HMS General Craufurd (1915)

HMS General Craufurd was a First World War Royal Navy Lord Clive-class monitor named for General Robert Craufurd, commander of the British Light Division during the early years of the Peninsula War who was killed in action at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1812. She is the only ship of the Royal Navy ever to be so named. Her 12 in (300 mm) main battery was stripped from obsolete battleships of the Majestic class.

HMS General Craufurd
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS General Craufurd
Namesake: General Robert Craufurd
Builder: Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Yard number: 479
Laid down: 9 January 1915
Launched: 8 July 1915
Completed: 26 August 1915
Decommissioned: 1921
Fate: Scrapped 1921
General characteristics
Class and type: Lord Clive-class monitor
Displacement: 5,900 long tons (6,000 t)
Length: 320 ft (98 m) (p.p.); 335 ft 6 in (102.26 m) (o/a)
Beam: 87 ft 3 in (26.59 m)
Draught: 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Installed power: 2,523 ihp (1,881 kW) (trials); 2,310 ihp (1,720 kW) (service)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × reciprocating steam engines,
  • 2 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers,
  • 2 × screws
Speed: 7.4 kn (8.5 mph; 13.7 km/h) (trials); 6.7 kn (7.7 mph; 12.4 km/h) (service)
Capacity: Coal: 350 short tons (320 t) (maximum)
Complement: 237
Armament:
Armour:
  • Deck: 1 in (25 mm) (forecastle); 6 in (150 mm) (upper deck, slopes); 2 in (51 mm) (upper deck, flat); 1.5 in (38 mm) (main deck)
  • Bulkheads: 6 in (150 mm) (fore and aft)
  • Barbettes: 2 to 8 in (51 to 203 mm)
  • Gun Houses: 2 to 10.5 in (51 to 267 mm)
  • Conning Tower: 6 in (150 mm)

The Lord Clive-class monitors were built in 1915 to engage German shore artillery in occupied Belgium during the First World War. General Craufurd—with her sisters—was regularly engaged in this service in the Dover Monitor Squadron and was present at the First Ostend Raid, providing cover for the Inshore Squadron.

In November 1918, General Craufurd and her sisters were put into reserve pending scrapping, as the reason for their existence ended with the liberation of Belgium. In 1921, General Craufurd was scrapped.

References
  • Buxton, Ian (2008) [1978]. Big Gun Monitors. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-719-8.
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