HMS Resolution was a Royal Sovereign-class

Royal Sovereign class battleship

The Royal Sovereign class was a class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the British Royal Navy. The class comprised seven ships built to the same design: HMS Royal Sovereign, , HMS Ramilles, HMS Repulse, HMS Resolution, HMS Revenge, and HMS Royal Oak, and a half-sister built to a modified design: ....

 predreadnought battleship

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...

.

Technical characteristics

Resolution was laid down by Palmers

Palmers

Palmers may refer to:* Palmers, Minnesota, United States* Palmers College, a sixth form college located on the outskirts of Grays, Thurrock* Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, a British shipbuilding company established in 1852...

 on 14 June 1890, launched on 28 May 1892, and completed in November 1893.. She was 410 feet (125 m) long and had a maximum cruising speed of 17 knots (33.3 km/h). Her armament included four 67-ton 13.5-inch (343-mm) guns and several smaller calibre guns.

The Royal Sovereign class battleships were designed by Sir William White and were the most potent battleships in the world until HMS Dreadnought

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...

 rendered them obsolete overnight in 1906. In their day the Royal Sovereigns had also embodied revolutionary improvements in firepower, armour and speed. The main armament of four 13.5-inch (343-mm) guns was housed in two barbette

Barbette

A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...

s, rather than turrets

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

, at either end of the ship which allowed a high freeboard, greatly increasing their capacity for fighting in rough weather; however, they tended to roll heavily in certain conditions, and after Resolution rolled badly in heavy seas in 1893, the Royal Sovereign class was nicknamed the "Rolling Ressies," a name which stuck even though the problem quickly was corrected by the installation of bilge keel

Bilge keel

A bilge keel is used to reduce the hull's tendency to roll. Bilge keels are employed in pairs . A ship may have more than one bilge keel per side, but this is rare. Bilge keels increase hydrodynamic resistance to rolling, making the ship roll less...

s. The secondary armament was designed to provide potent, quick firing support for the main battery. Despite their greatly increased weight, thanks to a main armour belt which ran for two thirds of their length, they were the fastest capital ships in the world in their time.

In 1906, the Royal Sovereigns, like every other battleship in the world, were made obsolete with the launch of the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought

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...

, the first all-big-gun battleship.

Operational history

HMS Resolution was commissioned at Portsmouth, United Kingdom, on 5 December 1893 for service in the Channel Squadron. She left Plymouth on 18 December 1893 to join the squadron at Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar 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...

. On 19 December 1893 and 20 December 1893 she encountered very heavy weather, including 42-foot (12.8 m) seas with up to 300-foot (91.5 m) lengths. She rolled very heavily, and at least two seas broke over her upper deck and caused slight damage. Sensationalist press reporting claimed that Resolution had rolled as much as 40 degrees and, although the fitting of bilge keels to the Royal Sovereign-class battleships soon corrected the problem, the ships of the class were nicknamed the "Rolling Ressies" based on the experience of Resolution in the 1893 storm.

From 2 August 1894 to 5 August 1894, Resolution was a unit of "Fleet Red" in annual maneuvers held in the Southwest Approaches

Southwest Approaches

The Southwest Approaches is the name given to the offshore waters to the southwest of Great Britain. The area includes the Celtic Sea, the Bristol Channel and sea areas off southwest Ireland...

. She recommissioned for further Channel Fleet

Channel Fleet

The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...

 service on 9 April 1895. On 18 July 1896, she collided with her sister ship HMS Repulse

HMS Repulse (1892)

HMS Repulse was a Royal Sovereign-class predreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. She was the tenth ship to bear the name HMS Repulse.-Technical Characteristics:HMS Repulse was ordered under the Naval Defence Act Program of 1889...

, suffering slight plating and keel damage.
She again took part in annual maneuvers from 24 July 1896 to 30 July 1896, this time off the southwest coasts of England and Ireland as part of "Fleet A."

On 26 June 1897, Resolution was part of the Fleet Review at Spithead

Spithead

Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...

 for the Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee

A Diamond Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 60th anniversary in the case of a person or a 75th anniversary in the case of an event.- Thailand :...

 of Queen Victoria.

From 29 July 1899 to 4 August 1899, Resolution participated in annual maneuvers in the Atlantic as part of "Fleet A." The next summer, she again participated in the annual maneuvers, which were held from 24 July 1900 to 3 August 1900 in the Southwest Approaches, this time as a part of "Fleet A2."

Resolution paid off at Portsmouth in October 1901 and was placed in reserve, but on 17 November 1901 she recommissioned to serve as coast guard ship at Holyhead

Holyhead

Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....

. On 8 April 1903, she paid off into reserve again to undergo a refit.

Resolution recommissioned on 5 January 1904 to relieve battleship HMS Sans Pareil

HMS Sans Pareil (1887)

HMS Sans Pareil was a Victoria Class battleship of the British Royal Navy of the Victorian era, her only sister-ship being .In deciding upon her design configuration the Board of Admiralty took what history shows was a retrograde step by requesting the reversion from barbettes to turrets for her...

 as port guard ship at Sheerness

Sheerness

Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

. On 20 June 1904, she transferred to the Fleet Reserve at Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

.

In the summer of 1906, Resolution took part in maneuvers during which she suffered slight damage when she collided with her sister ship HMS Ramillies

HMS Ramillies (1892)

HMS Ramillies was a pre-dreadnought battleship of Royal Navy and part of the seven ship Royal Sovereign' class.-Technical Characteristics:...

 near the Tongue Lightship on 15 July 1906. Later that year, she underwent another refit at Chatham.

On 12 February 1907, Resolution transferred to the Special Service Division of the Home Fleet at Devonport

Devonport, Devon

Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...

. She remained in that service until 8 August 1911, when she paid off. She was then laid up at the Motherbank

Motherbank

The Motherbank is a shallow sandbar off the northeast coast of the county Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. It lies in The Solent between Cowes and Ryde....

, awaiting disposal.

On 2 April 1914, Resolution was sold for scrapping. In May 1914 she was towed to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

where she was scrapped.

Gallery