HMS HAMPSHIRE was a Devonshire-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Sir W G Armstrong & Co Ltd at Elswick on the River Tyne ( Wikipedia states that she was constructed at the Chatham Dockyard, Kent, but this is incorrect).
HMS HAMPSHIRE was laid down on 20 August 1902 (Elswick Yard No 734), launched on 24 September 1903 and ran her final trials on 19 July 1905. She was commissioned in 1905.
She served in the Channel, Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets from her construction to 1912, and on the China Station to the outbreak of war in 1914. She spent the last month of 1914 inn the Indian Ocean searching for SMS Emden. When that raider had been sunk and SMS Königsberg penned into the Rufiji River, HMS HAMPSHIRE was recalled home to the Grand Fleet.
She served at the battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. Immediately after the battle, she was directed to carry Lord Kitchener from Scapa Flow on a diplomatic mission to Russia. Sailing for Arkhangelsk in a gale she struck a mine at around 19:40 on 5 June 1916 off Mainland, Orkney between Brough of Birsay and Marwick Head. The ship sank very rapidly. Kitchener, his staff and most of the crew perished; only 12 men survived. The mine is believed to have been one of those laid by the submarine U-75 on 23 May.
Fritz Joubert Duquesne, a Boer and German spy, claimed to have sabotaged and sunk HMS HAMPSHIRE, killing Kitchener and most of the crew. According to German records, Duquesne assumed the identity of Russian Duke Boris Zakrevsky and joined Kitchener in Scotland. En route to Russia, Duquesne signaled a German U-boat to alert them that Kitchener’s ship was approaching. He then escaped on a raft just before HMS HAMPSHIRE was destroyed. Duquesne was awarded the Iron Cross for this act. In the 1930s and 40s, he ran the famous Duquesne Spy Ring and was captured by the FBI along with 32 other Nazi agents in the largest espionage conviction in U.S. history.
The wreck was designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act. She lies in around 65 metres of water off the north west coast of Orkney. In 1983, one propeller and part of a drive shaft were illegally salvaged. The prop was later given to Lyness museum, Orkney after protests.
Class and type: Devonshire-class armoured cruiser
Name: HMS HAMPSHIRE
Builder: Armstrong
Launched: 24 September 1903
Commissioned: 1905
Fate: Sunk by mine, 5 June 1916
General characteristics
Displacement: 10,850 long tons (11,020 t)
Length: 473 ft 6 in (144.32 m)
Beam: 68 ft 6 in (20.88 m)
Draught: 24 ft (7.3 m)
Speed: 22 knots (41 km/h)
Complement: 655 officers and men
Armament: 4 × BL 7.5-inch (190.5 mm) Mk I guns, 6 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk VII guns, 2 × 12-pounder guns, 18 × 3-pounder guns, 2 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Delandre label.
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Sources and links: Wikipedia.
Warships for Export – Armstrong Warships 1867 – 1927 by Peter Brook (a World Ship Society publication.
http://www.hmshampshire.co.uk/
Peter Crichton
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