H.M.S. Centurion (1911)

H.M.S. Centurion (1911)
Pendant Number:	12 (Aug 1914) 35 (Jan 1918) 83 (Apr 1918)
Builder:	Devonport Royal Dockyard
Ordered:	1910 Programme
Laid down:	16 Jan, 1911
Launched:	18 Nov, 1911
Completed:	14 June, 1913
Commissioned:	1 May, 1913
Scuttled:	9 Jun, 1944
Fate:	as a breakwater
First cost:	£1,794,289

H.M.S. Centurion was a dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy and formed part of the King George V class. She saw constant service throughout the First World War and during the period after during Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, where a number of British battleships patrolled the Black Sea.

After a period in reserve Centurion was converted to a Target ship, for which rôle she was essentially gutted and converted to remote control. After many years in this duty she ended up as a decoy and anti-aircraft ship during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. Towards the end of the war she was finally pronounced surplus to active requirements and was scuttled as a breakwater off Arromanches to facilitate landing of troops during the invasion of France in 1944.

Construction

The ship's machinery was constructed by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co.

Service

Pre-war

While launching she was caught by the wind and swung along side a moored cruiser, crushing one of the cruiser's boats while avoiding collision.

Doing trials off Portland on 9 December, 1912 she collided with the Italian steamship Derna which sank with the loss of 36 lives.

As completed she was equipped with an experimental searchlight director, a new innovation. She was completed with a light pole mast which eventually proved inadequate to carry the range of fire control devices developed since her launch. Progressively she was updated so as to be given a full-height tripod mast.

Centurion served in the Second Battle Squadron from at least December 1913, remaining with that squadron throughout the war.

Jutland

Main article: H.M.S. Centurion at the Battle of Jutland

Centurion operated as part of the Second Battle Squadron at the Battle, under the command of Captain Michael Culme-Seymour.

Post-War

In February 1919, she was sent to Portsmouth. In March 1919, she found herself in Devonport with Ajax. In May, she was on "miscellaneous service", remaining so until July at least.

She completed to full crew at Malta 8 August, 1920.

Centurion re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 24 April, 1922 and served for a time as flagship of Vice-Admiral Commanding, Reserve Fleet.

She paid off into Dockyard Control at Chatham on 14 April, 1926. She was slated to replace H.M.S. Agamemnon as target ship that year, and under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty was demilitarised with the removal of all her secondary armament and her five 13.5-in turrets. She was converted from mostly coal oiling to diesel to facilitate radio control. Her coal bunkers were filled with shingle to compensate for the loss of weight incurred by the loss of armament and ammunition. Her draught was increased from 27½ feet to 31. The tops of the engineering spaces were covered with armour plating, and all un-armoured spaces below decks were filled with cork to increase buoyancy.

A number of short-range wireless receiving and transmitting sets were installed along with eleven separate aerials. Instructions were passed from the controlling destroyer H.M.S. Shikari by use of a standard telephone using combinations of numbers. A substantially reduced complement of officers was carried although two hundred ratings were required to oversee the ship. During a shoot the crew would retire to mess-decks below the waterline where the chance of being hit was minimal. Despite her added weight and new fuel, the ship could still steam under remote control at a speed of 16 knots.

Centurion was re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 8 November, 1927.

Centurion was re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 30 January, 1932.

The ship was re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 1 June, 1933 for continued work as a target vessel.

The ship was again re-commissioned on 20 April, 1937.

Second World War

In 1940 it was proposed that in common with other World War I vintage warships Centurion, then lying in H.M. Dockyard, Devonport, should be equipped as an Anti-Aircraft ship for the Norwegian campaign. Before this could be approved, Norway and France fell to the Germans. As a last ditch measure, she was equipped with a number of small calibre weapons in the event of German invasion. As the threat of invasion receded and British naval forces suffered greater and greater losses in the Mediterranean, the Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to have Centurion used as a block ship in the entrance to Libya's Tripoli Harbour.

Alterations

In 1913, Centurion was slated as part of the twelve ship order to receive a director along the lines of that developed in Neptune. She was fully equipped sometime in 1914 prior to the start of the war.

In October 1914, the ship was to be given 5 Pattern 1582 Electric Radiators to warm cabins whose stoves could not be used for heating them.

By the end of 1915, she had been equipped with a Torpedo Control Plotting Instrument Mark I in her T.C.T.. This probably made her the first ship in the class to be so equipped.

Searchlights

In late 1913, two 24-in Automatic Motor Lamps manufactured by Messrs. Clarke, Chapman & Co. Ltd., a model which had recently been trialled in Vernon, were to be installed in the ship at Devonport Royal Dockyard for a three-month trial.

Rangefinders

When in 1918 it was desired to give each capital ship possible an additional effective 9-foot rangefinder to support torpedo control, Centurion proposed one centrally on the fore bridge.

Telescopes

In September 1914, the ship was to be sent sixteen 3/9 power telescopes and to return the same number of 2.5 power scopes, Pattern G. 329 upon receipt. These were likely to serve as trainer telescopes. Constrained supplies meant that 26% of the scopes actually supplied her may have wound up being 5/12 or 5/21 scopes.

Radio

By the end of 1913, she and the rest of the Second Battle Squadron were all equipped with Battleship Auxiliary W/T sets.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain Guy R. A. Gaunt, 5 December, 1912 – 1913  (for trials)
• Rear-Admiral The Hon. Horace L. A. Hood, 16 January, 1913 – 10 August, 1913
• Captain Michael Culme-Seymour, 10 August, 1913 – 21 June, 1916  (Kerr replaced him for two months in here)
• Captain William M. Kerr, 6 March, 1916 – 7 May, 1916  (temporary)
• Captain Roger J. B. Keyes, 21 June, 1916 – 16 June, 1917
• Captain Douglas L. Dent, 16 June, 1917
• Captain Hugh L. P. Heard, 1 March, 1919 – 11 April, 1921
• Captain Richard G. A. W. Stapleton-Cotton, 16 March, 1921 – 7 January, 1924
• Captain Humphrey W. Bowring, c. April, 1923 – 24 April, 1924
• Captain Thomas N. James, 24 April, 1924 – 29 April, 1924  (left for a single day loan back to Courageous)
• Captain Thomas N. James, 30 April, 1924 – 1 August, 1924  (and as Flag Captain and Chief of Staff to Vice-Admiral Stanley)
• Captain Gerard A. Wells, 31 July, 1925 – April, 1926  (and as Flag Captain and Chief of Staff to Vice-Admiral Commanding, Reserve Fleet)
• Captain Robert S. MacFarlan, 19 July, 1927 – 27 July, 1928
• Captain Robert C. Hamilton, 27 July, 1928 – 11 November, 1929
• Captain Aubrey T. Tillard, 4 November, 1929 – 5 January, 1931
• Captain Richard A. A. Plowden, 5 January, 1931
• Commander Noel L. Veresmith, c. late 1931 – 29 February, 1932  (took command upon reducing)
• Commander Geoffry B. Smith, 29 February, 1932
• Commander Francis S. W. de Winton, 6 June, 1933 – June, 1933  (remained with ship through mid November after ceding command)
• Captain Montague G. B. Legge, 1 June, 1933 – January, 1934
• Captain Geoffrey R. S. Watkins, January, 1934 – 26 June, 1934  (temporary)
• Captain William J. Whitworth, 29 May, 1934 – 1 June, 1934  (temporary, while Watkins was ill)
• Captain Montague G. B. Legge, 26 June, 1934 – 1 January, 1935
• Captain Irving M. Palmer, 1 January, 1935 – 20 July, 1936
• Commander John D. A. Musters, 19 July, 1936 – 3 November, 1936  (temporary, vice Palmer)
• Captain Walter N. T. Beckett, 20 April, 1937 – 4 January, 1938
• Captain Alfred C. Collinson, 4 January, 1938 – 2 January, 1939
• Captain Richard V. Symonds-Tayler, 2 January, 1939 – 18 September, 1939

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Navy (Dockyard Expense Accounts). 1913–1914. London: Printed under the Authority of His Majesty's Stationary Office. 1915.
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.
• Corbett, Sir Julian S. (1920). Naval Operations. Volume I. London: Longmans, Green and Co..
• Admiralty, Technical History Section (1919). The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in H.M. Ships. Vol. 3, Part 23. C.B. 1515 (23) now O.U. 6171/14. At The National Archives. ADM 275/19.
• Parkes, O.B.E., Ass.I.N.A., Dr. Oscar (1990). British Battleships 1860–1950. London: Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0850526043. (on Bookfinder.com).