H.M.S. Abercrombie (1915)
| HMS Abercrombie | |
| Career | Details |
|---|---|
| Pendant Number: | M.00 (January, 1918) |
| Builder: | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Ordered: | 21 November, 1914 |
| Laid down: | 12 December, 1914 |
| Launched: | 15 April, 1915 |
| Commissioned: | 12 May, 1915 |
| Sold: | 1927 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement (normal): | 6,180 tons |
| Length: | 334 feet 6 inches (oa) |
| Beam: | 90 feet 2 inches |
| Draught: | 10 feet |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 6 knots |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 198 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Abercrombie was an Abercrombie class monitor of the Royal Navy. Formerly the M.1, formerly the Farragut, formerly the Admiral Faragut; her main armament was composed of 14" guns and mounting purchased and constructed in the U.S. for the Greek ship Salamis (ex-Vasilefs Georgios) which at the outbreak of war had been building in Germany. The plethora of names indicated the heritage of her guns, and as such she was actually launched as Admiral Farragut, but due to U.S. Neutrality laws it was deemed imprudent to recognise the source of the guns. Therefore on 31 May the Admiralty passed a directive (which affected the other members of her class) that Admiral Farragut would become M.1. On 19 June, HM King George V sanctioned the use of the name Abercrombie for the monitor, after Major-General Ralph Abercromby of the Napoleonic Wars.
The ship was laid down in December, 1914 as hull 472 at the Queen's Island yard of Harland & Wolff and was launched in April of the following year. She was built in berth no. 2 along with HMS Havelock - the same slipway upon which the White Star Liners Olympic and Britannic had been constructed. By June she was ready for active duty. She was the first of 40 monitors to be built for the Royal Navy over the next 30 years, commissioning on 12 May, 1915 under the command of Captain H.M. Doughty, RN.
After completion she took part in the Gallipoli campaign performing ground bombarment duties. In September 1917 she carried a Sopwith Schneider floatplane and then saw service in the Eastern Mediterranean. In May, 1918 she was refitted and had her two 14" US-made guns replaced with two Woolwich-constructed variants.
References
- Moss, Michael and Hume, John R. Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland & Wolff, Belfast 1861-1986. The Blackstaff Press. Belfast, 1986.
- Buxton, Ian L. Big Gun Monitors: The History of the Design, Construction & Operation of the Royal Navy's Monitors. World Ship Society & Trident Books. Tynemouth, 1978.
