HMS Agincourt (1913)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Agincourt.

File:HMS Agincourt (Royal Navy battleship) .jpg HMS Agincourt at sea during her builder's trials; note the massive flying boat deck over the amidships turrets
History
Brazil
Name	Rio de Janeiro
Namesake	Rio de Janeiro
Ordered	1911
Builder	Armstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne
Yard number	792
Laid down	14 September 1911
Launched	22 January 1913
Fate	Sold December 1913 to the Ottoman Empire
History
Ottoman Empire
Name	Sultan Osman I
Namesake	Sultan Osman I
Acquired	December 1913
Fate	Sold August 1914 to the United Kingdom
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Agincourt
Cost	£2,900,000 (estimated)
Completed	20 August 1914
Acquired	3 August 1914
Commissioned	7 August 1914
Decommissioned	April 1921
Nickname(s)	Gin Palace
Fate	Sold 1922, scrapped 1924
General characteristics (in British service)
Type	Dreadnought battleship
Displacement	27,850 long tons (28,297 t) (standard) 30,860 long tons (31,355 t) (full load)
Length	671 ft 6 in (204.7 m)
Beam	89 ft (27.1 m)
Draught	29 ft 10 in (9.1 m)
Installed power	34,000 shp (25,354 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts, 4 Parsons steam turbines 22 Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range	7,000 nmi (12,960 km; 8,060 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	1268 (1917)
Armament	7 × 2 - BL 12 in (305 mm) Mk XIII guns 20 × 1 - BL 6 in (152 mm) Mk XIII guns 10 × 1 - 3 in (76 mm) guns 3 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 9 in (229 mm) Deck: 1–2.5 in (25–64 mm) Barbettes: 2–9 in (51–229 mm) Turrets: 8–12 in (203–305 mm) Conning tower: 12 in (305 mm) Bulkheads: 2.5–6 in (64–152 mm)

HMS Agincourt was a First World War dreadnought of the Royal Navy which fought at the Battle of Jutland. Her construction to a specially-impressive design was originally commissioned by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale part-built to Turkey. Then, with completion just as the war began, she was seized for use by the Royal Navy, an act which contributed to Turkey's decision to support Germany in the war.

Design

HMS Agincourt

Agincourt was ordered in 1911 as part of a dreadnought arms race in South America between Brazil, Argentina and Chile in the first decade of the Twentieth Century under the name of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilians wished to purchase a ship that would outclass those ships building for their rivals. The chief designer of Armstrong, Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, produced her outline design in his hotel bedroom in Brazil during the negotiations.

General characteristics

Agincourt had an overall length of 671 feet (204.5 m), a beam of 89 feet (27.1 m), and a draught of 29 feet 10 inches (9.1 m) at deep load. She displaced 27,850 long tons (28,297 t) at load and 30,860 long tons (31,355 t) at deep load. She had a metacentric height of 4.9 feet (1.5 m) at deep load. She had a large turning circle, but manoeuvered well despite her great length. Agincourt was considered to be a good gun platform.

She was one of the most comfortable ships in the Royal Navy and very well appointed internally. A knowledge of Portuguese was necessary to work many of the fittings—including those in the latrines—as the original instruction plates had not all been replaced when she was taken over by the British.

Propulsion

Agincourt had four Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each of which drove one propeller shaft. The high-pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the wing shafts while the low-pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the inner shafts. The three-bladed propellers were 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m) in diameter. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 34,000 shaft horsepower (25,354 kW), but achieved more than 40,000 shp (29,828 kW) during her builder's trials, slightly exceeding her designed speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).

The steam plant consisted of 22 Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers with an operating pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm²). Agincourt normally carried 1,500 long tons (1,524 t) of coal, but could carry a maximum of 3,200 long tons (3,251 t), as well as 620 long tons (630 t) of fuel oil to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for 7,000 nautical miles (12,960 km; 8,060 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Auxiliary machinary consisted of four steam-driven reciprocating electrical generators.

Armament

Agincourt mounted fourteen BL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk XIII 45-calibre guns in seven twin hydraulically powered turrets, unofficial called after the days of the week, starting from Sunday, forward to aft. This was the greatest number of turrets and heavy guns ever mounted on a battleship. The guns could be depressed to −3° and elevated to 13.5°. They fired 850-pound (386 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,725 ft/s (831 m/s); at 13.5°, this provided a maximum range of just over 20,000 yards with 4crh armour-piercing (AP) shells. During the war the turrets were modified to increase their maximum elevation to 16°, but this only extended the range to 20,435 yd (18,686 m). The rate of fire of these guns was 1.5 rounds per minute. When a full broadside was fired, observers said that: "The resulting sheet of flame was big enough to create the impression that a battle cruiser had blown up; it was awe inspiring." No damage was done to the ship when firing full broadsides, despite the common idea that doing so would break her back, but much of the ship's crockery and glassware would shatter.

As built Agincourt mounted eighteen BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XIII 50-calibre guns. Fourteen were placed in armored casemates on the upper deck and two each in the fore and aft superstructures, protected by gun shields. Two more were added abreast the bridge in pivot mounts protected by gun shields when the ship was purchased by the British. The guns could be depressed to −7° and elevated to 13°, but this was later increased to 15°. They had a range of 13,475 yd (12,322 m) at 15° when firing a 100-pound (45 kg) shell with a muzzle velocity of 2,770 ft/s (840 m/s). Their rate of fire was about five to seven rounds per minute, but this dropped to about three rounds per minute after the ready ammunition was used up because the ammunition hoists were too slow or few to keep the guns fully supplied. About 150 rounds were carried per gun.

Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by ten 3-inch (76 mm) 45-calibre quick-firing guns. These were mounted in the superstructure in pivot mounts and protected by gun shields. Agincourt also carried three 21-inch (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes; one was on each beam and the last was in the stern. The water that entered the torpedo tubes when they were fired was discharged into the torpedo flat to facilitate reloading the tube and then pumped overboard. This meant that the crew would be operating in 3 feet (0.9 m) of water if rapid fire was required. Ten torpedoes were carried for them.

Fire control

Each turret was fitted with an armoured rangefinder in the turret roof. In addition another one was mounted on top of the foretop. By the time of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, Agincourt was possibly the only dreadnought of the Grand Fleet not fitted with a Dreyer fire-control table. A fire control director was later fitted below the foretop and one turret was modified to control the entire main armament later in the war. A director for the six-inch guns was added on each side in 1916–17.

Armour

So much weight had been devoted to Agincourt's armament that little remained for her armour. Her waterline belt was just 9 inches (229 mm) thick, compared with twelve inches or more found in other British dreadnoughts. It ran some 365 feet (111.3 m), from the forward edge of 'Monday' barbette to the middle of 'Friday' barbette. Forward of this the belt thinned to six inches for about 50 feet (15.2 m) before further reducing to 4 inches (102 mm) all the way to the bow. Aft of the midships section the belt reduced to six inches for about 30 feet (9.1 m) and then thinned to four inches; it did not reach the stern, but terminated at the rear bulkhead. The upper belt extended from the main to the upper deck and was six inches thick. It ran from 'Monday' barbette to 'Thursday' barbette. The armour bulkheads at each end of the ship angled inwards from the ends of the midships armoured belts to the end barbettes and were three inches thick. Four of Agincourt's decks were armoured with thicknesses varying from 1 to 2.5 inches (25 to 64 mm).

The armour of the barbettes constituted a major weakness in Agincourt's protection. They were nine inches thick above the upper deck level, but decreased to three inches between the upper and main decks and had no armour at all below the main deck except for 'Sunday' barbette (which had three inches), and 'Thursday' and 'Saturday' barbettes (which had two inches). The turret armour was twelve inches thick on the face, 8 inches (203 mm) on the side and 10 inches (254 mm) in the rear. The turret roofs were three inches thick at the front and two inches at the rear. The casemates for the secondary armament were protected by six inches of armour and were defended from raking fire by six-inch thick bulkheads.

The main conning tower was protected by twelve inches of armor on its sides and it had a four-inch roof. The aft conning tower (sometimes called the torpedo control tower) had nine-inch sides and a three-inch roof. The communications tube down from each position was six-inches thick above the upper deck and two-inches thick below it. Each magazine was protected by two armour plates on each side as torpedo bulkheads, the first one inch thick and the second one and a half inches thick.

Agincourt had another weakness in that she was not subdivided to Royal Navy standards as the Brazilians preferred to eliminate all possible watertight bulkheads that might limit the size of the compartments and interfere with the crew's comfort. One example was the officer's wardroom, which was 85 by 60 feet (25.9 by 18.3 m) in size; much larger than anything in the Grand Fleet.

Construction

Rio de Janeiro, as Agincourt was named by her first owners, was laid down on 14 September 1911 by Armstrongs in Newcastle upon Tyne and launched on 22 January 1913. However, the rubber trade on which Brazil was reliant collapsed shortly afterward and she was put up for sale in October 1913. Brazil sold the vessel to the Ottoman Navy for £2,750,000 on 28 December 1913.

Renamed the Sultan Osman I, she underwent trials in July 1914 and was completed in August, just as the First World War began.

Seizure

The war broke out during the trials before delivery. Even though the Turkish crew had arrived to collect her, the British Government took over the vessel for incorporation into the Royal Navy. At the same time the British also took over a second Turkish battleship, a King George V class-derived vessel being built by Vickers — the Reshadiye — which was renamed HMS Erin. Such an action was allowed for in the contracts, as then-First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill did not want to risk the ships being used against the British, but it had consequences.

The takeover caused considerable ill will in Turkey, where public subscriptions had partially funded the ships. When the Ottoman government had been in a financial deadlock over the budget of the battleships, people's donations were solicited. In taverns, cafés, schools and markets many donated some amount of money for the Ottoman Navy. To encourage this campaign, plentiful donations were awarded with a medal called the "Navy Donation Medal".

This proved an important factor in turning Turkish public opinion against Britain, especially as the Turkish Navy had been pro-Britain — the Army having been pro-German. It helped put the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia (29 October 1914). As an act of generosity towards her ally, Germany sent the battlecruiser SMS Goeben (renamed Yavuz) and the light cruiser SMS Breslau (renamed Midilli); which joined the Turkish fleet in late 1914.

Royal Navy Service

The Royal Navy made modifications before commissioning her: in particular they removed the flying deck over the two centre turrets. They failed, however, to modify a number of written labels, causing problems for seamen who could not distinguish, for example, hot taps from cold. The ship was also initially fitted with Turkish style lavatories which were not popular with British sailors. At the time of the Battle of Jutland, one of her Petty Officers was James Callaghan, father of the future British Prime Minister Jim Callaghan.

Her nickname, The Gin Palace, came from her luxurious fittings (which may have led to the original high cost to the Brazilians) and a corruption of her name (A Gin Court), Pink Gin having been a popular drink among Royal Navy officers at the time.

Her name, "Agincourt", was a favourite of Churchill's, and had initially been allocated to a sixth vessel of the Queen Elizabeth-class ordered under the 1914-15 Naval Estimates, but not yet begun at the war's outbreak.

Career

Agincourt was shaking down until 7 September 1914 she joined the 4th Battle Squadron (BS) of the Grand Fleet. The fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow was not yet secure against submarine attack and much of the fleet was kept at sea. Agincourt spent forty of her first eighty days with the Grand Fleet at sea. This was the beginning of "a year and a half of inaction, only broken by occasional North Sea "sweeps" intended to draw the enemy from his bases."

On 1 January 1915 she was still assigned to the 4th BS, but had been assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron before the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.

She was reallocated to the 2nd Battle Squadron in 1918 and decommissioned in 1919. After unsuccessful attempts to sell her to the Brazilian Government she was recommissioned as a depot ship before being decommissioned again in 1921 and scrapped in 1924.

Images

• Crew members - 1914
  Crew members - 1914
• 
  HMS Agincourt with HMS Erin - 1918
• 
  HMS Agincourt - 1918

Bibliography

• Brown, David K. (2003). The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922 (reprint of the 1999 ed.). London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-531-4.
• Burt, R. A. (1986). British Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-863-8.
• Friedman, Norman (2008). Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-555-4.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1922. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Gibbons, Tony (1983). The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships: A Technical Directory of Capital Ships from 1860 to the Present Day. New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 0-517-37810-8.
• Hough, Richard (1967). The Great Dreadnought: The Strange Story of H.M.S. Agincourt: The Mightiest Battleship of World War I. New York: Harper & Row. OCLC 914101.
• Massie, Robert (2004). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War. New York: Random House. ISBN 0224040928.
• Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships (reprint of the 1957 ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
• Tarrant, V. E. (1999). Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916 (reprint of the 1995 ed.). London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 1-86019-917-8.

External links

• Maritimequest HMS Agincourt Photo Gallery
• Agincourt Class Battleship - includes a diagram of her layout
• Navypedia - Agincourt battleship