1st July 1914 HMS Lord Nelson 
HMS Lord Nelson - Dardanelles 1915
Name: HMS Lord Nelson, Builder: Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow
Cost: £1,651,339, Laid down: 18 May 1905, Launched: 4 September 1906,
Completed: October 1908
Commissioned: 1 December 1908, Decommissioned: May 1919, Fate: Sold for scrapping, 4 June 1920
HMS Lord Nelson was a Lord Nelson-class pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1906 and completed in 1908. She was the Royal Navy's last pre-dreadnought. The ship was flagship of the Channel Fleet when World War I began in 1914. Lord Nelson was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She remained there, becoming flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was later redesignated the Aegean Squadron. After the Ottoman surrender in 1918 the ship moved to the Black Sea where she remained as flagship before returning to the United Kingdom in May 1919. Lord Nelson was placed into reserve upon her arrival and sold for scrap in June 1920.
Construction and description
HMS Lord Nelson was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 18 May 1905 and launched on 4 September 1906. Her completion was greatly delayed by the diversion of her 12-inch (305 mm) guns and turrets to expedite completion of Dreadnought, and she was not fully completed until October 1908. Although she was not the last pre-dreadnought laid down for the Royal Navy, she was the last one commissioned.
Lord Nelson displaced 17,820 long tons (18,106 t) at deep load as built, with a length of 443 feet 6 inches (135.2 m), a beam of 79 feet 6 inches (24.2 m), and a draft of 26 feet (7.9 m). She was powered by two four-cylinder inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines, which developed a total of 16,750 indicated horsepower (12,490 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).[1]
She was armed with four 12-inch guns arranged in two twin gun turrets, one turret each fore and aft. Her secondary armament consisted of ten 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns, eight in twin gun turrets on each corner of the superstructure, and a single gun turret between them. For defence against torpedo boats, Lord Nelson carried twenty-four QF 12-pounder 18 cwt guns and two 3-pounder guns. She also mounted five submerged 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes for which 23 torpedoes were stowed aboard.
Service Pre-World War I
HMS Lord Nelson was first commissioned in reserve on 1 December 1908 at Chatham Dockyard, being attached to the Nore Division of the Home Fleet with a nucleus crew. She first went into full commission on 5 January 1909 to relieve the battleship HMS Magnificent as flagship of the Nore Division, Home Fleet, and in April 1909 became part of the First Division, Home Fleet. She was transferred in January 1911 to the Second Division of the Home Fleet, and in May 1912 to the 2nd Battle Squadron. She was temporarily attached in September 1913 to the 4th Battle Squadron. In April 1914, she relieved the battleship HMS Queen as Flagship, Vice Admiral, Channel Fleet.
World War I
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Lord Nelson became flagship of the Channel Fleet and was based at Portland. With other ships, she covered the safe transport of the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Sir John French, to France. On 14 November 1914, she transferred to Sheerness to guard the English coast against the possibility of a German invasion. The ship returned to Portland Harbour on 30 December 1914 and patrolled the English Channel until February 1915.
Dardanelles campaign, 1915-1916
In February 1915, Lord Nelson was ordered to the Dardanelles to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She departed Portland on 18 February 1915 and joined the British Dardanelles Squadron at Mudros on 26 February 1915. She took part in the bombardment of the inner forts and supported the initial landings in early March 1915. The Ottoman Turkish forts engaged her heavily on 7 March 1915 and hit her several times, including by a stone cannon ball which landed on the deck and was kept as a souvenir by the Flag Officer, Arthur Baker, at Longcross Church; she suffered damage to her superstructure and rigging and was holed by one hit below the waterline which flooded two coal bunkers. After repairs at Malta, the ship returned to take part in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March 1915. Later she bombarded Ottoman field batteries on 6 May 1915 prior to the Second Battle of Krithia.
Lord Nelson relieved the battleship Queen Elizabeth as flagship of the British Dardanelles Squadron on 12 May 1915, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Rosslyn Erskine-Wemyss. On 20 June 1915, she bombarded docks and shipping at Gallipoli, aided by the spotting of a kite balloon, and inflicted significant damage. Lord Kitchener made his headquarters aboard her in November 1915 and, on 22 December 1915, Lord Nelson hoisted the flag of Vice Admiral John de Roebeck when he succeeded Wemyss.
Mediterranean operations, 1916-1918
With the end of the Dardanelles Campaign in January 1916, during which Lord Nelson had suffered no casualties, British naval forces in the area were reorganized and Lord Nelson became flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was redesignated the Aegean Squadron in August 1917; under either name, the squadron was dispersed throughout the area to protect Allied-held islands, support the British Army at Salonika, and guard against any attempted breakout from the Dardanelles by the German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau. Lord Nelson spent the remainder of the war based at Salonika and Mudros, alternating between the two bases with her sister ship Agamemnon; the ship was based mostly at Salonika, with Agamemnon at Mudros.
According to naval historian Ian Buxton, the most important role of the Royal Navy was to blockade the Dardanelles and thus guard the Eastern Mediterranean against a breakout by Goeben. On 12 January 1918, Rear-Admiral Arthur Hayes-Sadler hoisted his flag aboard Lord Nelson at Mudros as the new commander of the Aegean Squadron. Needing transportation to Salonika for a conference with the British Army commander there, and finding his personal yacht unavailable, Hayes-Sadler opted to have Lord Nelson take him there and thus she was not present when Goeben and Breslau finally made their breakout attempt on 20 January 1918. The ship could not get back to the Dardanelles in time to participate in the resulting Battle of Imbros or intercept Goeben before she gained shelter in the Dardanelles. Lord Nelson was given a short refit at Malta in October 1918.
Post-World War I
Lord Nelson was part of the British squadron that went to Constantinople in November 1918 following the armistice with the Ottoman Empire, after which she served as flagship in the Black Sea. In April 1919, she conveyed Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Peter of Russia from the Black Sea to Genoa.
Lord Nelson returned to the United Kingdom in May 1919 and was placed in reserve until August, when she was placed on the sale list. On 4 June 1920, she was sold to Stanlee Shipbreaking Company of Dover. She was resold to Slough Trading Company on 8 November 1920, then again to German scrappers. She was towed to Germany for scrapping in January 1922.
John Doran
20th January 1918 Battle of Imbros 1918 The Battle of Imbros was a naval action that took place during the First World War. The battle occurred on 20 January 1918 when an Ottoman squadron engaged a flotilla of the British Royal Navy off the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea. A lack of heavy Allied warships in the area allowed the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavûz Sultân Selîm and light cruiser Midilli to sortie into the Mediterranean and attack the British monitors and destroyers at Imbros before assaulting the naval base at Mudros. Although the Ottoman forces managed to complete their objective of destroying the British monitors at Imbros, the battle turned sour for them as they sailed through a minefield while withdrawing. Midilli was sunk and Yavûz Sultân Selîm heavily damaged. Although Yavûz Sultân Selîm managed to beach herself within the Dardanelles, she was subjected to days of air attacks until she was towed to safety. With the most modern cruiser of the Ottoman Navy sunk and her only battlecruiser out of action, the battle effectively curtailed the Ottoman Navy's offensive capability until the end of the war.
Prelude
By January 1918, the situation for the Ottoman Army in Palestine had begun to falter. The new German commander of the Ottoman Black Sea fleet, Rebeur Paschwitz, decided to try to relieve Allied naval pressure on Palestine by making a sortie out of the Dardanelles. Several British naval elements of the Aegean Squadron had been taking refuge in Kusu Bay off the islands of Imbros and they were a prime target for an Ottoman raid. After raiding what shipping could be found at Imbros, Rebeur-Paschwitz would then turn to Mudros and attack the British naval base there. The Allied force guarding the Dardanelles consisted of a few heavy British and French units as well as several monitors tasked with coastal bombardment. Escorting the monitors were several British destroyers. The pre-dreadnought battleships HMS Agamemnon and HMS Lord Nelson were also tasked with guarding the area, but the Lord Nelson had been tasked with ferrying the squadron's admiral to a conference at Salonika. Taking advantage of the absence of the British battleship, the Germans and Ottomans decided to dispatch the battlecruiser Yavûz Sultân Selîm (ex-SMS Goeben) and the light cruiser Midilli (ex-SMS Breslau) to attack the area. The Allied forces at Imbros on 20 January consisted of the monitors HMS Raglan and HMS M28 as well as the Acheron-class destroyers HMS Tigress and HMS Lizard. Agamemnon was nearby at Mudros, but she was much too slow to chase down the Ottoman ships if they wanted to avoid engaging her. Without the Agamemnon and Lord Nelson the British were severely undergunned in comparison to the Ottoman ships.
The Tigress and Lizard both were armed with two 4-inch guns, two 12 pounders and two 21-inch torpedo tubes. They were swift ships capable of making 27 knots at best speed. The two monitors present at Imbros were better suited for coastal bombardment than naval combat, though their heavy guns gave them an element of firepower the destroyers lacked. Raglan, an Abercrombie-class monitor, was armed with two 14-inch guns, two 6-inch guns and two 3-inch guns. M28 was a smaller vessel than Raglan and as such carried a lighter armament sporting a single 9.2-inch cannon, one 12 pounder, as well as a six pounder anti-aircraft gun. The biggest weak point of both Raglan and M28 were their low top speeds of 7 and 11 knots respectively, giving them little capability to escape an Ottoman raid.
In contrast to the British force, the Ottoman vessels were both fast and heavily armed. Midilli sported eight 150 mm cannons, 120 mines, two torpedo tubes, and a top speed of 25 knots. Yavûz Sultân Selîm was the most powerful ship in the Ottoman fleet with a top speed of 25.5 knots, ten 283 mm guns, twelve 150 mm guns, a dozen 8.8-centimetre guns and four torpedo tubes. Thus, with no heavy units available to repel them, there was little in the means of effective Allied opposition when the Ottomans set out on their mission.
Battle
Setting out towards Imbros, the Yavûz Sultân Selîm struck a mine on transit to the island, but the damage was insignificant and the two Ottoman vessels were able to continue their mission. Yavûz Sultân Selîm then proceeded to bombard the British signal station at Kephalo Point while the Midilli was sent ahead to guard the entrance of Kusu Bay. As the Yavûz Sultân Selîm and Midilli approached Kusu Bay, they were sighted by the destroyer HMS Lizard at 0530. The Lizard attempted to engage the Ottoman ships, but could not close to torpedo range due to heavy fire from her opponents. The Yavûz Sultân Selîm soon sighted the two British monitors taking refuge in the bay and broke off from Lizard to engage them. As Yavûz Sultân Selîm attacked the monitors, Midilli continued to duel with Lizard who was then joined by the destroyer HMS Tigress. Lizard and Tigress attempted to shield the monitors from Yavûz Sultân Selîm by laying a smoke screen, but this was ineffective. The monitors were both much too slow to evade Yavûz Sultân Selîm and she was able to score numerous hits on the Raglan, hitting her foretop and killing her gunnery and direction officers. The Raglan attempted to return fire with its 6 and 14 inch guns, but scored no hits on the German vessels before her main armament was knocked out when a shell pierced its casemate and ignited the ammunition within it. Shortly after she was disarmed, the Raglan was hit in her magazine by one of Goeben's 11 inch shells causing the monitor to sink. After Raglan was sunk, the Ottoman battlecruiser began turned her attention to HMS M28, striking her amidships and setting her alight before she was sunk when her magazine exploded at 0600. With the two monitors sunk, the Ottomans decided to break off the engagement and head south in an attempt to raid the allied naval base at Mudros. Upon withdrawing from Kusu Bay, the Ottoman force accidentally sailed into a minefield and were shadowed by the two British destroyers they had previously engaged. In addition to the destroyers, several British and Greek aircraft were launched from Mudros to engage the Germans. In the meantime, Greek ace Aristeidis Moraitinis, managed to shoot down three enemy seaplanes with his Sopwith Camel. With the approach of enemy aircraft the Midilli, which had been following the Yavûz Sultân Selîm, took the lead so as to take advantage of her heavier anti-aircraft armament. Midilli then struck a mine near her aft funnel and shortly afterwards Yavûz Sultân Selîm hit one as well. Within half an hour the Midilli had struck four more mines and began to sink. The Yavûz Sultân Selîm attempted to rescue the Midilli but also struck a mine and was forced to withdraw. Fleeing towards the safety of the Dardanelles, Yavûz Sultân Selîm was pursued by Lizard and Tigress. In order to cover the Yavûz Sultân Selîm four Ottoman destroyers and an old cruiser rushed out to engage the British destroyers. After the lead Ottoman destroyer began to take hits, the Ottoman squadron was forced to withdraw back up the Dardanelles. As the British destroyers approached Cape Helles, they were fired upon by Ottoman shore batteries and withdrew.
In addition to the Lizard and Tigress, a dozen British seaplanes from Ark Royal were launched to finish off the Yavûz Sultân Selîm. Although they managed to score two hits against the battlecruiser, the Ottoman ship was by this time near the coast. The combined efforts from ten Ottoman seaplanes as well as heavy anti-aircraft fire were able to drive off the air attacks, downing one Sopwith Baby and damaging another aircraft.
The four Ottoman destroyers returned and guarded the Yavûz Sultân Selîm as she sailed up the Dardnelles. Severely damaged, the Ottoman battlecruiser ran aground on a sandbar off Nagara Point and became stranded. The next six days saw further air attacks by Allied seaplanes against the Ottoman battlecruiser, with six hits being scored against her. Ottoman seaplanes and heavy shore batteries responded to the raids and were able to guard the Yavûz Sultân Selîm and beat back the air attacks. Despite the air raids, the Yavûz Sultân Selîm suffered only superficial damage from them as the 65-pound bombs used by the British were too small to be effective. Allied commanders proposed plans for a submarine raid against the battlecruiser, but the only submarine attached to the Aegean squadron, HMS E12, had mechanical problems and was inoperative. A raid into the Dardanelles was therefore postponed until a working submarine could be dispatched to the area.
Aftermath
With no way to free herself, the Yavûz Sultân Selîm remained stranded on the sandbar until 26 January when the Turgut Reis finally arrived and towed her back into the Black Sea. In one last effort to destroy the battlecruiser, the British sent the submarine HMS E14 into the Dardnelles on 27 January. The Yavûz Sultân Selîm had already left the area and so E14 began sailing back to Allied waters after discovering the battlecruiser's absence. Sighting an Ottoman freighter, the British submarine attempted to engage her with torpedoes. The second torpedo fired exploded prematurely.
In the resulting explosion the submarine was damaged and was forced to try to flee the straits. She came under heavy fire from the nearby Ottoman shore batteries and was eventually beached with her commander, Geoffrey Saxton White, and another sailor killed and seven captured. White was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his efforts to beach the submarine and save its crew. Although the Ottoman force was able to destroy the British monitors they set out to engage, their losses traversing the minefield after the engagement in Kusu Bay negated any impact the British losses had in their favour. With the Midilli sunk and Yavûz Sultân Selîm severely damaged, the threat of the Ottoman Navy to the Allies was greatly reduced for the remainder of the war. Despite the removal of these two vessels from the Ottoman battle line, the commanders of the British Aegean Squadron were still criticized for having dispatched both of their heavy units too far from the Dardanelles to engage the Ottomans. If the Agamemnon or Lord Nelson had been at their posts during the Ottoman raid, the Yavûz Sultân Selîm might have been destroyed, eliminating her threat once and for all rather than having her escape.
John Doran
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