HMS ''Roberts'' was an

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 ...

of the

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that served in the

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 ...

Background

On 3 November 1914, Charles M. Schwab of

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 four /45cal BL MK II twin gun turrets, originally destined for the

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ship . These turrets could not be delivered to the German builders, due to the British naval blockade. The

immediately created a class of monitors, designed for shore bombardment, to use the turrets. ''Roberts'' was laid down at the

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...

, Ltd shipyard at

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on 17 December 1914. The ship was named ''Stonewall Jackson'' in honour of the CSA General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, however as the

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was still neutral, the ship was hurriedly renamed HMS ''M4'' on 31 May 1915. She was then named HMS ''Earl Roberts'' on 19 June 1915 and again renamed HMS ''Roberts'' on 22 June 1915

Service history

''Roberts'' 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 until returning to England in February 1916. She served as a guard ship at Yarmouth until the end of the War. She decommissioned in May 1919, and was initially sold for breaking up in May 1921, but was retained by the Admiralty for trials. Around 1925 she was considered for conversion to a mobile

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

base with a

mooring mast A mooring mast, or mooring tower, is a structure designed to allow for the docking of an airship outside of an airship hangar or similar structure. More specifically, a mooring mast is a mast or tower that contains a fitting on its top that allo ...

and fueling capabilities, but nothing came of this proposal. In the 1930s, she was used for testing underwater protection for new construction warships. She was finally sold in September 1936 to the Ward shipyard at Preston for breaking up.

In command

*Captain H.N. Garnett, (May 1915–?) *Commander W.A. Thompson, (?) *Commander Kenneth Dewar, (August 1916 – 1917) *Commander B.M. Eyres-Monsell, (September 1918–?) *Lieutenant-Commander E.J.J. Southby, (January 1919May 1919)

Citations

References

* 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),

External links

*
Writeup at Roll of Honour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts (1915) Abercrombie-class monitors Ships built on the River Tyne 1915 ships World War I monitors of the United Kingdom Ships built by Swan Hunter