HMS Manica
Encyclopedia
HMS Manica was the first Kite Balloon Ship of the Royal Naval Air Service
which saw active service in the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 directing the fire of the supporting ships at Anzac Cove
.
Ships of the similar type included and .
Yard, London
as a tramp steamer
for the Ellerman & Bucknall Steamship Co
.
Conversion to operate the kite ballon involved fitting "a long sloping deck from forecastle to waist, fixing a dynamo to drive a hydrogen compressor
" and the installation of a winch. A "wireless telegraphy house" and quarters for the naval officers and men were added.
as kite balloon ship.
Events from Manicas war service:
http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1917-05May.htm "Sunday 13 May 1917 on board of the ship the general servants James Barton (due to illness) and Edward H. Buckley died. Wednesday 16 May died the air mechanic Horace Thompson due to illness"
of London carried an article in its 13th May 1918 edition as follows:
FIRST KITE BALLOON
"SPOTTERS" FINE WORK FOR THE FLEET
It was not until the early months of 1915 that the Kite Balloon Division of the R.N.A.S. came into being. When the demand for observation balloons for the Dardanelles
operations came through in March of that year the Royal Navy was able to send out a completely equipped Kite Balloon Section in a specially fitted steamer. The vessel, the Manica, a converted tramp, which arrived just a month after the demand was made, immediately proved the value of the unit. Within three days a Turkish camp was shelled under the direction of the kite balloon, and the occupants thrown into confusion; while in the following week the "Spotter" directed fire on the Gaba Tepe position, which resulted in the destruction if the barracks.
The triumph, however, came before April was out, for from their aerial perch the observers spotted, lying quietly in the water on the other side by the Peninsular out of sight of our warships, a large Turkish transport. The transport apparently considered herself quite safe-but in warfare the unexpected often happens. H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth was operating near the balloon ship, and the bearings of the Turkish vessel were given her. The first shot fell short. By this time the other ships near by were beginning to take an interest in what was happening to Elizabeth's invisible target, which was lying nine miles the other side of the Peninsula. A second shot went nearer the mark. Again the direction was corrected, and a third heavy projectile screamed overland. By the telephone wire of the kite balloon came the words, "Got her. She's sinking by the head." The signalman semaphored this literally to the Queen Elizabeth and a roar of laughter went up as the various ships read the laconic message.
Repeated attacks were made by the Turks on the solitary kite balloon and her parent ship, but were fought back. The effect on the Turkish shipping was evident, for whenever the Manica's offspring ascended, the enemy craft, remembering the fate of the transport, hustled off out of range of our big guns.
The official record of the Manica for the next fortnight was as follows:
This and other work was a wonderful tribute to the efficacy of the new observation contrivance, and it should be remembered that barely two months before there was not a single kite balloon in England, and that the whole of the section was in an embryonic state. The experience gained in the Manica was the foundation of what is now an active branch of the Royal Navy.
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
which saw active service in the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 directing the fire of the supporting ships at Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
.
Ships of the similar type included and .
Construction
The ship, originally SS Manica, was built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd at their DeptfordDeptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
Yard, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a tramp steamer
Tramp steamer
A ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. As opposed to freight liners, tramp ships trade on the spot market with no fixed schedule or itinerary/ports-of-call...
for the Ellerman & Bucknall Steamship Co
Ellerman Lines
Ellerman Lines was a cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late nineteenth century, and continued to expand with the acquisition of smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping...
.
Conversion to operate the kite ballon involved fitting "a long sloping deck from forecastle to waist, fixing a dynamo to drive a hydrogen compressor
Hydrogen compressor
A hydrogen compressor is a device that increases the pressure of hydrogen by reducing its volume. Compression of hydrogen gas naturally increases its temperature, due to Charles' Law....
" and the installation of a winch. A "wireless telegraphy house" and quarters for the naval officers and men were added.
Service
In the First World War she was hired by the AdmiraltyAdmiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
as kite balloon ship.
Events from Manicas war service:
- 11 March 1915 Hired as a kite ballon ship by the Admiralty - at a time she was unloading a cargo of manure from Australia.
- 22 March 1915 commissioned as HMS Manica with Royal Naval ReserveRoyal Naval ReserveThe Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
officers. - 28 March 1915 sailed from the UK for the eastern Mediterranean.
- 14 April 1915 arrived off LemnosLemnosLemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...
. - 19 April 1915 spotters from Manicas ballon directed shelling onto a Turkish encampment
- 24 April 1915 spotters directed fire on Gaba TepeKabatepeKabatepe, or Gaba Tepe, is a headland overlooking the northern Aegean Sea in what is now the Gallipoli Historic National Park, on the Gallipoli peninsula in northwestern Turkey....
, where the Turkish barracks was destroyed. - 25 April 1915 The balloon, with its two observers, was in the air from 0521 to 1405 hours on constantly reporting on the activities associated with Anzac CoveAnzac CoveAnzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
for almost nine hours, while Australian and New Zealand Army CorpsAustralian and New Zealand Army CorpsThe Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was formed in Egypt in 1915 and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli. General William Birdwood commanded the corps, which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial...
troops scaled the cliffs, one of the observers sighted the Turkish battleship Turgut Reis in the Narrows. was contacted by wireless, and its balloon-directed fire forced the Turkish warship to withdraw - 26 April 1915 the ships balloon made seven ascents in support of the ANZAC operations
- 27 April 1915 The observers were spotting for the battleships HMS Triumph and . Queen Elizabeth was the Royal Navy's newest and most powerful battleship and the first in the World with 15 inches (38.1 cm) guns, and during the afternoon her bombardment blew up an armament store at Kojadere. The same day the balloon crew sighted Turkish transport ships near Najara, apparently heading for Maidos or Kilia Liman. Queen Elizabeth was directed onto the largest ship, the Scutari, which was hit at a range of 7 miles (11.3 km) and sunk after three shots.
- 12 August 1915 while Manica was supporting landings at SuvlaSuvlaSuvla is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros.On 6 August 1915 it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as part of the August Offensive during the Battle of Gallipoli...
, tried to torpedo her at a range of about 500 yards (457.2 m) but the torpedo passed under the ship and missed. Two days later a similar attack also failed. - 23 February 1916 at Birkenhead under repair in shipyard basin.
- 10 March 1916 sailed Birkenhead to Gibraltar carrying a small seaplane in addition to her kite balloon arriving 16 March 1916
- 19 March 1916 sailed from GibraltarGibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
with and RN escort, arriving at Port SaidPort SaidPort Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
27 March 1916 - 28 March 1916 at Port Said for coaling. At 17:20hrs cleared port anchor - starboard anchor weighed. Entered and passed through the Suez Canal.
- 30 March 1916 at Suez
- 31 March 1916 sailed Suez for Mombassa arriving 11 April 1916 when she took on a local native crew(to quote the wording of the ship's logLogbookA logbook was originally a book for recording readings from the chip log, and is used to determine the distance a ship traveled within a certain amount of time...
for the period). - 14 April 1916 sailed from Mombassa to ZanzibarZanzibarZanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
- 21 April 1916 sailed from Zanzibar on operation duties to deploy balloon off German East AfricaGerman East AfricaGerman East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, which included what are now :Burundi, :Rwanda and Tanganyika . Its area was , nearly three times the size of Germany today....
- 1 May 1916 at Zanzibar
- 20 May 1916 while on patrol off German East Africa ran aground. On being towed off by RN ships the towing cable fouled the propeller - cleared in 32 minutes.
- 26 August 1916 collier alongside at Zanzibar to re-coal ship all day.
- 4 November 1916 off RufijiRufiji RiverThe Rufiji River lies entirely within the African nation of Tanzania. The river is formed by the convergence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately 600 km long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean at a point between Mafia Island called Mafia...
- diver from flagship employed to clear obstructions to hull - 13 Movember 1916 off Rufiji - seaplane propeller damaged through rough water - seaplane recovered and housed.
- 14 November 1916 off Rufiji - received stores and water from collier
- 20 November 1916 at Zanzibar - received 263 tons of water from water boat
- 21 November and 22 November 1916 at Zanzibar - collier alongside re-coaled ship
- August 1917 converted into a collier and renamed Huntball at Bombay
- 15 April 1918 purchased by the Admiralty and placed under commercial management.
- 1919 sold to Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd
- 14 May 1920 alongside at Singapore
- 1920 renamed by Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd as SS Phorus
- 16 November 1922 in dry dock at Singapore
- 19 July 1927 berthed at Singapore with a cargo of "liquid fuel" from Tarakan IslandTarakan IslandTarakan is an island off the coast of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is a marshy island situated in the eastern Celebes Sea, off the northeastern coast of Borneo. The island occupies an area of .-Petroleum:...
- 3 July 1931 arrived Osaka to be broken up.
Reports and other references to this ship
http://www.tayyareci.com/hvtarihi/canakkale/canak5.asp: “Because of the failure of allied air forces, a fixed balloon ship, weighed 3500 tons and named Manica, came to Dardanelles from England on March 22. On March 26, Serno and Schneider flew for reconnaissance and in the evening Schneider and Hüseyin Sedat repeated the reconnaissance and flew up to Limni. According to their report, it was understood that there would be no new naval attack. At the end of the same day, they returned to Istanbul.”http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1917-05May.htm "Sunday 13 May 1917 on board of the ship the general servants James Barton (due to illness) and Edward H. Buckley died. Wednesday 16 May died the air mechanic Horace Thompson due to illness"
Report in The Times newspaper
The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of London carried an article in its 13th May 1918 edition as follows:
FIRST KITE BALLOON
"SPOTTERS" FINE WORK FOR THE FLEET
It was not until the early months of 1915 that the Kite Balloon Division of the R.N.A.S. came into being. When the demand for observation balloons for the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
operations came through in March of that year the Royal Navy was able to send out a completely equipped Kite Balloon Section in a specially fitted steamer. The vessel, the Manica, a converted tramp, which arrived just a month after the demand was made, immediately proved the value of the unit. Within three days a Turkish camp was shelled under the direction of the kite balloon, and the occupants thrown into confusion; while in the following week the "Spotter" directed fire on the Gaba Tepe position, which resulted in the destruction if the barracks.
The triumph, however, came before April was out, for from their aerial perch the observers spotted, lying quietly in the water on the other side by the Peninsular out of sight of our warships, a large Turkish transport. The transport apparently considered herself quite safe-but in warfare the unexpected often happens. H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth was operating near the balloon ship, and the bearings of the Turkish vessel were given her. The first shot fell short. By this time the other ships near by were beginning to take an interest in what was happening to Elizabeth's invisible target, which was lying nine miles the other side of the Peninsula. A second shot went nearer the mark. Again the direction was corrected, and a third heavy projectile screamed overland. By the telephone wire of the kite balloon came the words, "Got her. She's sinking by the head." The signalman semaphored this literally to the Queen Elizabeth and a roar of laughter went up as the various ships read the laconic message.
Repeated attacks were made by the Turks on the solitary kite balloon and her parent ship, but were fought back. The effect on the Turkish shipping was evident, for whenever the Manica's offspring ascended, the enemy craft, remembering the fate of the transport, hustled off out of range of our big guns.
The official record of the Manica for the next fortnight was as follows:
- April 28.-Two field batteries silenced; several guns destroyed
- April 30.-Chanak shelled; burned for two hours
- May 2.-Battery of 8in guns shelled; three direct hits
- May 8.-Four batteries silenced
- May 12.-House, reported to be Turkish Headquarters, destroyed.
This and other work was a wonderful tribute to the efficacy of the new observation contrivance, and it should be remembered that barely two months before there was not a single kite balloon in England, and that the whole of the section was in an embryonic state. The experience gained in the Manica was the foundation of what is now an active branch of the Royal Navy.