HMS Powerful (1895) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Commander:	Captain Hedworth Lambton Hedworth Meux Admiral of the Fleet The Hon Sir Hedworth Meux GCB KCVO , formerly The Hon Hedworth Lambton was an English naval officer famous for bringing help to the British forces in the Siege of Ladysmith....

HMS Powerful was a ship of the Powerful-class

Powerful class cruiser

The Powerful class were first-class protected cruisers built for the British Royal Navy in the 1890s. There were two ships in the Powerful class, the lead ship Powerful and the Terrible.-Design:...

of protected cruiser

Protected cruiser

The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...

in 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...

Career

She was built by Vickers Limited

Vickers Limited

Vickers Limited was a famous British engineering conglomerate that merged into Vickers-Armstrongs in 1927.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

, Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

and launched on 24 July 1895 by the Duchess of Devonshire

Louisa Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Louisa Frederica Augusta Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, formerly Louisa Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, née Luise Fredericke Auguste Gräfin von Alten , daughter of Karl Franz Viktor, Graf von Alten and his wife, Hermine de Schminke .On 22 July 1852 she was married at Hannover to...

.

She served with her sister ship, HMS Terrible

HMS Terrible (1895)

HMS Terrible was a ship of the Powerful-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy.-Terrible 1898 Trials:* 60 hours at 1/5 power 5084 ihp = * 68 hours at 2/5 power = * 60 hours at 3/5 power = * 60 hours at 3/4 power =...

on the China Station

China Station

The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

and provided landing parties which fought in the relief of the Siege of Ladysmith

Siege of Ladysmith

The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 30 October 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal.-Background:...

in the Second Boer War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

. Crews from the two ships also took part in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

in China. After 1904 they were laid up as an economy measure.

In 1897 Captain Hedworth Lambton

Hedworth Meux

Admiral of the Fleet The Hon Sir Hedworth Meux GCB KCVO , formerly The Hon Hedworth Lambton was an English naval officer famous for bringing help to the British forces in the Siege of Ladysmith....

commanded HMS Powerful, which was one of the largest warships of the time, on a posting to China. On the return voyage in 1899 he was ordered to Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

at an important point in the Second Boer War

Second Boer War

. He stopped at Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, and on his own initiative picked up a battalion of soldiers stationed there. Knowing that the British forces at Ladysmith

Siege of Ladysmith

The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 30 October 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal.-Background:...

urgently needed more powerful guns, Captain Percy Scott

Percy Scott

Admiral Sir Percy Moreton Scott, 1st Baronet GCB KCVO was a British Royal Navy officer and a pioneer in modern naval gunnery.-Early years:...

from the Powerful's sister ship, the Terrible, devised carriages to transport naval cannon, and Lambton then led a Naval Brigade

Naval Brigade

A Naval Brigade is a body of sailors serving in a ground combat role to augment land forces.-Royal Navy:Within the Royal Navy, a Naval Brigade is a large temporary detachment of Royal Marines and of seamen from the Royal Navy formed to undertake operations on shore, particularly during the mid- to...

from Powerful to the rescue with four twelve-pounders and two other guns.

The journey to Ladysmith from Durban was 189 miles. They began by special train then with oxen pulling the guns but when the oxen died the sailors took over pulling the guns themselves. In this endeavour they manhandled the guns "through the wild and broken country" of the South African veldt and "arrived in the nick of time" to play "a most important role in the defence of the town". Although the Boer attackers were kept at bay unfortunately the Naval brigade became besieged themselves. A second Naval brigade from HMS Terrible left Durban for Ladysmith and joined with the relief column led by General Buller and assisted in the lifitng of the siege.

The field gun competition

Field gun competition

The Royal Navy's field gun competition is a contest between teams from various Royal Navy commands, in which teams of sailors compete to transport a field gun and its equipment over and through a series of obstacles in the shortest time. The competition evolved during the first 6 years of the 20th...

commemorates the participation of Terrible and Powerful in the relief of Ladysmith.

25 November 1899 - The Naval Brigade from HMS Powerful fought in the Battle of Graspan against the Boers in South Africa.
6 January 1900 - The Naval Brigade from HMS Powerful repulsed a strong Boer attack at Ladysmith.
30 October 1899 - The Naval Brigade of HMS Powerful attacked Boer positions at Lombards Kop, Ladysmith.

The enthusiastic response in Britain to the "heroes of Ladysmith" was enormous and made Captain Hedworth Lambton a well-known public figure. Queen Victoria sent a telegram saying, "Pray express to the Naval Brigade my deep appreciation of the valuable services they have rendered with their guns." while a reception and celebratory march through London were among the first events ever recorded on film.

A newspaper described the Powerful's return home:
Lambton was awarded the CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, and it was in this year that his caricature was published in Vanity Fair.

In 1921 a new Primary School in Ladysmith was named after Lt Frederick Greville Egerton, a gunnery officer from the Powerful who lost his life during the action at Ladysmith.

In August 1905 Captain Lionel Halsey

Lionel Halsey

Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey GCMG GCVO KCIE CB ADC was a British Royal Navy officer and courtier.-Early life and career:...

took command of HMS Powerful,
as flag captain

Flag captain

In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First Captain", with the "flag captain" as the ship's...

to Sir Wilmot Fawkes

Wilmot Fawkes

|-|-|-...

as Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

Australia Station

The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...

. At the time the Powerful was commissioning as Flagship on the Australia Station. Halsey remained in that post until 1908.

At the beginning of December 1905, Powerful was at Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

On 3 February 1908 the first trans-Tasman

Trans-Tasman

Trans-Tasman is an adjective used primarily in Australia and New Zealand, which signifies an interrelationship between both countries. Its name originates from the Tasman Sea which lies between the two countries...

radio transmission was made via HMS Powerful which was in the Tasman Sea.

A Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Charles Bean

Charles Bean

Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean , usually identified as C.E.W. Bean, was an Australian schoolmaster, judge's associate, barrister journalist, war correspondent and historian....

joined the ship in August 1908 as special correspondent to report the visit of sixteen American warships — the Great White Fleet

Great White Fleet

The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...

. At the time Powerful was flagship of the Royal Navy squadron on the Australian Station. Bean wrote a book, With the Flagship in the South (London, 1909), based on his reports, with photographs, drawings and a water-colour frontispiece by the author, and had it published at his own expense. This book is available as

In 1911 HMS Powerful visited Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

to inspect the facilities and recommended the setting up of a Naval Store Organisation.

During World War I, Powerful and Terrible had most of their armament removed and served as troop transports and later accommodation ships.

After the end of the war, Powerful was renamed Impregnable in November 1919 and converted to a training ship. After ten years of this, she was sold on 31 August 1929 for breaking up.

Career

See also