HMS Roberts (1915)

HMS Roberts was an Abercrombie class monitor of the Royal Navy that served in the First World War.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Roberts.

HMS Roberts circa 1918
History
United Kingdom
Name: Roberts
Namesake: Lord Roberts
Operator:  Royal Navy
Ordered: 21 November 1914
Builder: Swan Hunter, Wallsend
Laid down: 17 December 1914
Launched: 15 April 1915
Commissioned: 21 May 1915
Out of service: 26 May 1919
Honours and
awards:		 Dardanelles 1915
Fate: Sold September 1936
General characteristics
Class and type: Abercrombie class monitor
Displacement: 6,150 long tons (6,250 t)
Length: 334.5 ft (102.0 m) oa 320 ft (98 m) pp
Beam: 90 ft (27 m)
Draught: 10.2 ft (3.1 m)
Propulsion: 2 shaft Triple Expansion Reciprocating Steam
Speed: 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph)
Range: 1,340 miles (2,160 km) at 6 knots
Complement: 198
Armament:
Armour: Belt 4 in (100 mm)
Bulkheads 4 in
Barbette 8 in (200 mm)
Turret 10 in (250 mm)
Deck 2 in (51 mm) - 1 in (25 mm)
Aviation facilities: Fitted to carry a seaplane

On 3 November 1914, Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel offered Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, the use of four 14 in (356 mm)/45cal BL MK II twin gun turrets, originally destined for the Greek ship Salamis. These turrets could not be delivered to the German builders, due to the British Naval blockade. The Royal Navy immediately created a class of monitors, designed for shore bombardment, to use the turrets.

Roberts was laid down at the Swan Hunter, Ltd shipyard at Wallsend on 17 December 1914. The ship was named Stonewall Jackson in honour of the CSA General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, however as the United States was still neutral, the ship was hurriedly renamed HMS M4 on 31 May 1915. She was then named HMS Earl Roberts on 19 June 1915 and again renamed HMS Roberts on 22 June 1915

Roberts sailed for the Dardanelles in June 1915. She remained in the Eastern Mediterranean until returning to England in February 1916. She served as a guard ship at Yarmouth until the end of the War. She decommissioned in May 1919, and was initially sold for breaking up in May 1921, but was retained by the Admiralty for trials.

Around 1925 she was considered for conversion to a mobile airship base with a mooring mast and fueling capabilities, but nothing came of this proposal.[1] In the 1930s, she was used for testing underwater protection for new construction warships. She was finally sold in September 1936 to the Ward shipyard at Preston for breaking up.

In command
  • Captain H.N. Garnett, (May 1915–?)
  • Commander W.A. Thompson, (?)
  • Commander Kenneth Dewar, (August 1916 – 1917)
  • Commander B.M. Eyres-Monsell, (September 1918–?)
  • Lieutenant-Commander E.J.J. Southby, (January 1919 – May 1919)
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References
  1. Buxton, Ian (2008). Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations, 1914 - 1945 (2 ed.). Seaforth Publishing, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, Sth Yorkshire S70 2AS, Great Britain. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-59114-045-0.
  • Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
  • Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5



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