Liverpool | |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Liverpool |
Namesake | Liverpool |
Builder | Vickers Limited |
Laid down | 17 February 1909 |
Launched | 30 October 1909 |
Commissioned | October 1910 |
Fate | Sold for scrapping 8 November 1921 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Town-class light cruiser |
Displacement | 4,800 tons normal; 5,300 tons deep load |
Length | Overall 453 ft (138 m) |
Beam | 47 ft (14 m) |
Draught | 15.6 ft (4.8 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 25 kn (46 km/h) |
Range |
|
Complement | 480 |
Armament |
|
Armour |
|
HMS Liverpool was a 4,800 ton Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy commissioned in 1909. Named for the port city of Liverpool, the cruiser served continuously in home waters subordinated to the Home Fleet from 1909 through the initial stages of the First World War.
During the war, Liverpool fought in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, operated off the coast of West Africa, and served in the Adriatic and Aegean. On 27 October 1914, the cruiser assisted in the rescue of the crew of Audacious . Liverpool made efforts to tow the battleship to port, but Audacious eventually capsized and exploded. After the Armistice was signed, Liverpool operated in the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War until placed in reserve in June 1919.
Built by Vickers Sons & Maxim at Barrow-in-Furness, she was the first Liverpool to be named for the port city in the 20th Century and the first to be constructed of steel. Launched on 30 October 1909 and commissioned in 1910, Liverpool was one of five cruisers ordered to the Bristol sub-class specification. [1] The Bristol sub class was the first medium (or 2nd class) cruiser design to be built for the Royal Navy since the late 19th Century. [1] Their main armament consisted of two 6 in (150 mm) and ten 4 in (100 mm) guns — a mixed configuration deemed "unsatisfactory" and discontinued in the subsequent Weymouth sub-class in favour of a uniform complement of eight 6 in (150 mm) guns. [2]
She was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet on commission and transferred to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in 1913. At the beginning of the First World War, Liverpool was serving with the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron. [1] She participated in the first engagement of the war, the Battle of Heligoland Bight, on 28 August 1914 grouped with five other Town cruisers under command of Commodore William Goodenough. [3] After the German cruiser Mainz was heavily damaged and disabled, Goodenough ordered his ships to cease firing on her at 12:55 pm and a rescue operation was subsequently undertaken. Liverpool, accompanied by the destroyers Firedrake and Lurcher, manoeuvred close to the cruiser in an effort to recover the surviving crew. Small craft from Liverpool were deployed to retrieve crewmembers who had abandoned ship while Lurcher positioned alongside Mainz to transfer the remaining personnel on board. [4] Liverpool detached from the main force at 7:45 pm to transport 86 embarked prisoners to Rosyth, including a son of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. [5]
Two-months later, on 27 October, Liverpool was in the company of the battleship Audacious when the latter struck a mine during a morning exercise by the Grand Fleet off the coast of Ireland. Unsure of the circumstances of the incident, the Admiralty ordered the fleet to withdraw as a precaution while Liverpool remained as an escort. Audacious attempted to proceed to Lough Swilly but the flooding proved to be grievous. Other vessels, including the liner Olympic, converged on the position after Audacious transmitted an SOS. Repeated attempts to tow the immobile Audacious were ineffectual and the crew was steadily evacuated. [6] The battleship capsized and exploded at 20:45 with the loss of a petty officer on board Liverpool, killed by a scattered piece of armour plate. [7]
In 1915, Liverpool was detached from the Grand Fleet and sent to patrol the coast of West Africa in support of a search for the armed merchant cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm. [1] Liverpool's mission was unsuccessful and the cruiser arrived at her namesake port in June for boiler repairs. After the repairs were completed, Liverpool deployed to the Mediterranean in November. [1] She was ported in Brindisi, which functioned as a naval base for Allied warships operating in the Adriatic against Austria-Hungary. The cruiser, in concert with the Italian Pilade Bronzetti, pursued the Austrian destroyer Wildfang in February 1916, necessitating the latter's retreat to Cattaro. [8] During the Battle of the Otranto Straits, Liverpool was under command of Captain G.H. Vivian and at a reduced state of readiness. Her unpreparedness was compounded by the captain's decision to use the cruiser's reduced state as an opportunity to undergo routine maintenance of the cruiser's boilers. [9] Signals received from Saseno classified as "Urgent" were intercepted at 0350 am and disregarded because Liverpool's wireless room was unable to read Italian and had been the recipient of similar signals previously. [9] Ultimately, Liverpool remained in port and no order was issued by Admiral Alfredo Acton for Liverpool to sail despite the cruiser's eventual readiness and Captain Vivian's personal request. [10]
Liverpool was transferred to the Aegean Squadron in January 1918. [1] Armistices with the Central Powers were signed later that year. With the Black Sea's accessibility restored and the Allies committed to intervention during the Russian Civil War, Liverpool was ordered to the region and engaged in operations supporting the White Army from November. [1] On the 23rd, Liverpool and the French armoured cruiser Ernest Renan, escorted by two Australian destroyers, transported military delegations to the port of Novorossisk to establish contact with Russian General Denikin. [11] She returned to Britain in mid-1919 and was relegated to reserve status in June, berthed at Devonport Dockyard. [1]
Placed on the disposal list in March 1920, [1] Liverpool was sold to Stanlee, then acquired by Slough Trading Company in November 1921 and broken up in Germany. [12] A silver bell and plate were preserved and presented to the Birkenhead-built battleship Rodney. The objects came into the possession of the sixth Liverpool in the late 1930s as gifts following the light cruiser's commission. [13]
SMS Zrínyi was a Radetzky-class semi-dreadnought battleship (Schlachtschiff) of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, named for the Zrinski, a Croatian-Hungarian noble family. Zrínyi and her sisters, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand and Radetzky, were the last pre-dreadnoughts built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
HMS Bristol was a Town-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was the lead ship of the five in her sub-class and was completed in late 1910. The ship spent part of her early career in reserve before she was transferred to the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the North America and West Indies Station in mid-1914. Bristol was briefly deployed to Mexico during the Mexican Revolution to protect British interests there.
HMS Cardiff was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was one of the five ships of the Ceres sub-class and spent most of her career as a flagship. Assigned to the Grand Fleet during the war, the ship participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in late 1917. Cardiff was briefly deployed to the Baltic in late 1918 supporting anti-Bolshevik forces during the British campaign in the Baltic during the Russian Civil War.
HMS Audacious was the fourth and last King George V-class dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. After completion in 1913, she spent her brief 2-year career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. The ship struck a German naval mine off the northern coast of County Donegal, Ireland, early during the First World War. Audacious slowly flooded, allowing all of her crew to be rescued, and finally sank after the British were unable to tow her to shore. However, a petty officer on a nearby cruiser was killed by shrapnel when Audacious subsequently exploded. Even though American tourists aboard one of the rescuing ships photographed and filmed the sinking battleship, the Admiralty embargoed news of her loss in Britain to prevent the Germans from taking advantage of the weakened Grand Fleet. She is the largest warship ever sunk by naval mines.
Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I took place between the naval forces of the Entente and the Central Powers in the Mediterranean Sea between 1914 and 1918.
The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought between the Central Powers and the Mediterranean squadrons of Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Italy, Australia, and the United States.
HMS Lizard was an Acheron-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She is named for the Lizard peninsula in the county of Cornwall in England. and was the twelfth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.
HMS Dartmouth was a Town-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. She was one of the Weymouth sub-class of the Town class. The ship survived the First World War and was sold for scrap on 13 December 1930.
Démocratie was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the mid-1900s. She was the fourth member of the Liberté class, which included three other vessels and was a derivative of the preceding République class, with the primary difference being the inclusion of a heavier secondary battery. Démocratie carried a main battery of four 305 mm (12 in) guns, like the République, but mounted ten 194 mm (7.6 in) guns for her secondary armament in place of the 164 mm (6.5 in) guns of the earlier vessels. Like many late pre-dreadnought designs, Démocratie was completed after the revolutionary British battleship HMS Dreadnought had entered service, rendering her obsolescent.
The Battle of the Strait of Otranto of 1917 was the result of an Austro-Hungarian raid during the Adriatic Campaign of World War I on the Otranto Barrage, an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto. The battle took place on 15 May 1917, and was the largest surface action in the Adriatic Sea during World War I. The Otranto Barrage was a fixed barrier, composed of lightly armed naval drifters with anti-submarine nets coupled with minefields and supported by Allied naval patrols.
HMS Jackal was an Acheron-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during the World War I and was sold for breaking in 1920. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to be named Jackal, after the predatory mammal of the same name.
HMS Hind was an Acheron-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during World War I and was sold for breaking in 1921. She was the seventeenth Royal Navy ship to be named after the female deer.
HMS Forester was an Acheron-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during World War I and was sold for breaking in 1921. She was the ninth Royal Navy ship to be named after the traditional craft of forester.
HMS Lapwing was an Acheron-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during World War I and was sold for breaking in 1921. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to be named after Vanellus vanellus, the northern lapwing.
HMS Sandfly was an Acheron-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during World War I and was sold for breaking in 1921. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to be named after the small biting fly of the same name.
The High Seas Fleet 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 was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to challenge the Royal Navy's predominance. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, championed the fleet as the instrument by which he would seize overseas possessions and make Germany a global power. By concentrating a powerful battle fleet in the North Sea while the Royal Navy was required to disperse its forces around the British Empire, Tirpitz believed Germany could achieve a balance of force that could seriously damage British naval hegemony. This was the heart of Tirpitz's "Risk Theory", which held that Britain would not challenge Germany if the latter's fleet posed such a significant threat to its own.
Nino Bixio was a protected cruiser built by the Italian Regia Marina in the early 1910s. She was the lead ship of the Nino Bixio class, which were built as scouts for the main Italian fleet. She was equipped with a main battery of six 120-millimeter (4.7 in) guns and had a top speed in excess of 26 knots, but her engines proved to be troublesome in service. Nino Bixio saw service during World War I and briefly engaged the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Helgoland in 1915. Her career was cut short in the post-war period due to severe cuts to the Italian naval budget, coupled with her unreliable engines. Nino Bixio was stricken from the naval register in March 1929 and sold for scrap.
Quarto was a unique protected cruiser built by the Italian Regia Marina in the 1910s. Her keel was laid in November 1909, she was launched in August 1911, and was completed in March 1913. She was the first Italian cruiser to be equipped with steam turbines, which gave her a top speed of 28 knots. Her high speed was a requirement for the role in which she was designed to serve: a scout for the main Italian fleet.
The Novara class was a class of three scout cruisers built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Named for the Battle of Novara, the class comprised SMS Saida, SMS Helgoland, and SMS Novara. Construction started on the ships shortly before World War I; Saida and Helgoland were both laid down in 1911, Novara followed in 1912. Two of the three warships were built in the Ganz-Danubius shipyard in Fiume; Saida was built in the Cantiere Navale Triestino shipyard in Monfalcone. The Novara-class ships hold the distinction for being the last cruisers constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Navy.