HMS HIBERNIA commissioned on 2 January 1907 at Devonport Dockyard for service as Flagship of the Rear-Admiral, Atlantic Fleet. She transferred to the Channel Fleet for service as Flagship, Rear-Admiral on 27 February 1907.During this period, William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, served as her executive officer. In January 1909 she became Flagship, Vice-Admiral commanding. Under a fleet reorganization on 24 March 1909, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division, Home Fleet, and HMS HIBERNIA became a Home Fleet unit in that division. On 14 July 1910 she was rammed by the barque Loch Trool just after Loch Trool had collided with the battleship HMS Britannia, but suffered no noteworthy damage. In January 1912, she was relieved in the Second Division by battleship Orion and was reduced to a nucleus crew in the Third Division at the Nore.
In January 1912, aviation experiments began at Sheerness aboard the battleship HMS Africa, during which the first British launch of an airplane -- the Short Improved S.27 biplane "S.38" (or "RNAS No. 2") flown by Commander Charles Samson -- from a ship took place. HMS Africa transferred her flying-off equipment, including a runway constructed over her foredeck above her forward 12-inch (305-mm) turret and stretching from her bridge to her bows, to HMS HIBERNIA in May 1912, and HMS HIBERNIA hosted further experiments. Among these was the first launch of an airplane from a warship underway; Commander Samson, again flying "S.38," became the first man to take off from a ship which was underway -- sources differ on whether the date of the flight was 2 May, 4 May or 9 May 1912 -- by launching from HMS HIBERNIA while she steamed at 10.5 knots (19 km/h) at the Royal Fleet Review in Weymouth Bay, England. During the fleet review, King George V witnessed a number of flights at Portland over a period of four days. HMS HIBERNIA then transferred her aviation equipment to the battleship HMS London. Based on the experiments, the Royal Navy concluded that aircraft were useful aboard ship for spotting and other purposes, but that interference with the firing of guns caused by the runway built over the foredeck and the danger and impracticality of recovering seaplanes that alighted in the water in anything but calm weather more than offset the desirability of having airplanes aboard. However, shipboard naval aviation had begun in the Royal Navy, and would become a major part of fleet operations by 1917.
Under a fleet reorganization in May 1912, HMS HIBERNIA and all seven of her sisters of the King Edward VII class (Africa, Britannia, Commonwealth, Dominion, Hindustan, King Edward VII, and Zealandia) were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, assigned to the First Fleet, Home Fleet. HMS HIBERNIA returned to full commission on 14 May 1912 for service as Second Flagship, Rear-Admiral, of the squadron. The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean in November 1912 because of the First Balkan War (October 1912-May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November 1912 and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in 1913 and rejoined the Home Fleet on 27 June 1913
World War I
Upon the outbreak of World War I, the 3rd Battle Squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth. It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the Northern Patrol, and HMS HIBERNIA continued her service as Second Flagship of the squadron. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914.
HMS HIBERNIA served in the Grand Fleet until November 1915. During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sister ships often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them.
In November 1915, a division of the 3rd Battle Squadron consisting of HMS HIBERNIA (which served as flagship of the division commander, Rear-Admiral Sydney Fremantle) and battleships HMS Zealandia, HMS Russell, and HMS Albemarle was detached for service in the Dardanelles Campaign. The ships departed Scapa Flow on 6 November 1915; Albemarle suffered heavy damage in a storm on the first night of the voyage and had to return for repairs, but the other battleships pressed on and arrived at the Dardanelles on 14 December 1915. HMS HIBERNIA served as stand-by battleship at Kephalo and covered the evacuation of V and W Beaches at Cape Helles on 8 January 1916 and 9 January 1916. Among those serving aboard her during this time was Augustus Agar, later V.C. and famous for exploits against the Bolsheviks and as captain of heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire in World War II. Later in January HMS HIBERNIA was stationed at Milo in case she was needed to cover an evacuation of the French force at Salonika. Before the end of January, HMS Russell relieved her as divisional flagship, and HMS HIBERNIA returned to the United Kingdom, being reassigned to the Grand Fleet upon arrival at Devonport Dockyard on 5 February 1916. She underwent a refit there in February and March 1916 before rejoining the Grand Fleet.
On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was rebased at Sheerness, and on 3 May 1916 it was separated from the Grand Fleet, being transferred to the Nore Command. HMS HIBERNIA remained there with the squadron until October 1917.
In 1917 HMS HIBERNIA's ten 6-inch (152-mm) guns were removed from their casemates because they were flooded in heavy seas and replaced with four 6-inch (152-mm) guns on the higher shelter deck.
Subsidiary duties
In October 1917 HMS HIBERNIA left the 3rd Battle Squadron and paid off into the Nore Reserve at Chatham Dockyard, where she served as an overflow accommodation ship.
In September 1918, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, Admiral David Beatty, called for a large target to be provided which would allow the battleships of the Grand Fleet, which had seen little action since the Battle of Jutland in 1916, realistic gunnery practice. To meet this requirement, it was suggested that HMS HIBERNIA be converted to radio control and undergo other modifications so that she could assume duty as a target ship, but ultimately the predreadnought battleship HMS Agamemnon became available and was selected instead.
Disposal
In July 1919 HMS HIBERNIA was placed on the disposal list at Chatham, and on 8 November 1921 she was sold for scrapping to Stanlee Shipbreaking Company of Dover. She was resold to Slough Trading Company in 1922, resold yet again to German scrappers, and towed to Germany for scrapping in November 1922.
Name: HMS HIBERNIA
Namesake: Hibernia, the Roman name for Ireland
Ordered: 1903/04 Estimates
Builder: Devonport Dockyard
Cost: £1,438,690
Laid down: 6 January 1904
Launched: 17 June 1905
Completed: December 1906
Commissioned: 2 January 1907
Decommissioned: October 1917
Nickname: The King Edward VII-class battleships were known as "The Wobbly Eight"
Fate: Sold for scrapping in Germany 8 November 1921
The first launch of an airplane from a warship underway was from Hibernia in 1912
General characteristics
Class and type: King Edward VII class
Type: Predreadnought battleship
Displacement: 16,350 tons (standard)
17,500 tons (full load)
Length: 453 ft 6 in (138.23 m)
Beam: 78 ft (24 m)
Draught: 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m)
Installed power: 18,000 ihp (13 MW)
Propulsion: 12 coal-fired (with oil sprayers) Babcock and Wilcox water-tube and 3 cylindrical boilers, two 4-cylinder vertical compound expansion steam engines, two screws
2,164-2,238 tons coal maximum, 380 tons oil
Speed: 18.5 knots (34 km/h)
Range: 2,000 nautical miles (3,704 km) at 18.5 knots (34 km/h); 5,270 nautical miles (9,760 km) at 10 knots (18.5 km/h)
Complement: 777
Armament: 4 x BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk X guns (2 x 2)
4 x BL 9.2-inch (233.7 mm) Mk X guns (4 x 1)
10 x BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI guns (replaced by 4 x 6 inch (152 mm) guns in 1917)
14 x QF 12 pounder 18 cwt guns
14 x 3 pounder quick-firing guns
5 x 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged), four on the beam and one in the stern
2 x Maxim machine guns
Armour: Belt amidships: 9 inches tapering to 8 inches (203 mm)
Bulkheads: 12 inches (305 mm) to 8 inches (203 mm)
Barbettes: 12 inches (356 mm)
Main turrets (gunhouses): 12 inches (356 mm) to 8 inches (203 mm)
9.2 inch (234 mm) turrets: 9 inches (229 mm) to 5 inches (127 mm)
6 inch (152 mm) battery: 7 inches (178 mm)
Conning tower: 12 inches (305 mm)
Armoured deck: 2.5 inches (63.5 mm) to 1 inch (25.4 mm)
Delandre label
Source: Wikipedia
Peter Crichton