HMS Warspite (1913)

Career
Ordered:	1912
Laid down:	October 31, 1912
Launched:	November 26, 1913
Commissioned:	March 8, 1915
Decommissioned:	February 1, 1945
Fate:	Scrapped
Struck:	1947
General Characteristics (original configuration)
Displacement:	27,500 tons standard, 33,400 tons full load
Length:	645 feet 9 inches (197 m)
Beam:	90 feet 6 inches (27.6 m)
Draught:	33 feet (10 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines, 24 boilers, 4 shafts, 56,500 hp
Speed:	24 knots (44 km/h)
Range:	4,400 miles
Complement:	925–1,220
Armament:	Eight 15-inch guns, twelve 6-inch guns, two 3-inch guns, four 47mm guns, four 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes
Aircraft:	1

HMS Warspite was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 26 November, 1913 at Devonport Royal Dockyard, with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, as well as many thousands of local people, being present at the launching. She was, and is, one of the most famous and glamorous of names in the Royal Navy. Warspite would, during World War II, gain the nickname "The Old Lady", after a comment made by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham in 1943.

Warspite, and the rest of the class, was the product of two men, both significant figures in the UK's history. One was Admiral Sir John 'Jackie' Fisher, who was First Sea Lord when the first all big-gun battleship, HMS Dreadnought, came into existence. The other was Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, who was paramount in getting the Queen Elizabeths off the drawing board and into the water; but he was also influenced in a number of decisions about the Queen Elizabeths by Lord Fisher, who had been persuaded to come out of retirement by Churchill.

Warspite's first commanding officer upon commissioning in 1915, during the First World War, was Captain Edward Montgomery Phillpotts . Warspite joined the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, and undertook a number of acceptance trials – including gunnery trials, which saw Winston Churchill present when she fired her massive 15-in gun, and suitably impressed by her accuracy and power. In late 1915, Warspite grounded in the Forth causing some damage to her hull. It had happened because she had unfortunately been led by her escorting destroyers down the small ships channel. Upon the completion of her damage repairs, Warspite rejoined the Grand Fleet – this time as part of the newly formed 5th Battle Squadron, which had been created for the Queen Elizabeths. Before the year was over, in early December, Warspite was involved in another bit of bad luck when, during an exercise, she collided with her sister-ship Barham, causing considerable damage to Warspite.

Jutland

In 1916, Warspite, and the rest of the 5th Battle Squadron, were temporarily transferred to David Beatty's Battlecruiser Fleet . On the 31st May that year, Warspite took part in her first, and largest, engagement in her career, the Battle of Jutland. During the battle, Warspite fired over 200 15-in shells, engaging a variety of German vessels, including battlecruisers and battleships. Warpite received fifteen hits from main armament guns from the German capital ships, which resulted in considerable damage to Warspite, so much so that she came close to foundering. During the battle, Warspite's steering jammed after she had attempted to avoid collision with her sister-ship Valiant. The Captain of the Warspite decided to stay on course, in effect going round in circles, rather than stop and reverse, a decision that would no doubt of made Warspite a sitting duck. Warspite's astonishing manoevres saved the crew of HMS Warrior, for the Germans switched their attention from the badly damaged cruiser, to the more tempting target of a battleship in difficulty. She gained eternal affection from the crew of Warrior, who believed Warspite's actions were intentional. The crew finally regained control of Warspite after two full circles, though the actions undertaken to stop her circling, had the negative aspect of potentially taking her straight to the German High Seas Fleet. And so, the order was given for Warspite to stop to enable repairs, which, after the crew had done the best they could to repair her, she was underway once more. Warspite would, after the Battle of Jutland, be plagued with steering problems for the rest of her life.

During the battle, many acts of bravery were displayed by the crew of Warspite, who also acted very professionally despite the pounding the ship had received. She suffered fourteen killed and many wounded during the battle. The Germans were certain that the Warspite had been sunk, but German hopes of Warspite's demise was not to be. She had sailed, despite being damaged quite considerably, for home, after being ordered to by Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas, who was commander of the 5th Battle Squadron, flying his flag in Barham. Warspite would not return quietly, however, for on her journey home, on the 1st June, she came under attack from a German U-boat which fired two torpedoes at her, both fortunately missing the target. Another attack occurred soon after, with one torpedo being launched against Warspite, that one also missing. Only a short while after that incident, Warspite confronted a U-boat directly in front of her, possibly the same U-boat that had attempted to sink her a number of times in a short space of time. Warspite, though still damaged, attempted to ram the U-boat, but the boat escaped. Warspite safely reached Rosyth, where her damage was repaired.

Armistice

Upon the completion of those repairs, Warspite returned to the Grand Fleet, rejoining the 5th Battle Squadron. Further misfortune soon struck Warspite, when she collided once more with a sister-ship, this time HMS Valiant, forcing Warspite to receive yet more repairs. In June 1917, Warspite continued to chalk up her collision score, when she collided with Destroyer . The following month, Warspite was quite literally rocked at her moorings in Scapa Flow, when HMS Vanguard, a St. Vincent-class battleship, blew up, after an explosion had occurred in one of her ammunition magazines, and which resulted in many hundreds of lives being lost from Vanguard.

In 1918, Warspite suffered another unfortunate incident, when she suffered a fire in one of her boiler rooms, causing her damage, and forcing her to received more repairs. Later that year, the moment, no doubt, all of her crew had waited for, finally arrived. On the 21st November, Warspite, along with the rest of the Grand Fleet, set sail to confront the defeated and demoralised German High Seas Fleet. It was an astonishing spectacle, with over two hundred Allied warships, the majority being of the Grand Fleet, present to meet the High Seas Fleet at the Firth of Forth. The High Seas Fleet would mostly be scuttled by the Germans in 1919 while in internment at Scapa Flow.

Inter-war

In 1919, Warspite joined the 2nd Battle Squadron , part of the newly formed Atlantic Fleet . She would spend much of her time in the Mediterranean while part of that Fleet. In 1924, Warspite took part in a Royal Fleet Review at Spithead, with King George V present at the event, and which displayed the awesome might of the Royal Navy and many new advances that had been achieved, mainly thanks to the First World War, though the traditions of the RN were still prominent in the spectacle. Later that year, Warspite began a modernisation program, though only a partial modernisation, which included the additions of new small calibre guns, as-well as increased armour protection, and the alteration of parts of her superstructure. The modernisation was completed in 1926. That same year, after spending so much time in the Mediterranean as part of the Atlantic Fleet, Warspite was finally based there when she became the flagship of Commander-in Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, as-well as also acting as flagship of the Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Fleet.

In 1930, Warspite left the sunny climes of the Mediterranean, returning home to join rejoin the Atlantic Fleet. The following year, in September, Warspite was present at Invergordon where the Fleet had converged for naval exercises. It was to be quite a notorious moment in Royal Navy history, for the Invergordon Mutiny occurred. The Warspite was the ship of the watch during the initial troubles but was at sea when the mutiny actually began and her crew did not take part.

HMS Warspite. Grand Harbour, Malta 1930s

In 1934, Warspite got another face-lift, receiving a complete modernisation, rather than the partial one in 1924. She would be completely rebuilt, from the interior to the exterior. Her superstructure was radically altered, allowing an aircraft hangar to be fitted, and changes were also made to her armament and propulsion systems and much more. The modernisation was completed in 1937, Warspite returning to active service that same year. She deployed once more to the Mediterranean, becoming flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. However, she was delayed for a number of months due to problems with her propulsion machinery, and with the steering blight left over from Jutland in 1916, still causing Warspite problems. She was further hit by two unforunate incidents, when at one she came close to hitting a passenger liner with shells, and subsequently fired, accidentally, into the Maltese city of Valletta with her anti-aircraft guns (AA). War was nearing by late 1938, and the tranquility her crew enjoyed at their base in Malta was coming to an end.

Peace shattered

In June 1939, just months away from war, Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham replaced the previous Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. He would become bonded to Warspite, his flagship, and to her crew, and where Warspite would find fame and horror during the Second World War. In September that year, on the 3rd, war was declared, the UK was once more at war with Germany, but not Italy, yet. Warspite subsequently left the Mediterranean to join the Home Fleet. Warspite become involved in a variety of hunts for German capital ships who were intent on emulating the actions of the commerce raiders of WWI. Warspite, however, made no contact with any German capital ship during her searches.

In 1940, Warspite was retuning to the Mediterranean, yet it was not to be, for the Norwegian Campaign had begun, and her presence was needed there. Warspite soon proved her worth in the campaign during an operation against a large number of German destroyers trapped in the port of Narvik, and which would become known as the Second Battle of Narvik. Vice-Admiral William 'Jock' Whitworth , leader of the operation, transferred his his flag in Warspite, on the day the battle commenced. A large amount of Royal Navy destroyers were to take part in the battle, who would engage the German destroyers, supported by the powerful Warspite.

Warspite's Fairey Swordfish, quite a fragile looking, yet vitally important bi-plane, hit and sunk the German U-boat, U-64 , making it the first aircraft to sink a U-boat in WWII. The German destroyers were soon engaged by the British destroyers, causing fierce fighting to erupt. One German ship, the Koellner, which had already been heavily damaged by British destroyer, was ripped apart by thundering broadsides from Warspite. The RN destroyers truly got into the fray, chasing after the German destroyers which were attempting to escape their inevitable destruction. Warspite made attacks on the Roeder and Giese, the former of which was destroyed by its own crew, while Giese was destroyed by the RN destroyers and Warspite. The battle was a complete success, the objective of eliminating all eight destroyers was completed with minimal loss. After remaining in the area for other duties, Warspite finally returned home safely from Norway. She was not to get any respite though, for now the Mediterranean awaited her.

New ally, new enemy

Later that month, Warspite departed Alexandria, and began her journey to the USA where she would be repaired at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton. Repairs and modifications there began in August, which included the replacement of her worn out 15-in guns for new ones, and which ended in late December. By then, Warspite was now in a country that had entered the war on the Allies side earlier that month, after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese. After working-up around the coast of North America, Warspite departed the area to join the fight in the Indian Ocean.

In January 1942, Warspite joined the Eastern Fleet, becoming the flagship of Admiral Sir James Somerville, who had, in 1927, commanded the Warspite in far more peaceful times than his return to the old majestic battleship in 1942. As part of the Eastern Fleet, Warspite was based in Ceylon, and was part of the fast group of the Fleet, which also included the two carriers Formidable and Indomitable, while four slow Revenge-class battleships, and the old carrier Hermes, were included in the slower group.

Somerville soon decided to relocated his Fleet for its own protection. He chose the Addu Atoll, part of the Maldives, to be his new base. Despite the threat of Japanese attack, Somerville had sent two heavy cruisers, Cornwall and Dorsetshire and the carrier Hermes back to Ceylon. In early April, two Japanese naval forces began the Indian Ocean raid. One force was led by a light fleet carrier, the Ryujo and included six cruisers, while the second group included five carriers which had launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, and four battleships. They were deployed to the Indian Ocean to search for Somerville's Eastern Fleet, at that time, the only significant Allied naval presence in the area. The first sighting of the Japanese occurred on 4 April 1942, and orders were soon given for the two detached cruisers to return to the Fleet. The Fast Group, including Warspite, set sail from their secret base with the objective of launching a strike against the Japanese forces within the next few days. All three ships that had been detached from the Fleet, the Cornwall, Dorsetshire and Hermes, were eventually sunk by Japanese forces with the loss of many lives. An attack on the Japanese forces by Somerville's fleet never occurred, and the Japanese soon left the region altogether, after failing to find and destroy the Eastern Fleet. The rest of Warspite's time in this theatre was largely uneventful, with only limited naval operations by the Royal Navy occurring in that theatre. Warspite departed the area in 1943, heading once more for the Mediterranean

Back in the Mediterranean

In June 1943, Warspite joined Force H, based in Gibraltar, and most famous for its part in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers El Kébir and the German battleship Bismarck. While part of Force H, Warspite took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, in July. along with the rest of the Force H battleships, which comprised of Nelson, Rodney and Valiant, and the carriers Formidable and Illustrious. She did not take part in the initial bombardment of Sicily, not bombarding the island until the 17th July, when her 15-in guns poured a heavy fire onto German positions at Catania, causing immense damage, and was no doubt demoralising for the Germans, who were stoutly defending their positions against attack by the British 8th Army.

Between the 8th and 9th September, Force H, covering the landings at Salerno, came under fierce German air-attack. Force H inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans, shooting down many German aeroplanes. On the 10th September, Warspite, who had fought the Italian Fleet during her time in the Mediterranean in 1940-41, led them, now surrendered to the Allies, into internment at Malta, a fitting tribute to the island that had refused to succumb to the dreadful and constant air raids that Malta had been subjected to by Germany and the Italians, and a fitting tribute to the majestic old Warspite, whose crew and her had suffered much to keep the Mediterranean out of Axis hands. Warspite had now seen yet another surrendering Fleet put into internment, the first in 1918 after the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. The following day, further Italian warships, including the battleship Giulio Cesare, Warspite's old adversary at the Battle of Calabria, were led into Malta by Warspite herself.

Warspite was soon back in action, on the 15th, and was back at Salerno. The American sector was in a precarious situation after the Germans had counter-attack, and the day Warspite and Valiant arrived at Salerno, they commenced a bombardment of German positions that truly displayed their terrifying firepower Their actions effectively saved the Allies from disaster, causing immense damage to the Germans in the process, and also displayed the tremendous accuracy of Warspite's 15-in guns. Disaster soon struck Warspite, however, for on the 16th, she was attacked by a large number of German aircraft, armed with an early guided missile, the FX-1400. A number missed, but one slammed into Warspite near her funnel, ripping through her decks, as if it were made of paper, causing immense damage, indeed making a large hole in the bottom of her hull, and crippling much of Warspite as it did so. A number of Warspite's crew were killed and wounded, though it could have been much more if she had sunk, which, considering her damage, really was the most likely of results of the missile hit. She was now a shadow of her former self. Her appearance had dramatically changed in just a few moments, from an imposing pristine battleship, to that of one shattered and war scarred. She was soon on the journey to Malta, being towed by United States Navy (USN) tugs, but it would be at a snails pace. She would not reach Malta until the 19th, and when there, undertook emergency repairs before being towed to Gibraltar, again at a snails pace. After repairs at Gibraltar, Warspite then moved back to the UK for further repairs at Rosyth, in March 1944.

The last duties

On the 6th June that year, Warspite took part in the epic Normandy Landings as part of the Eastern Task Force, where she bombarded German positions to cover the landing at Sword Beach, though she was without the use of one of her aft turrets, which remained disabled, yet still managed to fire hundreds of shells between the 6th and 7th. Warspite subsequently helped support the Americans on their beaches, displaying Warspite's tremendous accuracy in the process. She also helped support Gold Beach a few days later, and launched an immense bombardment that savaged Germans forces preparing a counter-attack. She was soon sent to Rosyth to be regunned, for her guns had been worn out in her bombardment marathon. On the way, Warspite set off a magnetic mine, causing heavy damage to Warspite but made it to Rosyth safely. Despite the damage, she was not to be discarded, not yet. She received only partial repairs, enough to get her back into action for bombardment duties.

She bombarded Brest, Le Havre and Walcheren, the latter of which was an assault on that island which began on the 1st November, with Warspite providing support for the troops, in what was to be the last time she fired her guns, firing hundreds of shells and showing her precise accuracy once more. After being largely inactive since Walcheren, Warspite, on the 1st February 1945, was placed in Category C Reserve. Post-WWII, there had been pleas to retain Warspite as a museum ship like Lord Horatio Nelson's HMS Victory but, unlike some American battleships, such pleas were ignored and she was sold for scrap in 1947.

She had survived Jutland, the many horrors of the Second World War, post-World War I RN cuts and in 1947, Warspite would achieve one more victory, when she escaped the indignity of the breakers yard. After already experiencing trouble on the journey to the breakers due to a storm, Warspite broke free of her anchor, subsequently running aground in Prussia Cove , a defiant end to Warspite's career, and where she would be scrapped until 1950. Warspite had gained the affections of some of the most famous figures in the UK, including some of the most revered Royal Navy commanders in its history, Sir Andrew Cunningham in particular, and became a legend, her name becoming synonymous with majesty and courage. She was arguably the greatest battleship the Royal Navy ever possessed.

See also

• HMS Warspite for other ships of this name.