HMS TEMERAIRE was a Bellerophon-class battleship in the Royal Navy built at the Royal Dockyard, Devonport. She was ordered under the 1906 Naval Estimates at the cost of £1,641,114. Although not externally much different from predecessor Dreadnought, internally she and others of the Bellerophon-class were much improved, with better sub-division of bulkheads against torpedo attack. A heavier secondary armament was believed to be capable of fighting off torpedo boat attacks.
World War I
For the majority of the war, HMS TEMERAIRE was a member of the 4th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. On a sweep of the North Sea on 18 March 1915, she unsuccessfully attempted to ram U-29 which had just attacked HMS Neptune. During the summer of that year, she refitted at HM Dockyard, Devonport.
A Jutland veteran, she was third of four ships in the 4th Division under Vice Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee in HMS Benbow (leading) followed by HMS Bellerophon, HMS TEMERAIRE and HMS Vanguard. HMS TEMERAIRE was under the command of Captain E.V. Underhill.
HMS TEMERAIRE commenced her action at Jutland at 1834 hrs by opening fire at the Wiesbaden with five salvo's of 12" HE claiming two or three hits, Wiesbaden had been hit earlier by HMS Invincible and disabled. As she appeared out of the smoke she was shot at by a large number of British ships and sank under this attention.
Her next action was around 1910-30 when she fired 11 salvo's of HE at a range of 12,500 yards at the German battle-cruiser Derfflinger but no hits were claimed at this time. The next action was around 1930 with a torpedo attack by the German 6th and 9th destroyer flotillas when HMS TEMERAIRE joined in the general melee with her 4" battery. No hits could be claimed in this action, partly due to the density of gun and funnel smoke obscuring the battle, but mainly because of the difficulty of spotting the fall of shot of the puny 4" batteries against the 6" guns of the newer ships. No torpedoes hit the British ships.
During the battle she fired a total of 72 twelve-inch HE shells. For some reason, although firing at times on a battle-cruiser, she did not fire any APC or CPC; she also fired 50 rounds of 4". HMS TEMERAIRE received no damage herself during the action
In October 1918, she was detached to the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron under the overall command of Vice Admiral Gough-Calthrope.
Post war
With the end of hostilities, HMS TEMERAIRE was converted to a cadet training ship (seagoing). With the other members of her class, she was regarded as obsolete and was decommissioned and sold to Stanlee of Dover, Kent, for scrap on 1 December 1921.
Name: HMS TEMERAIRE
Ordered: 1906
Builder: Devonport Dockyard
Laid down: 1 January 1907
Launched: 24 August 1907
Commissioned: 1 May 1909
Decommissioned: 1921
Fate: Sold for scrap 7 December 1921
Class and type: Bellerophon-class battleship
Displacement: 18,800 long tons (19,100 t) (normal); 24,619 shp (18,358 kW) (full load)
Length: 527 ft (161 m)
Beam: 82 ft 5 in (25.12 m)
Draught: 27 ft 8 in (8.43 m)
Installed power: 24,619 shp (18,358 kW) (trials); 23,000 shp (17,000 kW) (service)
Propulsion: 4 × Parsons steam turbines
18 × Yarrow boilers
4 × shafts
Speed: 21 kn (24 mph; 39 km/h) (trials); 20.75 kn (23.88 mph; 38.43 km/h) (service)
Range: 5,600 nmi (6,400 mi; 10,400 km) at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) (coal only)
Capacity: Coal: 900 tons (normal), 2,648 tons (maximum); Fuel Oil: 842 tons; "Patent Fuel": 170 tons
Complement: 733
Armament: 10 × BL 12 in (300 mm)/45 cal Mk X guns
11 × BL 4 in (100 mm) Mk VII guns
2 × 4 in (100 mm) AA guns
2 × 3 in (76 mm) AA guns
4 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) guns
2 × submerged 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour: Belt: 9 to 10 in (230 to 250 mm) (lower, amidships); 8 in (200 mm) (upper, amidships); 7 to 8 in (180 to 200 mm) (lower and upper, bow); 5 in (130 mm) (stern)
Deck: .75 to 1.75 in (19 to 44 mm) (main); 1.75 to 3 in (44 to 76 mm) (middle); 1.5 to 4 in (38 to 100 mm) (lower)
Bulkhead: 8 in (200 mm) (aft)
Barbettes: 9 to 10 in (230 to 250 mm)
Turrets: 11 in (280 mm)
Conning Tower: 11 in (280 mm) (fore); 8 in (200 mm) (aft)
Delandre label
Source: Wikipedia; http://www.benjidog.co.uk/battleships/i ... ge5792.htm;
Peter Crichton
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