HMS Monmouth (1901)
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HMS ''Monmouth'' was the
name ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex ...
of her class of 10
armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...
s built for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
in the first decade of the 20th century. The ships were also known as the County Cruisers (each being named after a British county). She 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 World War I, then later as part of the Mediterranean during the Interwar period and World War II. It was first established in 1 ...
of the
Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history th ...
upon completion in 1903. She was transferred to the
China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China, was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 1 ...
in 1906, and remained there until she returned home in 1913 and was assigned to the
reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...
Third Fleet. When
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
began in August 1914, the ship was recommissioned and assigned to the
5th Cruiser Squadron The 5th Cruiser Squadron and also known as Cruiser Force D was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1907 to 1915 and then again from 1939 to 1946. History First formation The squadron was first established in 1907, it was att ...
in the Central Atlantic to search for German
commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...
s and protect
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
shipping. She was detached upon arrival to patrol the Brazilian coast for German ships, and was later ordered to the South Atlantic to join
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
Christopher Cradock Rear Admiral Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice Cradock (2 July 1862 – 1 November 1914) was an English senior officer of the Royal Navy. He earned a reputation for great gallantry. Appointed to the royal yacht, he was close to the Britis ...
's squadron in their search for the German
East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron () 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 Falkland Islands. It was based at Germany's Ji ...
. He found the German squadron on 1 November off the coast of Chile. The German squadron outnumbered Cradock's force and were individually more powerful; they sank Cradock's two armoured cruisers in the
Battle of Coronel The Battle of Coronel was a First World War naval battle that led to an 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 ...
. ''Monmouth'' was lost with all hands.


Design and description

The ''Monmouth''s were intended to protect British merchant shipping from fast
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
s like the French , or the es. The ships were designed to displace . They 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
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...
of and a deep draught of . They were powered by two 4-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 (engine), cylinder, then ha ...
s, each driving one shaft using steam provided by 31
Belleville boiler There have been a vast number of designs of steam boiler, particularly towards the end of the 19th century when the technology was evolving rapidly. A great many of these took the names of their originators or primary manufacturers, rather than a m ...
s. The engines produced a total of which was designed to give the ships a maximum speed of . ''Monmouth'', however, was one of three of the ships of the class that failed to meet their designed speed.Roberts, p. 70 She carried a maximum of of coal and her complement consisted of 678 officers and ratings.Friedman 2012, p. 336 The ''Monmouth''-class ships' main armament consisted of fourteen breech-loading (BL) Mk VII guns. Four of these guns were mounted in two twin-
gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...
s, one each fore and aft of the
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
, and the others were positioned in
casemates A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mea ...
amidships. Six of these were mounted on the
main deck The main deck of a ship is the uppermost complete deck extending from bow to stern. A steel ship's hull may be considered a structural beam with the main deck forming the upper flange of a box girder and the keel forming the lower strength mem ...
and were only usable in calm weather. Ten quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder () 12-cwt guns"Cwt" is the abbreviation for
hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial sy ...
, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
were fitted for defence against
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s. ''Monmouth'' also carried three 3-pounder
Hotchkiss gun The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different types of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun. There were also navy (47 mm) and 3-inch (76 mm) ...
s and two submerged 18-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. The ship's
waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...
armour belt was thick amidships and forward. The armour of the gun turrets, their
barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s and the casemates was four inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from and the
conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...
was protected by of armour.


Construction and career

''Monmouth'', named for the Welsh county, was
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 ...
by London and Glasgow Shipbuilding at their
shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...
in
Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...
on 29 August 1899, and launched on 13 November 1901. Her completion was delayed due to a collision with the liner ''Assyria'' in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
harbour in late March 1902. She arrived at Devonport in late August that year for trials, but was not finally completed and accepted until 2 December 1903, when she was initially assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Channel Fleet. She was briefly placed in reserve in Devonport at the end of January 1906, before being recommissioned in April for service on the China Station. During 1913 ''Monmouth'' paid a courtesy visit to the German treaty port of Tsingtao on the Chinese Mainland. Later in the same year she returned home and was assigned to the reserve Third Fleet. She was mobilised on 4 August 1914 with a crew of 738 personnel consisting of 570 ratings and 29 officers in addition to 25 members of the Royal Marine band and 69
Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
. In many sources, it is stated her crew mostly consisted of reservists; however, based on the ship's crew list, only 8 crew members were part of the
Royal Navy Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original R ...
in addition to 69 members of the
Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...
. Post mobilisation, she was sent to the 5th Cruiser Squadron of Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart on the
Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
station. Upon her arrival on 13 August, Stoddart detached her to the Brazilian coast to search for the German light cruisers known to be in the area. She came under Cradock's command in mid-September. At the end of September, Cradock made his first fruitless search of the
Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...
area and later detached ''Monmouth'' and two other ships to search up the Chilean coast, reaching Valparaiso on 15 October, while his flagship, returned to
Port Stanley Stanley (also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a population o ...
, in the
Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...
, to recoal and to reestablish communications with the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...
. He received word on 7 October that German Vice Admiral Spee's ships were definitely bound for the Cape Horn region and waited for the elderly
predreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s. Their designs were conceived before the appearance of in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively appli ...
to reinforce his squadron. She was in poor mechanical condition when she arrived at Port Stanley and required time to make repairs. ''Good Hope'' sailed on 22 October without her, going around
Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...
, while ''Canopus'' and three colliers departed the following day, taking the shorter route through the Strait of Magellan.


Battle of Coronel

''Good Hope'' rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron at
Vallenar Vallenar is a city and commune in Atacama Region, Chile. It is the capital of the Huasco Province and is located in the valley of the Huasco River. Vallenar has 52,000 inhabitants. Its main activities are farming and mining. It was founded as ...
Roads, in the remote
Chonos Archipelago The Chonos Archipelago is a series of low, mountainous, elongated islands with deep bays, traces of a submerged Chilean Coast Range. Most of the islands are forested with little or no human settlement. The deep Moraleda Channel separates the isl ...
of Chile on 27 October 1914 to recoal. They departed two days later, just as ''Canopus'' arrived, Cradock ordering the battleship to follow as soon as possible. He sent the
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 thi ...
to scout ahead and to enter
Coronel, Chile Coronel () is a Chilean city and commune, located in the Concepción Province of the eighth region of Biobío. Geography The city of Coronel is located in a sandy platform that goes from the mouth of the Biobío River to the Arauco Gulf bay, ...
to pick up any messages from the Admiralty and acquire intelligence regarding German activities. The cruiser began to pick up German radio signals from the light cruiser on the afternoon of 29 October, and delayed entering Coronel for two days with Cradock's permission to avoid being trapped by the fast German ships. A German supply ship was already there and radioed Spee that ''Glasgow'' had entered the harbour around twilight. The cruiser departed on the morning of 1 November, but Spee had already made plans to catch her when informed of her presence the previous evening. ''Glasgow'' departed Coronel at 09:15 after having picked up the squadron's mail, and rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron four hours later. Cradock ordered his ships to form line abreast with a distance of between ships to maximise visibility at 13:50 and steered north at a speed of . At 16:17 ''Leipzig'' spotted ''Glasgow'', the easternmost British ship, to its west and she spotted ''Leipzig''s
funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...
smoke three minutes later. At 17:10 Cradock ordered his ships to head for ''Glasgow'', the closest ship to the Germans. Once gathered together, he formed them into line astern, with ''Good Hope'' in the lead, steering southeasterly at at 18:18. As the sixteen guns aboard the armoured cruisers ''Scharnhorst'' and were only matched by the two 9.2-inch guns on his flagship, he needed to close the range to bring his more numerous 6-inch guns to bear. The Force 7 winds and high seas, however, prevented the use of half of those guns as they were too close to the water. He also wanted to use the setting sun to his advantage so that its light would blind the German gunners. Spee was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range. His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the 16-knot maximum speed of the
armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
, and he opened up the range to until conditions changed to suit him. The sun set at 18:50, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them. Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19:04, when the range closed to . Spee's flagship, ''Scharnhorst'', engaged ''Good Hope'' while ''Gneisenau'' fired at ''Monmouth''. The German shooting was very accurate, with both armoured cruisers quickly scoring hits on their British counterparts while still outside six-inch gun range, starting fires on both ships. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. By 19:23 the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards. One shell from ''Gneisenau'' blew the roof off ''Monmouth''s forward turret and started a fire, causing an ammunition explosion that completely blew the turret off the ship. Spee tried to open the range, fearing a torpedo attack, but the British were only away at 19:35. Severely damaged, ''Monmouth'' began to slow and veered out of line. ''Glasgow'' fought almost an entirely separate battle as the German armoured cruisers ignored her almost completely and she inconclusively dueled the light cruisers ''Leipzig'' and . ''Glasgow'' broke contact with the German squadron at 20:05 and discovered ''Monmouth'', listing and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, 10 minutes later. She was trying to turn north to put her stern to the heavy northerly swell and was taking water at the bow. There was little that ''Glasgow'' could do to assist the larger ship as the moonlight illuminated both ships and the Germans were searching for them. The light cruiser ''Nürnberg'' had been trailing the German squadron and spotted the plume of smoke from ''Glasgow'' at 20:35, and then saw ''Monmouth'' with a 10-degree list to port shortly afterwards. As ''Nürnberg'' closed the range, ''Monmouth''s list increased so that none of the guns on her port side could be used. The German cruiser closed to within and illuminated her flag with its spotlight in the hopes that she would strike her colours and surrender. There was no response from the British ship and ''Nürnberg'' opened fire at 21:20, aiming high, but there was still no response. The German ship then fired a torpedo which missed and turned off its searchlight. ''Monmouth'' then increased speed and turned towards ''Nürnberg'', which caused her to open fire again. ''Monmouth''
capsized Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fr ...
at 21:58, taking her entire crew of 734 men with her as the seas were too rough to attempt any rescue effort.Massie, pp. 233–234; Silverstone, p. 252


Notes


Footnotes


Bibliography

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External links


Gravestone of James Forster Boulton in Horsham

HMS Monmouth officers entertained by Prince Fushimi


historic film {{DEFAULTSORT:Monmouth (1901) Monmouth-class cruisers Ships built on the River Clyde 1901 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in November 1914 Shipwrecks in the Chilean Sea World War I shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Warships lost in combat with all hands Naval magazine explosions