HMS ''Raglan'' was a

First World War 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 ...

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 ...

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

, which was sunk during the

Battle of Imbros The Battle of Imbros was a naval action that took place during the First World War. The battle occurred on 20 January 1918 when an Ottoman squadron engaged a flotilla of the British Royal Navy off the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea. A l ...

in January 1918.

Design

On 3 November 1914,

Charles M. Schwab Charles Michael Schwab (February 18, 1862 – September 18, 1939) was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second-largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturer ...

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

offered

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, then

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

, the use of eight /45 cal BL MK II guns in 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, originally destined for the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

. These turrets could not be delivered to the German builders, due to the British blockade. The Royal Navy immediately designed a class of monitors, designed for shore bombardment, to use the turrets.

Construction

''Raglan'' was laid down at the

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

Ltd shipyard at

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 1 December 1914. The ship was named ''Robert E Lee'' in honour of the CSA General Robert E Lee, however as the United States was still neutral, the ship was hurriedly renamed HMS ''M3'' on 31 May 1915. She was then named HMS ''Lord Raglan'' on 20 June 1915 and again renamed HMS ''Raglan'' on 23 June 1915.

Career

''Raglan'' sailed for the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

in June 1915. She remained in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at

Imbros Imbros (; ; ), officially Gökçeada () since 29 July 1970,Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), ''Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchang ...

. On 29 October, ''Raglan'' took part in the Third Battle of Gaza. On 20 January 1918, while the battleships and were absent, ''Raglan'' and other members of the Detached Squadron of the Aegean Squadron were attacked by the Turkish

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' (formerly

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battlecruiser ), 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 ...

''Midilli'' (formerly German light cruiser ) and four

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s. ''Raglan'' was sunk with the loss of 127 lives. The monitor was also sunk in the same battle. ''Midilli'' and ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' ran into a minefield while withdrawing; ''Midilli'' sank and ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' was badly damaged.

References

Bibliography

* *Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914–1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), *Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), {{DEFAULTSORT:Raglan (1915) Abercrombie-class monitors Ships built in Govan 1915 ships World War I monitors of the United Kingdom World War I shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea Maritime incidents in 1918 Ships built by Harland and Wolff Shipwrecks of Turkey