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HMS Bellerophon (1907)
Encyclopedia
HMS Bellerophon was a dreadnought
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. She was the lead ship
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
of the Bellerophon class
Bellerophon class battleship
The Bellerophon class was a class of three dreadnought battleships that were built in the United Kingdom prior to World War I, and served in the Royal Navy during the war. The Bellerophons were near carbon copies of the previous , with the exception of a second tripod mast...
, and the fourth Royal Navy vessel to bear the name of the mythic Greek hero
Bellerophon
Bellerophon or Bellerophontes is a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a...
. Built at the Royal Dockyard
HMNB Portsmouth
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy...
in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and completed in 1909, Bellerophon first joined the 1st Battle Squadron
1st Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British 1st Battle Squadron was a squadron of battleships, initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, renamed the Grand Fleet during World War I...
and then upon the outbreak of war joined the 4th Battle Squadron
4th Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 4th Battle Squadron was a squadron consisting of battleships. The 4th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. During World War I the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet...
where she remained until 1919. She was present at the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
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
HMS Dreadnought (1906)
HMS Dreadnought was a battleship of the British Royal Navy that revolutionised naval power. Her entry into service in 1906 represented such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships, the "dreadnoughts", as well as the class of...
had been revealed to have certain shortcomings. Her secondary armament was judged to be insufficient to combat the increased size of torpedo boats, regarded at the time as the principal threat to major surface warships. Hence her secondary armament was strengthened, her anti-torpedo protection was improved in the shape of continuous anti-torpedo bulkheads running from the front of the fore magazine to the rear of the aft magazine.
Externally she looked similar, having the same main armament layout of 5 twin 12 inch mounts, secondary armament mounted in casemates on the superstructure and upon the deck and lighter guns atop the turrets. A torpedo-control tower aft completed the profile. The Bellerophon was different in having two tripod masts to facilitate sea keeping in peacetime. The 12 inch British dreadnoughts would be unique when later they were fitted with two sets of Fire-control equipment.
She was built with 18 Babcock boilers arranged in 3 groups of 6. Her machinery, constructed by Fairfield, consisted of 4 Parsons single reduction steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s driving 4 shafts producing 23,000 shp (17 MW). Due to the scaling down of coal bunkerage, her range of 5,720 nautical miles (10,593 km) at 10 knots (18.5 km/h) was considered middling at best. Her machinery was provided by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...
, Govan
Govan
Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....
.
Career
Laid down the month HMS 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 the most expensive of her class. She was laid down on 6 December 1906, launched 27 July 1907 and commissioned into the fleet on 20 February 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 SuperbHMS Superb (1907)
HMS Superb was a of the British Royal Navy. She was built in Elswick at a cost of £1,744,287, and was completed on 19 June 1909. She was only the fourth dreadnought-type battleship to be completed anywhere in the world, being preceded only by and by her two sister-ships and -Origin:The advent of...
's 27,407 shp and HMS Temeraire
HMS Temeraire (1907)
HMS Temeraire was a Bellerophon-class battleship in the Royal Navy built at the Royal Dockyard, Devonport.She was ordered under the 1906 Naval Estimates at the cost of £1,641,114. Although not externally much different from predecessor , internally she and others of the Bellerophon-class were much...
's 26,966 shp.
Upon completion she joined the 1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet
British Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy which operated in the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967.-Pre–First World War:...
. On 26 May 1911 she was in collision with the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible
HMS Inflexible (1907)
HMS Inflexible was an of the British Royal Navy. She was built before World War I and had an active career during the war. She tried to hunt down the German battlecruiser and the light cruiser in the Mediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and her sister ship sank the German armoured...
. Bellerophon received damage whilst Inflexible took bow damage which put her in the dockyard until November. On 1 August 1914, after the Fleet Mobilisation and the formation of the Grand Fleet
British Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main fleet of the British Royal Navy during the First World War.-History:It was formed in 1914 by the British Atlantic Fleet combined with the Home Fleet and it included 35-40 state-of-the-art capital ships. It was initially commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe...
she joined the 4th Battle Squadron.
On the journey to the fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
, Bellerophon collided with the vessel SS St Clair on 27 August off the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
but sustained no major damage. In May 1915 She headed to the Royal Dockyard, Devonport
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
for a refit.
Alexander Ludovic Duff
Admiral Sir Alexander Ludovic Duff GCB GBE KCVO was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station.-Naval career:...
) of the 4th Battle Squadron under Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee
Doveton Sturdee
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCMG, CVO was a British admiral.-Naval career:...
. The 4th Battle Squadron deployed behind the 2nd battle squadron in line ahead in the main part of the battle, and Bellerophon fired 62 12 inch rounds without receiving one hit.
After the battle she swept 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 by dint of their less powerful main armamnent, she and sister ship Superb
HMS Superb (1907)
HMS Superb was a of the British Royal Navy. She was built in Elswick at a cost of £1,744,287, and was completed on 19 June 1909. She was only the fourth dreadnought-type battleship to be completed anywhere in the world, being preceded only by and by her two sister-ships and -Origin:The advent of...
were used as Gunnery Schools (Turret Drills). HMS Bellerophon was sold to the breakers in November 1921 and broken up in 1923.
The ship in profile can be seen on the ten-dollar note from the Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
issued in 1913