HMS Mersey | |
History | |
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Brazil | |
Name | Madeira |
Builder | Vickers |
Laid down | 24 August 1912 |
Launched | 30 September 1913 |
Out of service | 3 August 1914 |
Fate | Sold to the United Kingdom |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Mersey |
Acquired | 3 August 1914 |
Fate | Sold 1921 for scrapping |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Humber-class monitor |
Displacement | 1,260 long tons (1,280 t) |
Length | 266 ft 9 in (81.3 m) |
Beam | 49 ft (14.9 m) |
Draught | 5 ft 7.2 in (1.7 m) |
Installed power | 1,450 ihp (1,080 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 140 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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HMS Mersey was a Humber-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Originally built by Vickers for Brazil and christened Madeira, she was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War along with her sister ships Humber and Severn.
Mersey had a relatively successful career in the First World War and had two prominent incidents. At the Battle of the Yser in 1914, off the coast of Belgium, she bombarded German troops as well as artillery positions. In July 1915, she was towed to the Rufiji River delta in German East Africa, where she and Severn then assisted in the destruction of the German light cruiser Königsberg. [note 1]
The monitor later went to the Mediterranean and served on the River Danube.
Five crew died between January 3 and January 6, 1919. They are buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Bucharest War Cemetery.
In 1921, she was sold to the breakers.
HMSM33 is an M29-class monitor of the Royal Navy built in 1915. She saw active service in the Mediterranean during the First World War and in Russia during the Allied Intervention in 1919. She was used subsequently as a mine-laying training ship, fuelling hulk, boom defence workshop and floating office, being renamed HMS Minerva and Hulk C23 during her long life. She passed to Hampshire County Council in the 1980s and was then handed over to the National Museum of the Royal Navy in 2014. A programme of conservation was undertaken to enable her to be opened to the public. HMS M33 is located within Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and opened to visitors on 7 August 2015 following a service of dedication. She is one of only three surviving Royal Navy warships of the First World War and the only surviving ship from the Gallipoli Campaign.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Severn after the River Severn:
The Battle of the Rufiji Delta was fought in German East Africa from October 1914–July 1915 during the First World War, between the German Navy's light cruiser SMS Königsberg, and a powerful group of British warships. The battle was a series of attempts, ultimately successful, to sink the blockaded German light cruiser.
The Humber-class monitors were three large gunboats under construction for the Brazilian Navy in Britain in 1913. Designed for service on the Amazon River, the ships were of shallow draft and heavy armament and were ideally suited to inshore, riverine and coastal work but unsuitable for service at sea, where their weight and light draft reduced their speed from a projected twelve knots to under four. The class comprised Humber, Mersey and Severn. All three were taken over by the Royal Navy shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and were commissioned as small monitors. All three saw extensive service during the war and were sold in 1919.
HMS Severn was a Humber-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Originally built by Vickers for Brazil, she was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War along with her sister ships Humber and Mersey. She had been christened Solimoes by the Brazilians, but was renamed by the British. The three ships were the first of a new type of specialized shore-bombardment warships. As a result of her shallow draught, she was very un-manoeuvrable and unseaworthy in open waters in anything more than a Force 5 wind.
HMS Skirmisher was one of two Sentinel-class scout cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1905 the ship was placed in reserve until she was commissioned in 1907 as part of the Home Fleet. She then spent the next seven years moving on and off of active service in British waters. Skirmisher was assigned to coastal defence duties when the First World War began in 1914, although she was transferred to the Mediterranean in 1915 and then to the Aegean two years later. The ship returned home in mid-1919 and was sold for scrap in 1920.
HMS Waveney was a Hawthorn Leslie-type River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1902–1903 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Waveney in eastern England, she was the first ship of the Royal Navy to carry this name.
HMS Doon was a Hawthorn Leslie type River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1903 – 1904 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Doon in western Scotland, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
HMS Test was a Laird-type River-class destroyer purchased by the Royal Navy under the 1908–1909 Naval Estimates in December 1909. Named after the River Test in southern England by the city of Southampton, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
HMS Crane was a Palmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates. She was the sixth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1590 for a 24-gun schooner in service until 1629.
HMS Mermaid was a Hawthorn Leslie three-funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates. She was launched in 1898, served during World War I and was sold for breaking in 1919.
HMS Humber was a Humber-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Originally built by Vickers for Brazil as Javary, she was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War along with her sister ships Severn and Mersey.
HMS Pyramus was a Pelorus-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy. There were eleven ""Third class"" protected cruisers in the class, which was designed by Sir William White. While well armed for their size, they were primarily workhorses for the overseas fleet on "police" duties and did not serve with the main battlefleet.
HMS M27 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor. She was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919, and was scuttled in the Dvina River on 16 September 1919.
HMS M25 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor. She was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919, and was scuttled in the Dvina River on 16 September 1919.
HMS Moy was a Laird Type River-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Named after the River Moy in Ireland, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
HMS Ness was a White Type River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1903 – 1904 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Ness in northern Scotland, flowing through Inverness, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
HMS Nith was a White Type River Class Destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1903–1904 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Nith in southern Scotland, on the West Coast, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
HMS Dee was a Palmer Type River Class Destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1901–1902 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Dee near Liverpool, England, she was the fourth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1814 for a 20-gun 6th rate sold in 1819.
The Royal Navy was active in East African waters from the 1850s to the 1960s.