HMS Marshal Soult

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Marshal soult.jpg
HMS Marshal Soult
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Marshal Soult
NamesakeMarshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult
Builder Palmers, Jarrow
Launched24 August 1915
CommissionedAugust 1915
FateSold 10 July 1946
General characteristics
Class and type Marshal Ney-class monitor
Displacement
  • 6,670 long tons (6,780 t) (standard)
  • 6,900 long tons (7,000 t) (full load)
Length
  • 340 ft (100 m) (p.p.)
  • 355 ft 7.2 in (108.387 m) (o/a)
Beam90 ft 3 in (27.51 m)
Draught10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Installed power
  • 1,898  hp (1,415 kW) (trials)
  • 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) (service)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 9  kn (10 mph; 17 km/h) (design)
  • 6.6 kn (7.6 mph; 12.2 km/h) (trials)
  • 6 kn (6.9 mph; 11 km/h) (service)
Capacity Diesel fuel: 235 short tons (213 t) (maximum)
Complement228
Armament
Armour
  • Bulkheads: 4 in (10 cm) (fore and aft)
  • Deck: 1 in (2.5 cm) (forecastle); 1.5–2 in (3.8–5.1 cm) (upper deck); 3 in (7.6 cm) (lower deck, bow); 1.5 in (3.8 cm) (lower deck, stern); 1–4 in (2.5–10.2 cm) (box citadel over magazine)
  • Barbettes: 8 in (20 cm)
  • Turrets: 4.5–13 in (11–33 cm)
  • Conning tower: 6 in (150 mm); 1 in (25 mm) (navigator's position)

HMS Marshal Soult was a Royal Navy Marshal Ney-class monitor constructed in the opening years of the First World War. Laid down as M14, she was named after the French general of the Napoleonic Wars Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult. She served in both World Wars and was decommissioned in 1946.

Contents

Design

Designed for inshore operations along the sandbank strewn Belgian coastline, Marshal Soult was equipped with two 15-inch (380 mm) battleship guns. Originally, these guns were to have been stripped from one of the battlecruisers Renown and Repulse after they were redesigned. However the guns were not ready, and guns intended for the battleship Ramillies were used instead.

The diesel engines used by the ships were a constant source of technical difficulty, restricting their use.

Service

Marshal Soult performed numerous bombardment operations against German positions in Flanders, including during the First Ostend Raid in April 1918. In October 1918, she became a tender to the gunnery school HMS Excellent at Portsmouth and in March 1919 undertook a similar role at Devonport before paying off in March 1921. Recommissioned in 1924, she moved to Chatham in April 1926 as a training ship.

Her armament was removed in March 1940 and was later fitted to the new Roberts-class monitor Roberts, which was completed in 1941.

In the year of her launch 1915, Caretta, an Admiralty Pinnace was assigned to her.

She served throughout the Second World War as a depot ship for trawlers at Portsmouth until being sold on 10 July 1946 and scrapped at Troon.

See also

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References