HMS Erin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Sketches showing the transformation from Reshadiye to Erin |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 1 August 1911 |
| Launched: | 3 September 1913 |
| Commissioned: | August 1914 |
| Decommissioned: | December 1922 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 27,500 tons normal 30,250 tons full load |
| Length: | 559 ft 6 in (171 m) |
| Beam: | 91 ft (27.7 m) |
| Draught: | 28 ft (8.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Parsons 4 shaft steam turbines, 15 Babcock boilers, 26,500 hp (20 MW) |
| Speed: | 21 knots (39 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,300 nautical miles (9,800 km) |
| Complement: | 1,070 |
| Armament: | 10 x 13.5 in (345 mm) guns (5 twin turrets) 16 x 6 in (152 mm) guns 6 x 6 pdr in (57 mm) guns 2 x 3 in (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns 4 x 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | 12 in (305 mm) main belt, 6 in (152 mm) upper belt, 10 to 3 in (203 to 305 mm) over turrets |
HMS Erin was a battleship of the Royal Navy, originally Reshadiye, ordered for the navy of the Ottoman Empire but seized by the United Kingdom on the outbreak of World War I.
Contents |
[edit] Background and construction
After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Sultan Abdulhamid II withdrew the Ottoman Navy from use and left the ships to rot. One of the important reasons of this decision was his fear of dethronement like Sultan Abdulaziz I. In 1903, the First Lord of the Admiralty, William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, inspected the condition of the Ottoman Navy and reported that "there was no navy!"
However, the naval arms race of the early 20th century prompted the Ottoman government to embark upon a programme of re-armament by purchasing ships from the best shipbuilders in the world: at that time, in the United Kingdom. By 1914 this programme had purchased forty ships from British yards.
Other navies were undergoing similar programmes of naval expansion. A naval rivalry between Argentina and Brazil led the latter to order a battleship from Armstrong Whitworth in the spring of 1911, to be named Rio de Janeiro. However, by 1913 the two nations had solved their conflicts and Brazil ceased her payments to Armstrong.
The Ottoman Navy placed two orders for battleships: one with Vickers to be called Reshadiye, and one with Armstrong to be called Mahmud Resad V. However, financial difficulties led the latter to be abandoned; instead the Ottoman Navy took over the contract for Rio de Janeiro, renaming her Sultan Osman I. A third ship, to be named Fatih, was ordered from Vickers in 1914 but cancelled on the outbreak of war.
The battleships cost Turkey 4 million pounds. In that period, Ottoman government was in a financial deadlock and for the budget of these battleships, people's donations were asked. In taverns, cafes, schools, markets everybody donated some amount of money for the Ottoman Navy. To encourage this campaign, plentiful donations were awarded with a medal called "Navy Donation Medal".
George Thurston's design for Reshadiye was based on contemporary British battleships of the King George V class, but had a heavier secondary armament and accommodation differences, particularly Turkish-style lavatories. The coal bunkerage and endurance were also less than British practice and the armour belt was shallower.
[edit] Seizure
When on 27 July 1914 Mr. Rauf went to Newcastle on behalf of the Ottoman government to arrange for transportation of Sultan Osman I, the First Lord of Admiralty Winston Churchill was aware that an embargo would mean a diplomatic crisis but he could not take the risk that these battleships would be engaged against the Royal Navy.
Accordingly, on 3 August 1914, Churchill declared that the British government had embargoed the two battleships. Mr. Rauf in his memoirs says, "We paid the last instalment (700,000 Turkish liras). We reached an agreement with the manufacturer that the ships would be handed over on 2 August 1914. Nevertheless, after we made our payment and half an hour before the ceremony, the British declared that they have requisitioned the ships … Although we protested, nobody paid attention."
When Germany violated Belgian territory Great Britain was compelled to declare war on 4 August 1914 both battleships were taken over by the Royal Navy. This act caused significant outcry in Turkey and was instrumental in the decision of the Ottoman Empire to ally with Germany in October 1914.
[edit] Service
Reshadiye was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Erin, and Sultan Osman I became HMS Agincourt.
Erin joined the 2nd Battle squadron of the Grand Fleet, and fought in the Battle of Jutland. She became flagship of the Nore Reserve in 1919 and was scrapped in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty.
[edit] References
- Conway's All the world's fighting ships 1906–1921
- D. K. Brown, The Grand Fleet, Chatham, 1999.
