Marshal Ney class monitor
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The Marshal Ney' class monitors consisted of two monitor warships built for the British Royal Navy during First World War
The need for monitors for naval gunfire support had become apparent only at the start of the war and they were designed with some haste. The design of monitors had been given by the Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, to the Assistant Constructor, Charles S. Lillicrap (later himself to become DNC). By the time the Marshall Neys came about some 33 monitors of various sorts had already been ordered. The redesign of HMS Renown and Repulse meant that there were now two modern 15-inch turrets available. The First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher and Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty decided these should be used for two more monitors, initially M13 and M14' but then renamed after the French Napoleonic War marshals Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult and Michel Ney.
For machinery the two monitors received diesel engines, which were then a novelty - the majority of ships being steam powered. The use of diesels meant that they had no need of boiler rooms which went well with a low draught nor large funnels which reduced the amount of superstructure. These engines were originally designed for much smaller freighters and therefore they proved particularly slow and unreliable.
The turret was on multi-sided barbette made of individual flat plates, cutting down on the build time. The 4-inch guns were disposed along her sides for protection from smaller vessels, the 3 inch guns being for anti-aircraft use.
- Marshall Soult
- built by Palmers, Newcastle.
- Launched June 1915
- Completed August 1915
- Served with the Dover Monitor Squadron, after the war became a gunnery training ship. At the start of WW II she was considered for recomissioning but instead her turret was removed for a new monitor, Abercrombie.
and she became a headquarters ship. She was paid off and scrapped in 1946.
- Marshall Ney
- Built by Palmers, Newcastle
- Launched August 1915
- Completed November 1915
- After trials the turret was removed for HMS Erebus and she was regunned with 6 and 4-inch guns and acted as a guardship until the end of the war. She later acted as a depot ship gaining onshore buildings, and was renamed Alaunia II and was only finally scrapped in 1957.
[edit] General characteristics
(from Conway's all the World's fighting ships 1906-1921)
- Displacement:
- Standard: 6,670 tons
- Full load 6,900 tons
- Length: 355 ft
- Beam: 90 ft
- Draught: 10 ft 5 inch
- Machinery: diesel engines (MAN for Ney, Vickers for Soult) , 2 shafts, 1,500 hp
- Speed: 9 knots designed, 6 knots best actual
- Armour:
- belt: 4 inch ,
- barbette 8 inch
- turret: 13 inch .
- Armament:
- 2 x 15-inch main guns in a single turret
- 8 x 4-inch
- 2 single mount 3-inch guns
- 2 x 12-pounder
- Crew: 187
