HMS Britannia

Battleship

The Ship


Torpedoed and sunk 9 November 1918


Built Portsmouth Dockyard, laid down February 1902, completed September 1906, cost £1,408,053.

The sixth HMS Britannia of the British Royal Navy was a pre-Dreanought battleship of the King Edward VII class, launched in 1904. She became the last Royal Navy vessel to be sunk during World War I when she was torpedoed off Cape Trafalgar by UB 50 on 9 November 1918, only two days before the Armistice was signed.

3rd Battle Squadron The Grand Fleet.
26 January 1915 ran aground in the Forth.
29 April 1916 3rd Battle Squadron moved to Sheerness under Nore Command.
September 1916-February 1917 Adriatic.
February-March 1917 refitted at Gibraltar.
March 1917 attached to 9th Cruiser Squadron mainly based at Sierra Leone.
May 1917 under refit at Bermuda.
9 November 1918 torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U50.

Size:
Length 560 feet waterline 567 feet overall, beam 78 feet 9 inches, draught 26 feet 8 inches, displacement 17,420 load 20,135 tons full load.

Propulsion:
2 shaft Triple Expansion, 18,000 ihp, 18 knots

Trials:
Britannia 18,725 ihp = 18.24 knots

Armour:
9-8in belt, 12in barbettes, 12in gun houses, 2.5-1in decks

Armament:
4 x 12in 40 cal BL (2 x 2), 4 x 9.2 in BL (4 x 1), 10 x 6in QF (10 x 1), 14 x 12pounder QF (14 x 1), 14 x 3pounder (14 x 1), 4 x 18in TT



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