscommunication with the men on shore led to an unintended, larger evacuation effort. In the course of the action, she sustained some damage from the gunfire of Ottoman forts and shore batteries. Later in the day, order was restored on shore, and the Allied troops were able to occupy Sedd el Bahr. The Allies landed reinforcements, which allowed the advance to push toward Krithia on 27 April. ''Goliath'' and several other battleships shelled Ottoman defenders around the town to support the attack, which began the following morning at around 10:00. ''Goliath'' moved as close to shore as possible, to employ all of her guns at very close range. Despite the heavy fire support, the Allied troops were unable to dislodge the Ottoman defenders, and the First Battle of Krithia ended in an Allied defeat. ''Goliath'' was damaged by Ottoman guns again on 2 May.

By mid-May, the Allied fleet had developed a rotation of two battleships on station off Gallipoli every night to support the troops dug in on the peninsula. On the night of 12–13 May, ''Goliath'' was on station with the battleship . The two ships were moored in Morto Bay, with ''Goliath'' ahead of ''Cornwallis''; five destroyers patrolled the area against Ottoman torpedo boats. The Ottoman destroyer sortied late on 12 May under cover of a moonless night. By steaming very slowly, the Ottomans were able to slip past the destroyer patrols at about 01:00 on 13 May. Fifteen minutes later, lookouts aboard ''Goliath'' spotted ''Muâvenet-i Millîye'' and issued a challenge; the Ottomans replied to the challenge but very quickly increased speed and launched three torpedoes at ''Goliath''. The British opened fire, but only managed to shoot three rounds before the first torpedo struck the ship. Two torpedoes hit almost simultaneously, the first abreast her fore turret and the second abeam the fore funnel, causing a large explosion. ''Goliath'' began to capsize almost immediately, and was lying on her side when a third torpedo struck near her after turret. ''Muâvenet-i Millîye'' sped off and escaped unscathed in the darkness as the other British warships gathered to rescue survivors from ''Goliath''. Some 570 men, out of a crew of 750 were killed in the sinking, including the ship's commander, Captain Thomas Shelford.

The wreck lies upside down at a depth of , and is largely buried in sediment. Only part of the hull, which was badly mangled by the explosion, and one of her screws are visible.

Notes

References

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Further reading

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External links

Maritimequest HMS Goliath Photo Gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goliath (1898)
Canopus-class battleships
Ships built in Chatham
1898 ships
Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom
World War I battleships of the United Kingdom
World War I shipwrecks in the Dardanelles
Maritime incidents in 1915