HMS Princess Royal was the second of two s built for 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...

 before World War I. Designed in response to the s of the German Navy, the ships significantly improved on the speed, armament, and armour of the preceding . The ship was named for The Princess Royal

Princess Royal

Princess Royal is a style customarily awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. The style is held for life, so a princess cannot be given the style during the lifetime of another Princess Royal...

, a title occasionally granted to the Monarch's eldest daughter.

Laid down in 1912 and commissioned in 1913, Princess Royal served in the Battle of Heligoland Bight a month after the war began. She was then sent to the Caribbean to prevent the German East Asia Squadron

German East Asia Squadron

The German East Asia Squadron was a German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914...

 from using the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

. After the East Asia Squadron was sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands

Battle of the Falkland Islands

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...

 in December 1914, Princess Royal rejoined the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron

1st Battlecruiser Squadron (United Kingdom)

The First Battlecruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of battlecruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the First World War. It was created in 1909 as the First Cruiser Squadron and was renamed in 1913 to First Battle Cruiser Squadron. It participated in the battles of...

. During the Battle of Dogger Bank

Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)

The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet....

, Princess Royal scored only a few hits, although one crippled the German armoured cruiser . Shortly afterwards, she became the flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron

Squadron (naval)

A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...

, under the command of Rear-Admiral Osmond Brock

Osmond Brock

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Osmond de Beauvoir Brock KCB, KCMG, KCVO was a Royal Navy officer.-Naval career:Brock was the eldest son of Commander Osmond de Beauvoir Brock of Guernsey and he joined the Navy in 1882. Appointed midshipman in 1886, he passed for Lieutenant with first classes in every...

.

Princess Royal was moderately damaged during 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...

 and required a month and a half of repairs. Apart from providing distant support during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

The Second Battle of Heligoland Bight was a naval engagement during the First World War. On 17 November 1917, German minesweepers clearing a path through the British minefield in the Heligoland Bight near the coast of Germany were intercepted by two British light cruisers, and , performing...

 in 1917, the ship spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols of the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. Princess Royal was placed into reserve in 1920, then was sold for breaking up

Ship breaking

Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

 as scrap

Scrap

Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...

 in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...

.

Design

The Lion-class battlecruisers, nicknamed the "Splendid Cats", were designed by Philip Watts

Philip Watts (naval architect)

Sir Philip Watts, KCB FRS was a British naval architect, famous for his design of the revolutionary Elswick cruiser and the HMS Dreadnought.-Early life:...

, the Director of Naval Construction

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

, to be as superior to the new German battlecruisers of the Moltke class as the German ships were to the Invincible class

Invincible class battlecruiser

The three Invincible class battlecruisers were built for the Royal Navy and entered service in 1908 as the world's first battlecruisers. They were the brainchild of Admiral Sir John Fisher, the man who had sponsored the construction of the world's first "all big gun" warship,...

. The increase in speed, armour and gun size forced a 70% increase in size over the Indefatigable class and made them the largest warships in the world.

General characteristics

Princess Royal was significantly larger than her predecessors. She had an overall length of 700 feet (213.4 m), a beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

 of 88 foot, and a draught of 32 in 5 in (9.88 m) at deep load. The ship normally displaced 26270 long tons (26,691.6 t) and 30820 long tons (31,314.7 t) at deep load, over 8000 long tons (8,128.4 t) more than the earlier ships. She had a metacentric height

Metacentric height

The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...

 of 5.95 feet (1.8 m) at deep load.

Propulsion

Princess Royal had two paired sets of Parsons

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for...

 direct-drive steam turbines housed in separate engine-rooms. Each set consisted of a high-pressure ahead-and-astern turbine driving an outboard shaft, and a low-pressure ahead-and-astern turbine driving an inner shaft. Designed power was 70000 shp for a speed of 28 knots (15.2 m/s). In September 1912, Princess Royal began her sea trial

Sea trial

A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...

s and developed 78803 shp for a speed of 28.5 knots (15.5 m/s). During maximum power trials in July 1913, the battlecruiser achieved 96238 shp for a speed of 27.97 knots (15.2 m/s) while at the unusually high displacement of 29660 long tons (30,136 t).

The steam plant consisted of 42 Yarrow

Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...

 large-tube boilers arranged in seven boiler rooms. Maximum bunkerage was 3500 long tons (3,556.2 t) of coal and an additional 1135 long tons (1,153.2 t) of fuel oil

Fuel oil

Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...

 to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At 10 knots (5.4 m/s), the ship's range was 5610 nautical miles (10,389.7 km).

Armament

Princess Royal was armed with eight BL 13.5-inch Mk V guns

BL 13.5 inch /45 naval gun

The BL 13.5 inch Mk V gun was a British heavy naval gun, introduced in 1912 as the main armament for the new super-dreadnought battleships of the Orion class. The calibre was 13.5 inches and the barrels were 45 calibres long i.e. 607.5 inches...

 ("BL" for breech-loading) in four twin hydraulically powered turrets, designated 'A', 'B', 'Q' and 'X' from bow to stern. Her secondary armament consisted of 16 BL 4-inch Mk VII guns

BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VII

The BL 4-inch gun Mk VII was a British high-velocity naval gun introduced in 1908 as an anti-torpedo boat gun in large ships, and in the main armament of smaller ships...

, most of which were mounted in casemate

Casemate

A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...

s in the superstructure. The two guns mounted on the deck above the forward group of casemates were fitted with gun shield

Gun shield

thumb|A [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine]] manning an [[M240 machine gun]] equipped with a gun shieldA gun shield is a flat piece or section of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun or artillery piece, or, more rarely, to be used with an assault rifle...

s in 1913 and 1914 to better protect their crews from enemy fire. The starboard aft

Aft

Aft, in naval terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning, towards the stern of the ship, when the frame of reference is within the ship. Example: "Able Seaman Smith; lay aft!". Or; "What's happening aft?"...

er 4 inches (10 cm) gun was removed in early 1917, fitted to a high-angle mount capable of 60° of elevation, and returned in April along with a second, similarly modified gun from Princess Royals sister ship

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

 . Two submerged torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

s were fitted on the broadside

Broadside

A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...

, and fourteen 21-inch torpedoes

British 21 inch torpedo

There have been several British 21-inch diameter torpedoes used by the Royal Navy since their first development just before the First World War.They were the largest size of torpedo in common use in the RN...

 were carried.

The battlecruiser was built without anti-aircraft

Anti-aircraft warfare

NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...

 (AA) guns, but from October 1914 to December 1916 she was fitted with a single QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss

QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss

The QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 57 mm naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 19th century used by many countries, and was adapted for use in the early British tanks in World War I.- Canada History :...

 gun ("QF" for quick-firing

Quick-firing gun

A quick-firing gun is an artillery piece, typically a gun or howitzer, which has several characteristics which taken together mean the weapon can fire at a fast rate...

) on a high-angle mount, which had a maximum depression of 8° and a maximum elevation of 60°. Its 6 pounds (2.7 kg) shell was fired at a muzzle velocity of 1765 ft/s (538 m/s) and a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute. It had a maximum ceiling of 10000 feet (3,048 m), but an effective range of only 3600 feet (1,097.3 m). A single QF 3-inch 20 cwt

QF 3 inch 20 cwt

The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II...

 AA gun was added in January 1915 and carried until April 1917. Its high-angle mount had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. The gun fired a 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2500 ft/s (762 m/s) at a rate of 12 to 14 rounds per minute. It had a maximum effective ceiling of 23500 ft (7,162.8 m).

Princess Royal received a fire-control director between mid-1915 and May 1916 that centralised fire-control under the gunnery officer who now fired the guns. To align their guns on the target, the turret crewmen had to follow pointers whose position was transmitted from the director. This greatly increased accuracy as it was easier for the director to spot the fall of shells and eliminated the shell spread caused by the ship's roll as the turrets fired individually.

By early 1918, Princess Royal carried a Sopwith Pup

Sopwith Pup

The Sopwith Pup was a British single seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good maneuverability, the aircraft proved very...

 and a Sopwith 1½ Strutter

Sopwith 1½ Strutter

The Sopwith 1½ Strutter was a British one or two-seat biplane multi-role aircraft of the First World War. It is significant as the first British-designed two seater tractor fighter, and the first British aircraft to enter service with a synchronised machine gun...

 on flying-off ramps fitted on top of 'Q' and 'X' turrets. The Pup was intended to shoot down Zeppelin

Zeppelin

A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...

s while the 1½ Strutter was used for spotting and reconnaissance. Each platform had a canvas hangar

Hangar

A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

 to protect the aircraft during inclement weather.

Armour

The armour protection given to Lion and Princess Royal was heavier than on the Indefatigables. The waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour

Krupp cemented armour

Krupp Cemented Armour is a further evolved variant of Krupp Armour, developed during the early years of the 20th Century. The process is largely the same with slight changes in the alloy composition: in % of total – carbon 0.35, nickel 3.90, chromium 2.00, manganese .35, silicon .07, phosphorus...

 measured 9 inches (229 mm) thick amidships; this thinned to 4 inches towards the ships' ends, and did not reach the bow or stern. The upper armour belt had a maximum thickness of 6 inches over the same length as the thickest part of the waterline armour and thinned to 5 inches (127 mm) abreast of the end turrets. The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 8 to 9 in (203.2 to 228.6 mm) of armour, except for the turret roofs which used 2.5 to 3.25 in (63.5 to 82.6 mm). The thickness of the nickel steel deck ranged from 1 to 2.5 in (25.4 to 63.5 mm). Nickel steel torpedo bulkhead

Torpedo bulkhead

A torpedo bulkhead is a type of armor common on the more heavily armored warships, especially battleships and battlecruisers of the early 20th century. It is designed to keep the ship afloat even if the hull was struck underneath the belt armor by a shell or by a torpedo...

s 2.5 inches (64 mm) thick were fitted abreast of the magazines

Magazine (artillery)

Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...

 and shell rooms. The sides of the conning tower were 10 inches (25 cm) thick. After 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...

 revealed a vulnerability to plunging shellfire, 1 inch of additional armour, weighing approximately 100 long tons (102 t), was added to the magazine crowns and turret roofs.

Pre-war career

Princess Royal was laid down at the Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-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 &...

 Shipyard in 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...

 on 2 May 1910. She was launched on 29 April 1911 by Princess Louise, The Princess Royal

Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife

The Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife was the third child and the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark...

, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 14 November 1912. She cost £1,955,922 plus an additional £120,300 for her armament. Upon commissioning, Princess Royal joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron, which was renamed the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron

1st Battlecruiser Squadron (United Kingdom)

The First Battlecruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of battlecruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the First World War. It was created in 1909 as the First Cruiser Squadron and was renamed in 1913 to First Battle Cruiser Squadron. It participated in the battles of...

 (BCS) in January 1913. Rear-Admiral Beatty

David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty

Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...

 assumed command of the 1st BCS on 1 March 1913. The squadron, including Princess Royal, visited Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 in February 1914 and ports in Russia during June.

Battle of Heligoland Bight

Princess Royal first saw combat during the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. She was part of Admiral Beatty's battlecruiser force, which was originally to provide distant support to the British cruisers and destroyers closer to the German coast if the German High Seas Fleet

High Seas Fleet

The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...

 sortie

Sortie

Sortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....

d in response. The battlecruisers headed south at full speed at 11:35 a.m.

12-hour clock

The 12-hour clock is a time conversion convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods called ante meridiem and post meridiem...

 when the British light forces failed to disengage on schedule, as the rising tide meant that German capital ships would be able to clear the bar

Bar (river morphology)

A bar in a river is an elevated region of sediment that has been deposited by the flow. Types of bars include mid-channel bars , point bars , and mouth bars...

 at the mouth of the Jade Estuary. The British light cruiser had been crippled earlier in the battle and was under fire from the German light cruisers and when Beatty's battlecruisers appeared out of the mist at 12:37 p.m. Strassburg was able to duck into the mists and evade fire, but Köln was quickly crippled by the squadron's guns. Before Köln could be sunk, Beatty was distracted by the sudden appearance of the German light cruiser directly to his front, and ordered pursuit. Ariadne was reduced to a burning hulk after only three salvos at less than 6000 yards (5,486.4 m).

Princess Royal sailed from Cromarty

Cromarty

The Royal Burgh of Cromarty is a burgh in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.-History:It was previously the county town of the former county of Cromartyshire...

 on 28 September to rendezvous with a Canadian troop convoy bound for the United Kingdom. She rejoined the 1st BCS on 26 October, but was detached again a few days later to reinforce the North Atlantic and Caribbean Squadrons in the search for Admiral Graf Spee

Maximilian von Spee

Vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee was a German admiral. Although he was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the counts von Spee belonged to the prominent families of the Rhenish nobility. He joined the Kaiserliche Marine in 1878. In 1887–88 he commanded the Kamerun ports, in German West...

's German East Asia Squadron after it destroyed the West Indies Squadron

Battle of Coronel

The First World War naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher...

 on 1 November 1914. Princess Royal arrived at Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

 on 21 November, then spent several days off New York City before she steamed down to the Caribbean to guard against the possibility that Graf Spee would use the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

. The East Asia Squadron was sunk off the Falkland Islands

Battle of the Falkland Islands

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...

 on 7 December, and Princess Royal left Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

 to sail to the UK on 19 December.

Battle of Dogger Bank

On 23 January 1915 a force of German battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Franz von Hipper

Franz von Hipper

Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy . Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern...

 sortied to clear the Dogger Bank

Dogger Bank

Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately , with its dimensions being about long and up to broad. The water depth ranges from 15 to 36 metres , about shallower than the surrounding sea. It is a...

 of any British vessels that might be collecting intelligence on German movements. The British were reading the German coded messages

Room 40

In the history of Cryptanalysis, Room 40 was the section in the Admiralty most identified with the British cryptoanalysis effort during the First World War.Room 40 was formed in October 1914, shortly after the start of the war...

, and a large battlecruiser force under Admiral Beatty, aboard Lion, sailed to intercept. Contact was initiated at 7:20 a.m. on the 24th, when the British light cruiser Arethusa spotted the German light cruiser . By 7:35, the Germans had seen Beatty's force; Hipper, aboard , ordered his ships south at 20 knots (10.9 m/s), thinking that he could outpace any British battleships, and could increase to Blüchers maximum speed of 23 knots (12.5 m/s) if the pursuing ships were battlecruisers.

Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to catch the Germans before they could escape. The leading ships, Lion, Princess Royal and , pursued at 27 knots (14.7 m/s), and Lion opened fire at 8:52 at a range of 20000 yards (18,288 m). The other ships followed a few minutes later but the extreme range and decreasing visibility meant they did not start scoring hits until 9:09. The German battlecruisers opened fire two minutes later at a range of 18000 yards (16,459.2 m) and concentrated their fire on Lion, hitting her once. At 9:35, Beatty signalled to "engage the corresponding ships in the enemy's line", but Tigers captain, believing that was already engaging Blücher, fired at , as did Lion, which left unengaged and able to fire on Lion without risk. Moltke and combined their fire to badly damage Lion over the next hour, even with Princess Royal attacking Derfflinger.

Meanwhile, Blücher had been heavily damaged; her speed had dropped to 17 knots (9.3 m/s), and her steering gear was jammed. Beatty ordered Indomitable to attack her at 10:48 a.m. Six minutes later, he spotted what he thought was a submarine periscope

Periscope

A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....

 on the starboard bow and ordered an immediate 90° turn to port to avoid the submarine, although the submarine warning flag was not raised because most of Lions signal halyard

Halyard

In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line that is used to hoist a sail, a flag or a yard. The term halyard comes from the phrase, 'to haul yards'...

s had been shot away. Soon afterwards Lion lost her remaining dynamo to the rising water, which knocked out all remaining light and power. At 11:02, Beatty had flags hoisted signalling "course north-east", to bring his ships back to their pursuit of Hipper, and "attack the rear of the enemy". Rear-Admiral Sir Gordon Moore

Gordon Moore (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Gordon Moore KCB CVO was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Sea Lord.-Naval career:...

, temporarily commanding the squadron from , thought that the signals meant to attack Blücher, which was about 8000 yards (7,315.2 m) to the north-east, and ordered the four other battlecruisers away from the pursuit of Hipper's main force to engage. Beatty tried to correct the mistake, but he was so far behind the leading battlecruisers that his signals could not be read in the smoke and haze.

Beatty transferred to the destroyer at 11:50 and set off in pursuit of his battlecruisers, reaching them shortly before Blücher sank. He boarded Princess Royal at 12:20 p.m. and ordered the ships to pursue the main German force. This order was rescinded when it became clear that the time wasted in sinking Blücher meant the rest of Hipper's battlecruisers would reach friendly waters before they could be caught. Beatty's battlecruisers turned for home, catching up to Lion, which was limping along at 10 knots (5.4 m/s).

Princess Royal hit Derfflinger once, but only damaged two armour plates and caused a coal bunker to flood. She hit Blücher at least twice, including the shot that crippled her, out of a total of 271 13.5 inches (34 cm) shells fired during the battle, a hit rate of only 0.7%. By way of contrast, her sister

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

  made four hits out of 243 shells fired, a rate of 1.6%. She also fired two 13.5-inch shrapnel shells at the German airship

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

 L5 as its crew attempted to bomb the sinking Blücher, mistaking it for a British ship, despite the fact that the maximum elevation of those guns was only 20°. Princess Royal was not damaged during the battle.

Battle of Jutland

On 31 May 1916, Princess Royal was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Osmond Brock

Osmond Brock

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Osmond de Beauvoir Brock KCB, KCMG, KCVO was a Royal Navy officer.-Naval career:Brock was the eldest son of Commander Osmond de Beauvoir Brock of Guernsey and he joined the Navy in 1882. Appointed midshipman in 1886, he passed for Lieutenant with first classes in every...

 and the 1st BCS under Beatty's overall command; they had put to sea with the rest of the Battlecruiser Fleet to intercept a sortie by the High Seas Fleet

High Seas Fleet

The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...

 into the North Sea. The British had decoded the German radio messages, and left their bases before the Germans put to sea. Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 3:20 p.m., but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east until 3:30. Two minutes later, Beatty ordered a course change to east south-east, positioning the British ships to cut off the Germans' line of retreat, and signalled action stations

Action Stations

Action Stations is the general signal to the personnel of a warship that combat with a hostile attacker is imminent or deemed probable...

. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and reduced speed to 18 knots (9.8 m/s) to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. With this turn, Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet, 60 miles (96.6 km) behind him. Beatty altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off.

This began what was to be called the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east south-east at 3:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than 18000 yards (16,459.2 m) away. The Germans opened fire first at 3:48, followed by the British. The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships, Lion and Princess Royal, had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire. The two battlecruisers engaged , the leading German ship, while Derfflinger targeted Princess Royal. The German fire was accurate from the start, with two hits on Princess Royal within the first three minutes. British gunnery was less effective; the range was incorrectly estimated as the German ships blended into the haze. Princess Royals 'A' turret stopped working effectively early in the battle: the left gun was rendered inoperable when the breech pinion gear sheared, and the right gun misfired frequently. By 3:54, the range was down to 12900 yards (11,795.8 m); Beatty ordered a course change two points

Boxing the compass

Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...

 to starboard to open up the range at 3:57.

At 4:11 p.m. a torpedo fired by Moltke passed under Princess Royal. Those aboard the British ship saw the torpedo's track, but incorrectly concluded that a U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 was positioned on the opposite side of the British line (away from the German battlecruisers) and was firing towards both groups of ships. This false impression was compounded by reports of a periscope sighting by the destroyer . By this time, the distance between the British and German ships was too great for accurate fire, so Beatty altered course four points to port between 4:12 and 4:15, closing the range. This manoeuvre exposed Lion to the fire of the German battlecruisers, and the smoke from multiple successful hits caused Derfflinger to lose sight of Princess Royal and switch targets to at 4:16. By 4:25, the range was down to 14400 yards (13,167.4 m) and Beatty turned two points to starboard to open the range again. Around this time, Queen Mary was hit multiple times in quick succession and her forward magazines exploded. At 4:30, the light cruiser , scouting in front of Beatty's ships, spotted the lead elements of the High Seas Fleet charging north at top speed. Three minutes later, they sighted the topmasts of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer

Reinhard Scheer

Reinhard Scheer was an Admiral in the German Kaiserliche Marine. Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet; he progressed through the ranks, commanding cruisers and battleships, as well as major staff positions on land. At the outbreak of World War I, Scheer was the commander of the II...

's battleships, but did not report this to the fleet for another five minutes. Beatty continued south for another two minutes to confirm the sighting before ordering his force to turn north.

The German battlecruisers made their own turn north in pursuit, but Beatty's ships maintained full speed, and gradually moved out of range. The British battlecruisers turned north, then north-east, to try to rendezvous with the main body of the Grand Fleet, and at 5:40 p.m. opened fire again on their German counterparts. Facing the setting sun, the Germans could not make out the British ships and turned away to the north-east at 5:47. Beatty gradually turned towards the east so his ships could cover the Grand Fleet as it deployed into battle formation, but he mistimed his manoeuvre and forced the leading British division to manoeuvre away from the Germans. About 6:22, Princess Royal was hit by two 305 millimetres (12 in) shells fired by the battleship ; one of these disabled 'X' turret and the other penetrated the ship's side armour. By 6:35, Beatty was following the 3rd BCS as they were leading the Grand Fleet east-southeast, and continuing to engage Hipper's battlecruisers to their south-west. A few minutes earlier, Scheer had ordered a simultaneous 180° starboard turn, and Beatty lost sight of them in the haze. At 6:44, Beatty turned his ships south-east, then south-southeast four minutes later, to find Hipper's force. He then ordered the two surviving ships of the 3rd BCS to take position astern of New Zealand, while slowing to 18 knots (9.8 m/s) and altering course to the south. Beatty then ordered his ships to make a complete circle to stay within visual range of the Grand Fleet. At 6:55, Scheer ordered another 180° turn, which put the German ships on a converging course again with the Grand Fleet. However, the British had altered course to the south, allowing the Grand Fleet to cross Scheer's "T"

Crossing the T

Crossing the T or Capping the T is a classic naval warfare tactic attempted from the late 19th to mid 20th century, in which a line of warships crossed in front of a line of enemy ships, allowing the crossing line to bring all their guns to bear while receiving fire from only the forward guns of...

 and inflict damage on the leading German ships. Scheer ordered yet another 180° turn at 7:13, and successfully extricated the High Seas Fleet from the danger precipitated by his previous turn. About this time Princess Royal fired at the leading German battlecruiser four three minutes without result.

The British lost sight of the Germans until spotted smoke to the west-northwest at 8:05 p.m., then identified and engaged several German torpedo boats. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Beatty ordered his ships west, and spotted the German battlecruisers only 8500 yards (7,772.4 m) away. Inflexible opened fire at 8:20, followed almost immediately by the rest of the battlecruisers. Shortly after 8:30, the pre-dreadnought battleships of Rear-Admiral Mauve's II Battle Squadron were spotted. The British battlecruisers and German pre-dreadnoughts exchanged fire; the Germans only fired a few times before turning away to the west because of poor visibility and the more accurate British gunnery, and disappeared into the mist around 8:40. Beatty's battlecruisers sailed south-southeast, ahead of both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, until the order to reverse course for home was given at 2:55 a.m.

Along with the rest of the battlecruisers, Princess Royal reached Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...

 in Scotland on the morning of 2 June, and she immediately received temporary repairs over the next eight days. She then sailed for Plymouth, where permanent repairs were completed on 15 July, and returned to Rosyth by 21 July. Princess Royal was hit nine times during the battle—six times by Derfflinger during the "Run to the South", twice by Markgraf during the "Run to the North", and once by just after II Battle Squadron appeared—with 22 killed and 81 injured. The battlecruiser fired only 230 13.5-inch shells during the battle, as her visibility was often impaired by the funnel smoke and fires aboard Lion. She was credited with three hits on Lützow and two on . A torpedo fired at the German pre-dreadnoughts failed to hit.

Post-Jutland career

As the German High Seas Fleet was forbidden from taking any unnecessary risks, the majority of Princess Royals post-Jutland activities consisted of uneventful patrols of the North Sea. On the evening of 18 August, the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a deciphered message that the High Seas Fleet, minus the II Squadron, would be leaving harbour that night. The Germans planned to bombard the port of Sunderland on the 19th, with extensive reconnaissance provided by airships and submarines. The Grand Fleet sailed with 29 dreadnought battleships and 6 battlecruisers to their anticipated rendezvous in the North Sea; for fear that they had entered a minefield after was torpedoed, they turned north before turning south again. Scheer steered south-eastward pursuing a lone British battle squadron reported by an airship, which was in fact the Harwich Force

Harwich Force

The Harwich Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War, that went on to play a significant role in the war.-History:...

 under Commodore Tyrwhitt

Reginald Tyrwhitt

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet, GCB, DSO was a senior officer of the Royal Navy in World War I who commanded light forces stationed at Harwich on the east coast of England during the first part of the war.-Naval career:Tyrwhitt entered the Navy as a cadet in July, 1885...

. Realising their mistake, the Germans then set course for home. The only contact came in the evening when Tyrwhitt sighted the High Seas Fleet but was unable to achieve an advantageous attack position before dark, and broke off. Both the British and German fleets returned home; two British light cruisers, HMS Nottingham and had been sunk by submarines, and the German dreadnought

Dreadnought

The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...

  had been damaged by a torpedo.

Princess Royal provided support for British light forces involved in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

The Second Battle of Heligoland Bight was a naval engagement during the First World War. On 17 November 1917, German minesweepers clearing a path through the British minefield in the Heligoland Bight near the coast of Germany were intercepted by two British light cruisers, and , performing...

 on 17 November 1917, but never came within range of any German ships. She sailed with the 1st BCS on 12 December after German destroyers sank a Norway-bound convoy earlier that day, but the British were unable to intercept and returned to base the following day. Princess Royal, along with the rest of the Grand Fleet, sortied on the afternoon of 23 March 1918 after radio transmissions revealed that the High Seas Fleet was at sea after a failed attempt to intercept the regular British convoy to Norway. However, the Germans were too far ahead of the British, and no shots were fired. Starting in July 1918, the Grand Fleet was affected by the 1918 flu pandemic; at one point, Princess Royal lacked sufficient healthy crewmen to sail.

Following the surrender of the High Seas Fleet at the end of the war, Princess Royal and the 1st BCS made up part of the guard force in 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...

. Princess Royal was reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet in April 1919. The battlecruiser was placed in reserve in 1920, and an attempt to sell her to Chile later that year was unsuccessful. She became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief of the Scottish Coast on 22 February 1922. She was sold for scrap in December 1922 to meet the tonnage limitations set on the Royal Navy by the Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...

, and arrived at the breakers

Ship breaking

Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

on 13 August 1923.