Titania was built in Port Glasgow, Scotland,[1] by the Clyde Shipbuilding Co.[2] (Port Glasgow, Scotland) originally as a merchant ship ordered by Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Company "Adria" as Károly Ferencz József.[3][4] She was launched in March 1915 and commissioned by the Royal Navy as a submarine depot ship in November 1915.[5]
1915–1919: 11th Submarine Flotilla, Blyth
When she was first commissioned, in November 1915, she was stationed at Blyth and under the command of Captain Stanley L. Willis.[6] In December 1915, the Eleventh Flotilla became the first directly supporting the submarines of the Grand Fleet.[7] The flotilla was formed at first from submarines D7 and D8 taken from the Eighth Flotilla[8] and HMS Titania as their depot ship. During the period in which Titania was the depot ship of the 11th Submarine Flotilla,[7] other ships shared the role at various times, including HMSMastiff, HMSTalisman, HMSTrident, HMSTartar and HMSMoon.[9] Other submarines of the G and J classes joined the flotilla and the D-class submarines were removed.
An account of life on the ship is to be found in Hawthorne (1980).[10]
On 3 June 1916, following the Battle of Jutland, HMS Titania instructed submarine G10 to locate and sink floating remains of the battlecruiser HMSInvincible which had been abandoned during the battle to prevent the capture of materials. No remains were found.[11]
On 28 October 1918, Captain Frederick Avenel Sommerville[12] was put in command of HMS Titania and made Commander (S) of the 11th Submarine Flotilla based at Blyth.[13] The Eleventh Flotilla was disbanded in March 1919.[14]
1919–1929: 4th Submarine Flotilla, China
Establishment of the 4th Flotilla
On 1 October 1919, HMS Titania and HMSAmbrose were the two ships commissioned at Chatham as depot ships for the 4th Submarine Flotilla,[15][unreliable source?] China. At that time, another depot ship was already in service at Hong Kong, HMS Rosario.[16][unreliable source?]Rosario had been converted to a depot ship in 1910 and was serving in Hong Kong as the depot ship for the Hong Kong Submarine Flotilla,[17][unreliable source?] which consisted of three C-class submarines, C36, C37 and C38. These three submarines were built by Vickers, Barrow, commissioned on 1 February 1910 and sailed with HMS Rosario[16][unreliable source?] to Hong Kong in February 1911. They were all sold in Hong Kong on 25 June 1919. HMS Rosario[16][unreliable source?] was sold for scrap in Hong Kong on 11 December 1921.
Submarines of the 4th Flotilla
The submarines of the 4th Flotilla that accompanied HMS Titania and HMS Ambrose were all of the L class.[18]
Seven submarines accompanied HMS Titania on the voyage to Hong Kong. Submarines mentioned in the Ship's Log[19] are L2, L5, L6, L8, L19, L20 and L33. HMSL9 sank in Hong Kong harbour on 18 August 1923 during a typhoon. She was raised, refitted and put back into service. She was sold in Hong Kong on 30 June 1927, the first L-class boat to be sold.
Voyage to Hong Kong
HMS Ambrose, under the command of Cecil Ponsonby Talbot, left Devonport in October 1919 and sailed with six L-class submarines of the 4th Submarine Flotilla[15] (L1, L3, L4, L7, L9 and L15) to Hong Kong, where she remained until 28 March 1928. The exact timing of Ambrose's voyage to Hong Kong is not known. It appears that her arrival in Hong Kong was in January 1920.
After commissioning HMS Titania sailed to Malta. The Ship's Log[19] shows that she left Chatham on 9 October 1919 and sailed via Sheerness to Portsmouth, arriving there on 14 October 1919. On 29 October she set sail for Malta, sailing via Gibraltar, where she stayed from 3 to 8 November 1919, arriving in Malta on 12 November.
On 18 February 1920 she and the remaining part of the 4th Submarine Flotilla,[15] consisting of seven L-class submarines (L2, L5, L6, L8, L19, L20 and L33), under the command of Captain Frederick A. Sommerville,[12] set sail for Hong Kong via Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Aden, Colombo, Penang and Singapore. She arrived in Hong Kong on 14 April 1920. The ship's log[19] records that HMS Titania weighed anchor and secured to Storm Signal Buoy at 10.17 a.m. on 14 April 1920. Gap Rock Light referred to in the Log is in the Wanshan Archipelago, to the south of Hong Kong Island. The reference to Waglan Light shows that she entered Hong Kong Harbour from the east through Tathong Channel and passed by the fishing village of Lye Mun (Lei Yue Mun) in Kowloon before docking. The exact location of Storm Signal Buoy is uncertain. It is likely to have been in the Admiralty area of Hong Kong Island, at the shore station HMSTamar .
In Hong Kong
Titania fielded a football team in the Hong Kong Second Division League and the team won the championship in the 1921/22 and 1923/24 seasons.
Service in Hong Kong
In her service life she made a number of voyages in the Far East.[19] Between 1920 and 1926 she sailed several times on voyages from Hong Kong to destinations around the Far East.[20]
She was recommissioned at Hong Kong in 1921, 9 February 1924 and 5 November 1926.
The Ship's Log for the period 1919 to 1924[19] shows that Titania was based at Hong Kong on many occasions. When away from Hong Kong the destinations were mostly along the Chinese coast, Shanghai, Wei Hai Wei, Tsingtau, and other destinations round the South China Sea and Malaya.
15 April 1920 to 24 June 1920 – stationed in Hong Kong
Return to Britain
At the end of her service in Hong Kong, she returned to the UK via Malta. HMS Ambrose had already left Hong Kong on 28 March 1928 and returned to England.
A report in the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 27 July 1929[21] notes that HMS Medway is undergoing trials.
NEW SUBMARINE DEPOT SHIP. "A Floating Base." The trials have now been begun of H.M.S. Medway, which has been built by Vickers Armstrongs, Limited, at their Barrow works to fulfil an urgent need for a larger and better-equipped submarine depot and repair ship. The Medway will take the place of the Maidstone, built in 1912 and employed throughout the late War as parent ship of the flotilla working from Harwich. In her design and equipment there have been introduced many novel features as a result of experience gained during and since the War. Her resources and accommodation are such as to make her probably the most spacious and efficient vessel of her kind in any navy, and it is no exaggeration to call her a floating submarine base.
A report in the Straits Times on 3 October 1929[22] mentions HMS Titania and HMSMarazion(1919). It appears that Marazion was serving with the 4th Flotilla, filling the void left by the departure of HMS Ambrose. Note: submarines L23 and L27, mentioned in the article, were not present when Ambrose and Titania sailed to Hong Kong in 1920. It is not known when they arrived in Hong Kong.
CHINA SQUADRON
SHIPPING NOTES. Ships Beginning to Return to Hong Kong. H.M. Ships on the China station, which have been spending the summer at Weihaiwei and other Northern ports, are returning to Hong Kong, their winter headquarters. H.M.S. Bruce, the leader of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla, arrived on Sept. 26 and is now at the Dockyard, north arm. H.M.S. Sterling, another of the units is also at the north arm. H.M.S. Seraph and H.M.S. Serapis are in the basin. H.M.S. Sepoy, Somme, Sirdar and Thracian were due on Sept. 26. The eighth unit, H.M.S. Stormcloud is out on an exercise cruise.
The submarines of the 4th flotilla with H.M.S. Titania (depot ship) and H.M.S. Marazion (tender) were also due on Sept. 25 and include the L3, L15, L23 and L27. The cruiser H.M.S. Berwick is at the No. 1 buoy, Naval anchorage.
A newspaper report in the Straits Times on 11 February 1930 notes the arrival of Titania back in England. It read as follows:[23]
SUBMARINES FROM CHINA
H.M.S. Titania, Commander A. B. Lockhart, D.S.C., which on her arrival home from China with submarines of the Fourth Flotilla, was ordered to relieve H.M.S. Vulcan, depot ship of the Sixth Flotilla, Portland.
She will retain her seagoing status. Of the six submarines returning with her, one will be retained in full commission to relieve H34 in the Fifth Flotilla. Submarine L3, completed in 1918, will be scrapped. The remaining four submarines will be reduced to reserve at Fort Blockhouse.
The submarines that sailed to Hong Kong in 1920 were L1 to L9, L15, L19, L20, and L33, a total of 13 submarines. L9 was sold for scrap in Hong Kong. HMS Ambrose returned to England with L1, L2, L4, L5, L7 and L8. HMS Titania returned to England with six submarines, four of them from those that sailed with her in 1920 and two more, L23 and L27. The six that sailed in 1920 were L3, L6, L15, L19, L20 and L33. It is not clear which ones did not return to England with Titania.
1930–1940: 6th Submarine Flotilla, Portland/Blyth
On 1 October 1930 she was commissioned at Chatham for the 6th Submarine Flotilla based at Weymouth/Portland.
In 1935 she was temporarily with the 3rd Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet.
On 6 May 1942, HMSH28 (Lt. R. E. Boddington), HMSH32 (Lt. J. Whitton, RN), and HMSP614 (Lt. Denis John Beckley[25] conducted practice attacks on a convoy made up of the submarine tenders HMSCyclops(F31) (Capt. Roderick Latimer Mackenzie Edwards)[26]) HMS Titania (Cdr. Harold Robson Conway[27]) and their escort HMSBreda (Capt. (Retd.) A. E. Johnston), HMSLa Capricieuse (Lt. Cdr. George William Dobson, RNR[28]) and HMS Boarhound[29] (formerly HMS Terje 2 (FY315), renamed on 19 January 1941; Skr. Sidney George Jinks, RNR[30]).
The British L-class submarine was originally planned under the emergency war programme as an improved version of the British E-class submarine. The scale of change allowed the L class to become a separate class.
HMS Medway was the first purpose-built submarine depot ship constructed for the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness during the late 1920s. The ship served on the China Station before the Second World War and was transferred to Egypt in early 1940. Ordered to evacuate Alexandria in the face of the German advance after the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, Medway sailed for Lebanon at the end of June, escorted by a light cruiser and seven destroyers. Her strong escort could not protect her; on 30 June a German submarine torpedoed and sank her.
HMS L1 was the lead boat of the L-class submarines built for the Royal Navy during World War I.
HMS L23 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1931.
HMS L4 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1934.
HMS L5 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1931.
HMS L6 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1935.
HMS L7 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1930.
HMS L8 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1930.
HMS L33 was a British L-class submarine built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend, laid down in September 1917, launched in May 1919, and completed in December 1920. She was armed with six torpedo tubes, and had a top speed of 17 knots while surfaced. She had an uneventful career that included a deployment to the China Station in 1928. Obsolescent by the early 1930s, L33 was sold in February 1932 and broken up.
HMS L9 was an L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1927.
HMS L15 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1932.
HMS L19 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat was not completed before the end of the war and was sold for scrap in 1937.
HMS L20 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat was not completed before the end of the war and was sold for scrap in 1935.
HMS Bonaventure was a submarine depot ship of the Royal Navy. She was initially built for civilian service with the Clan Line, but on the outbreak of the Second World War she was requisitioned by the Navy and after being launched, was converted for military service.
The Condor class was a six-ship class of 10-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1898 and 1900. Condor foundered in a gale, prompting the Royal Navy to abandon sailing rigs for its ships; all the others in the class survived into the 1920s. The last of the class, Mutine, survived until 1932 as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve drill ship.
HMS Vulcan was a British torpedo boat depot ship launched in 1889, later converted to a submarine tender in 1908-09. As a training hulk, she was renamed HMS Defiance III in 1931 and used for training at Torpoint, Cornwall. She was scrapped in Belgium in 1955.
HMS Ambrose was a steamship that was built for in 1903 as a passenger liner. The Booth Steam Ship Company ran her scheduled on services between Liverpool and Brazil until the First World War.
HMS Cyclops (F31) was a submarine repair and depot ship of the Royal Navy. She was originally the passenger liner Indrabarah sister ship to Indralema, built by Laing, for the Indra Line Ltd then bought by The Admiralty, while she was building. She was launched on 27 October 1905.
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