If you cast your mind back to the beginning of 1914, Britain's Royal Navy was seen as the most powerful naval fleet in the world. By the summer of 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War, Britain's naval force consisted of 18 dreadnoughts, 10 battle cruisers, 20 Town cruisers, 15 scout cruisers and 200 destroyers. There was also 29 battleships of the pre-dreadnought design and 150 cruisers that were deemed old.
To give you an example of what this would have looked like, here is a break down of what you could expect from these ships:
Building of the Dreadnought took place from October 1905 and December 1906 at Portsmouth Dockyard on the south coast of Britain. This brand new design would see that the ships have the latest technology - engines that were driven solely by steam turbines. The ships design held the title of the most heavily armoured ship, housing ten 12" guns, twenty four 3" guns and five torpedo tubes that could be found under sea level. The waterline section of the hull was armoured by thick plates measuring 28cm thickness, whilst the placement of the gun turrets was also redesigned to be higher than its predecessors, to improve the accuracy in long distance firing. As if all of the wasn't enough, the main feature of the design of the Dreadnought was that it was to be faster than any other warship, reaching speeds of up to 21 knots which is a staggering speed at the time considering it was 526 feet long. To keep this ship running smoothly, it carried with it a crew of 800. It wouldn't be until 1915, that something better was built in the shape of the Super-Dreadnought, the first of its kind being named Queen Elizabeth. This new version had the added extra of carrying eight 15" guns that were able to fire a 1,920 pound projectile up to 35,000 yards.
The Royal Navy kept some Battleships in their fleets but these were normally there for back up, as they had already been deemed obsolete by the modern Dreadnoughts. Despite this, they carried breech-loading artillery, mounted on revolving turrets, with an accuracy range of over 100,000 metres.
The 1912 design of the Battlecruiser had the aim of achieving the speed of a cruiser but the striking power of a battleship. Unfortunately, whilst it carried 13.5" guns, its defence was weak, so it was redesigned. The first of this new design started being built in 1916 and was later named The Hood. It contained eight 15" guns placed in four turrets as well as twelve 5.5" guns and four anti aircraft 4" guns. As if this wasn't enough, The Hood also boasted two underwater and five surface 21" torpedo tubes and could travel at a speed of 31 knots. It took a staggering 1,341 crew members to keep the new battlecruiser going. Due to the length of time it takes to built, it wasn't completed until August 1918 and so missed most of the war.
The old style cruisers was designed around 1880 and had a top speed of 30 knots. There were two main types - Heavy Armoured Cruisers and Protector Cruisers. The Heavy Armoured Cruisers weighed in at 10,000 tons and boasted strong armoured sides to help them with the role of assisting lager battleships during sea battles. 42 of this type were built between 1885 - 1907 but it was replaced when the battlecruisers were built. The Protector Cruiser was also built from 1885 -1907, with 101 being made and had a varied weight range of between 2,000 and 14,000 tons. The Protector Cruiser had an armoured deck but lacked any side armour. During wartime it was made as light and as fast as possible so that it could carry out scouting and screening missions.
Between 1904 - 1913, 15 Scout Cruisers were built. They were to be used for scouting missions or as guards of destroyer flotillas but whilst being built for speed, they have very little and sometime no armour protection. Having said that, Scout Cruisers were the first British vessel to engage the enemy at the Battle of Jutland.
1914 saw the first of the Destroyers being built. These were small and fast warships that were to be used as defence for battle fleets. The early destroyers weighted between 500 - 800 tons and were armed with 4 - 12 torpedos and were deployed in flotillas consisting of between 4 - 20 ships, accompanying the Battleships and Battlecruisers. When needed, they could also be used for anti-submarine work and as mine layers. During the war about 450 Destroyers served with the Royal Navy and were steadily improved throughout this time as more needs had to be met. By the end of the war, the "new type" often weighed in about an estimated 1,000 tons.
The living and working conditions for those on Submarines have not improved much even today. Back then, they were a lot smaller, but could still be expected to be under the sea for a long time. This meant that what little space there was, was taken up for storing food and military supplies. With a small crew on board, each crew member had a specific role but would also find themselves undertaking over duties to ensure everything ran smoothly. Because the Submarines needed to work 24/7, the crew would work shifts to stay operational.
So that is a main overview of the vessels that made up the Royal Navy. At the outbreak of the First World War, these vessels were stationed ready for action. The larger vessels were stationed at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys and Rosyth in Scotland whilst the smaller vessels like the cruisers, destroyers, submarines and light forces were clustered around the British coast.
The Royal Navy also had a Mediterranean fleet that consisted of two Battlecruisers & eight Cruisers, who were based at Gibraltar, Malta & Alexandria. This fleet was used during operations to protect Suez and the landings at Gallipoli and were ready for action at all times. Naval forces in Canada, Australia & New Zealand were also on high alert and could be called on with a moments notice.
The Grand Fleet was the main fleet during the war and was the main one that was the target for the German's during the Battle at Jutland. It usually included 35-40 large warships, with smaller destroyers & cruisers for defence and scouting duties, making the numbers up to around 160 vessels.
There was an estimated 200,000 sailors in the Royal Navy, with many different roles to be filled. Not only was there the Captain, there was also the gunner, armourer, signal man, stoker, steward, cook, bugler and various engineers. There was the Able Seamen who were skilled in routine deck duties as well as the Landsmen who had under two years experience. Added to this were the boy sailors who were sometimes as young as 14 and would carry out menial tasks such as cleaning quarters and washing dishes.
Anger was focused on the Royal Navy by the people of Britain in 1914 when they failed to protect the British coast when the German First High Seas fleet bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool & Whitby without struggle, killing 18 innocent people.
Apart from the Battle of Jutland, the Royal Navy spent most of their time trying to get supplies to their destinations, carrying troops to the front, carrying the wounded home, all the time, battling again the German U-Boat attacks.
By the end of the war, the Royal Navy had lost two Dreadnoughts, three Battlecruisers, eleven Battleships, fifty four Submarines,twenty five Cruisers, and 64 destroyers. There were 34,642 fatalities, many of them people young boys.
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