H.M.S. Thunderer (1911)

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HMS Thunderer
Career Details
Pennant: 36 (April, 1918)
Ordered: 1909
Laid down: 13 April, 1910
Launched: 1 February, 1911
Commissioned: 15 June, 1912
Decommissioned: 1921
Fate: Cadet ship; sold for scrap
Struck: 17 December 1926
General characteristics
Displacement: 22,200 tons standard/25,870 tons max
Length: 581 feet (177.1 m)
Beam: 88 feet (26.8 m)
Draught: 24 feet (7.3 m)
Propulsion: 4 × Parsons Steam turbines
18 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
driving 4 shafts creating 27,000 hp
Speed: 20.79 kt (trials)
Range: 6300 NM at 10 kt
4100 NM at 19 kt
Complement: 752–1100
Armament: 10 × 13.5 in (343 mm) guns
16 × 4 in (102 mm) guns
4 × 47 mm
3 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged)

HMS Thunderer was a dreadnought battleship of the Orion Class in the Royal Navy. Her class was the first of the so-called super-dreadnought battleships armed with the heavier calibre 13.5-inch guns.

Construction

The fear of Great Britain being overtaken by Imperial Germany in the building of dreadnought battleships created an uproar in Britain. In response to the famous cry We want eight, and we won't wait, the Royal Navy in its 1909 Navy Estimates planned for two dreadnoughts, four super-dreadnoughts and two battle cruisers with a similarly heavy main armament. The estimates were made public in March, 1909. On Christmas Day the names of the ships of the construction programme were announced, Thunderer being the names allocated to one of the super-dreadnoughts.

The Mayor of Poplar, J.E. Le Manquais, along with Members of Parliament (including John Henry Bethell, 1st Baron Bethell) made numerous deputations for a vessel of the new programme to be built on the Thames. Thames Iron Works Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Canning-town was invited to tender for one of the ships. In early December the tender was provisionally accepted. In February, 1910 the contract for the majority of the steel to be used in the Thunderer was awarded to Messrs H.J. Skelton and Company.

On Wednesday, 13 April, 1910 the keel plate of Thunderer was laid by Mrs Arnold F. Hills, the wife of the chairman of Thames Iron Works. In attendence were the mayors of Poplar and West Ham and the M.P.s mostly responsible for the Admiralty contract being given to the Thames; William J. Thorne, John H. Bethell and Charles F.G. Masterman.

On 10 May a worker, John Joseph Aylatt, was killed when a 5½cwt section plate dropped on him, the chain raising it having broken. At the inquest it was determined that the chain had been old and had broken due to a "latent defect". On 13 December another worker, a plater, was killed. Frederick Coates had been working late and while walking across the upper deck to leave the ship, his candle was blown out and he fell down a hatch to the engine room to his death. At the inquest it was recommended that deck lights, which would normally have been lit, should be turned on for longer.

Launch

The Thunderer was launched in the afternoon of Wednesday, 2 February, 1911 by the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Mrs Randall Davidson. In attendance were the directorate of Thames Iron Works led Arnold Hill, the First Lord of the Admiralty Reginald McKenna, the Secretary of State for the Colonies Lewis Harcourt and numerous other dignitaries, among whom was also the former Director of Naval Construction William White. When the tide had flooded, the ship was launched my Mrs Davidson at 3pm. The ship took 2 minutes 45 seconds to go down the ways to the sound of "Rule Britannia".

Fitting Out and Completion

Thames Iron Works' growing financial woes (due to trade union intransigence and a lack of orders) led to the fitting out of Thunderer being delayed considerably. In January, 1912 trials were delayed by at least two wees for unrevealed reasons.


In Command

Template:HMS Orion Class (1910)

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