HMS Sutlej (1899)
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Other uses".
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
| Script error: No such module "InfoboxImage". Sutlej at anchor Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". |
HMS Sutlej was a Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy around 1900. Upon completion she was assigned to the China Station. In 1906 she became a training ship for the North America and West Indies Station before returning home and being assigned as the flagship of the reserve Third Fleet in 1909. Relieved as flagship in 1910, she remained in reserve until the beginning of World War I in August 1914.
She was spent most of the war on convoy escort duties before becoming an accommodation ship in 1917 and then a depot ship in 1918. Sutlej was sold for scrap in 1921, but was not broken up until 1924.
Design and description
Sutlej was designed to displace Script error: No such module "convert".. The ship had an overall length of Script error: No such module "convert"., a beam of Script error: No such module "convert". and a deep draught of Script error: No such module "convert"..[1] She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of Script error: No such module "convert". and gave a maximum speed of Script error: No such module "convert".. The engines were powered by 30 Belleville boilers. On their sea trials all of the Cressy-class cruisers, except the lead ship, exceeded their designed speed.[2] She carried a maximum of Script error: No such module "convert". of coal and her complement ranged from 725[3] to 760 officers and ratings.[4]
Her main armament consisted of two breech-loading (BL) Script error: No such module "convert". Mk X guns in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.[3] They fired Script error: No such module "convert". shells to a range of Script error: No such module "convert"..[5] Her secondary armament of twelve BL 6-inch Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Eight of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather.[6] They had a maximum range of approximately Script error: No such module "convert". with their Script error: No such module "convert". shells.[7] A dozen quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder 12 cwt guns were fitted for defence against torpedo boats, eight on casemates on the upper deck and four in the superstructure.[8] The ship also carried three 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes.[4]
The ship's waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of Script error: No such module "convert". and was closed off by Script error: No such module "convert". transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets and their barbettes was 6 inches thick while the casemate armour was 5 inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from Script error: No such module "convert". and the conning tower was protected by Script error: No such module "convert". of armour.[4]
Construction and service
Sutlej, named to commemorate two battles on the Sutlej River during the First Anglo-Sikh War,[9] was laid down by John Brown & Company at their shipyard in Clydebank on 15 August 1898 and launched on 18 November 1899.[4] She was commissioned at Chatham on 6 May 1902 by Captain Paul Bush, to take the place of Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". in the Channel Squadron,[10] which she joined in late July after steam trials. She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII,[11] and visited the Aegean Sea with other ships of the Channel Squadron for combined manoeuvres with the Mediterranean fleet the following month.[12] In October 1902 she escorted the damaged battleship HMS Hood from Gibraltar to Chatham.[13]
She was later re-assigned to the China Station where along with HMS Iphigenia she was sent to monitor the Russian fleeting sailing through the Singapore Strait on the way to the Battle of Tsushima.[14] They arrived to late to this although they did meet the Russian fleet the following day with Sutlej greeting them with a 17 gun salute.[14] and remained on the China Station until May 1906 when she became a boys' training ship in the North America and West Indies Station. The ship returned home in 1909 and became flagship of the reserve Third Fleet until 1910. Whilst on manoeuvers off Berehaven, Ireland on 15 July, she had a boiler explosion that killed four men.[15]
A few days after the start of the war, Sutlej was assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron (CS) for convoy escort duties off the French and Iberian coasts.[16] She was transferred to 11th Cruiser Squadron in Ireland in February 1915 for similar duties. Sent to the Azores in February 1916 and rejoined the 9th CS in September. She was paid off at Devonport on 4 May 1917 and became an accommodation ship. In January 1918 she became a depot ship at Rosyth and was renamed Crescent. She reverted to Sutlej in 1919 before she was sold on 9 May 1921[15] to Thos. W. Ward and laid up in Belfast. Sutlej arrived at Preston, Lancashire on 15 August 1924 to be broken up.[17]
Notes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Footnotes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Friedman 2012, pp. 335–36
- ↑ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 69
- ↑ a b Friedman 2012, p. 336
- ↑ a b c d Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 68
- ↑ Friedman 2011, pp. 71–72
- ↑ Friedman 2012, pp. 243, 260–61
- ↑ Friedman 2011, pp. 80–81
- ↑ Friedman 2012, pp. 243, 336
- ↑ Silverstone, p. 271
- ↑ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Silverstone, p. 271; Transcript
- ↑ Corbett, pp. 43, 136
- ↑ Colledge, p. 338
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Bibliography
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Military navigation".