H.M.S. Bellerophon (1907)
| H.M.S. Bellerophon | |
| Career | Details |
|---|---|
| Pendant Number: | 63 (April, 1918) |
| Built By: | Portsmouth Royal Dockyard |
| Laid Down: | 6 December, 1906 |
| Launched: | 27 July, 1907 |
| Commissioned: | 20 February, 1909 |
| Sold: | 8 November, 1921 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 18,800 tons |
| Length: | 526 feet (o.a.) 490 feet |
| Beam: | 82 feet 6 inches |
| Draught: | 27 feet 2.4 inches |
| Propulsion: | 4 Parsons single reduction steam turbines, 4 shafts, 23,000 shp |
| Speed: | 21 knots |
| Range: | 5,720 miles at 10 knots |
| Complement: | 733 |
| Armament: |
|
H.M.S. Bellerophon was a dreadnought of the Royal Navy. She was the lead ship of the Bellerophon class, and the second Royal Navy vessel to bear the name of the mythic Greek hero. Built at the Royal Dockyard in Portsmouth and completed in 1909, Bellerophon first joined the 1st Battle Squadron and then upon the outbreak of war joined the 4th Battle Squadron where she remained until 1919. She was present at the Battle of Jutland where she fired sixty-two 12-inch rounds and received no damage. With the end of the war she was placed in the Reserve Fleet and sold for scrap in 1921 before being taken to the breakers two years later.
Design
Due to the scaling down of coal bunkerage, she had a modest range of 5,720 miles at 10 knots. Her four Parsons single reduction steam turbines were constructed by The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.
During the war she was fitted with a Mark I. Dreyer Fire Control Table and the Director system.
Career
Laid down the month H.M.S. Dreadnought was commissioned, Bellerophon was the name ship of the Bellerophon class and was the first to be completed. The cost of building was £1,763,491, making her the most expensive of her class. She was laid down on December 06, 1906, launched on July 27, 1907 and commissioned into the fleet in February 20, 1909. On trials she made 21.25 knots, a speed lower than that of her sisters due to inferior shp; 25,061 shp as opposed to HMS Superb's 27,407 shp and HMS Temeraire's 26,966 shp.
Upon completion she joined the 1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet. On May 26, 1911 she was in collision with the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible. Bellerophon received damage whilst Inflexible took bow damage which put her in the dockyard until November. In the 1913 Battle Practice the ship came 7th out of 15 dreadnoughts and battlecruisers with a score of 550. During December she visited with the 1st Battle Squadron the ports of Toulon, Gibraltar, Salamis and Barcelona. Upon the commissioning of HMS Iron Duke on 10 Mar, 1914 into the 1st battle Squadron, Bellerophon was transferred to the 4th Battle Squadron. While at Cromarty on 5 June, 1914 she suffered a coal gas explosion which injured four stokers.
On the journey to the fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow, Bellerophon collided with the vessel SS St Clair on 27 August off the Orkney Islands and sustained no major damage. In May 1915 She headed to the Royal Dockyard, Devonport for a refit.
At the Battle of Jutland the vessel was under the command of Captain Edward F. Bruen in the Second Division (commanded by Rear Admiral Alexander Duff) of the 4th Battle Squadron under Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee. The 4th Battle Squadron deployed behind the 2nd Battle Squadron in line ahead in the main part of the battle, and Bellerophon fired sixty-two 12 inch rounds without receiving one hit.
After the battle she sweeped with the other vessels of the Grand Fleet regularly. Between June and September, 1917 she served as the flagship of the 2ic of the 4th Battle Squadron, carrying the flag of Rear Admiral Roger Keyes and then Rear Admiral Douglas Nicholson. Unlike her sister ships she was not deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron in October, 1918.
Placed in reserve in 1919 at Sheerness as part of the Nore Reserve, she and her sister ship Superb were used as Gunnery School (Turret Drill) ships. On 20 September, 1919 Bellerophon was ordered to be paid off after receiving her annual refit in Devonport. On 20 May orders were given that her mechanical dough-kneaders were to be removed; a sure sign of disposal. She was sold to the Slough Trading Company on 8 November, 1921 and departed Britain for breakers in Germany on 14 September, 1922.
In Command
- Captain Hugh Evan-Thomas, (14 December, 1908 – 16 August, 1910)
- Captain Trevylyan Dacres Willes Napier, (16 August, 1910 – 16 August, 1912)
- Captain Charles Lionel Vaughan-Lee, (16 August, 1912 – 1913)
- Captain Edward Francis Bruen, (1913 – 1916)
- Captain Hugh Dudley Richards Watson, (1916 – 1918)
- Captain Francis Herbert Mitchell, (1918 – 1919)
- Captain Humphrey Wykeham Bowring, (1919 – 1920)
