Armored cruiser HMS Cumberland

The armored cruiser HMS Cumberland belonged to the Monmouth class, which consisted of a total of 10 ships, were weakly armed and armored and should only serve the rapid construction of many armored cruisers.

 

Launching and design:

End of the 20th century, the construction of a successor of the Drake and Cressy class was decided. However, the British Navy Ministry put less emphasis on quality in the new ship class but wanted a large amount of armored cruisers that were quick and inexpensive to build.

The class, which was designed for 10 ships, accordingly had less displacement and was also armored rather lightly, with large-caliber projectiles penetrating the armor without much resistance. The armament was relatively weak with fourteen 6-inch (15.2-cm) guns and would have done little damage to heavily armored ships. Of the 14 guns four were placed in twin towers at the stern and at the bow, the rest were in casemates on the side, where only the upper were used in medium and heavy seas there.

The HMS Cumberland was completed together with the HMS Cornwall as the last ship of the class.

The launching of the HMS Cumberland took place on 16 December 1902, the commissioning on 1 December 1904.

 

 

HMS Cumberland

 

Casemate arrangement of the HMS Cumberland

 

 

 

History of HMS Cumberland:

After the commissioning and the test drives the HMS Cumberland was assigned together with the sister ship HMS Cornwall the Cruiser Squadron of the channel fleet, which divided itself 1905 into the 1. and 2. Kreuzergeschwader.

From mid-1905, the squadron went first in the Mediterranean, later in the US and Canada and returned at the end of the year to Gibraltar.

From September 3, 1907, the ship served as a training ship for the cadets of the Britannia Royal Naval College. This function kept the ship until the outbreak of the First World War.

 

 

 

Use in the war:

When World War I broke out, HMS Cumberland, as well as HMS Cornwall, was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron in West Africa.

From September 1914, the ship participated in the attacks on the German colony Cameroon. On September 27, 1914 Dualas, the capital of the colony was attacked, while 11 German merchant ships were seized.

After a brief return to the UK in January 1915, HMS Cumberland was sent to the West Indies and North America Station to protect the sea and trade routes in the area.

When the US entered the war on Britain's side, the Cumberland was used to secure convoys between the two countries.

 

 

 

Whereabouts:

After the war, the HMS Cumberland initially served as a training ship until it was replaced on April 13, 1920 by the battleship HMS Temeraire.

Following the ship was decommissioned, on May 9, 1921 to the company T.W. Wards sold and scrapped from 28 March 1923 in Briton Ferry.

 

 

 

Ship data:

Name:  

HMS Cumberland

Country:  

Great Britain

Ship Type:  

Armored cruiser

Class:  

Monmouth-Class

Boatyard:  

London & Glasgow Shipbuilding Co., Govan

Building-costs:  

unknown

Launched:  

December 16, 1902

Commissioning:  

December 1, 1904

Whereabouts:  

Sold on May 9, 1921 and scrapped in Briton Ferry from March 28, 1923

Length:  

141,42 meters

Width:  

20,12 meters

Draft:  

Max. 7,6 meters

Displacement:  

Max. 9.800 tons

Crew:  

678 men

Drive:  

31 Belleville water tube boiler

2 four-cylinder
Triple expansion engines

Power:  

22.000 PSi

Maximum speed:  

23 kn

 

Armament:

 

14 × 6 " 152 mm L/45 Mk.VII / Mk.VIII guns

9 × 12-pdr 76-mm rapid-fire guns

2 × 457-mm torpedo tubes

Armor:  

Belted tank 50-100 mm

Casemates 50-100 mm

Towers 127 mm

Barbettes 127 mm

Deck 50-170 mm

Command tower 250 mm

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

British Battleships of World War One

British Battleships of World War One Hardcover – November 15, 2012

This new edition of a classic work on British battleships is the most sought after book on the subject. Containing many new photographs from the author's exhaustive collection this superb reference book presents the complete technical history of British capital ship design and construction during the dreadnought era. Beginning with Dreadnought, all of the fifty dreadnoughts, 'super-dreadnoughts' and battlecruisers that served the Royal Navy during this era are described and superbly illustrated with photographs and line drawings.

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The British Battleship: 1906-1946

The British Battleship: 1906-1946 Hardcover – October 15, 2015

Norman Friedman brings a new perspective to an ever-popular subject in The British Battleship: 1906-1946. With a unique ability to frame technologies within the context of politics, economics, and strategy, he offers unique insight into the development of the Royal Navy capital ships. With plans of the important classes commissioned from John Roberts and A D Baker III and a color section featuring the original Admiralty draughts, this book offers something to even the most knowledgeable enthusiast.

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British Battlecruisers 1905-1920

British Battlecruisers 1905-1920 Hardcover – December 15, 2016

The brainchild of Admiral Sir John Fisher, battlecruisers combined heavy guns and high speed in the largest hulls of their era. Conceived as "super-cruisers" whose job it was to hunt down and destroy commerce raiders, their size and gun-power led to their inclusion in the battlefleet as a fast squadron of capital ships. This book traces in detail the development of Fisher's original idea into the first battlecruiser Invincible of 1908, through to the "Splendid Cats" of the Lion class, and culminating in HMS Hood in 1920, the largest warship in the world for the next twenty years. The origins of the unusual "light battlecruisers" of the Courageous type are also covered.

The well-publicized problems of British battlecruisers are examined, including the latest research throwing light on the catastrophic loss of three of the ships at the Battle of Jutland. The developmental history is backed by chapters covering machinery, armament, and armor, with a full listing of important technical data. The comprehensive collection of illustrations includes the author's superb drawings and original Admiralty plans reproduced in full color. This revised and updated edition of the classic work first published in 1997 will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the most charismatic and controversial warships of the dreadnought era.

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British Battlecruiser vs German Battlecruiser: 1914–16 (Duel)

British Battlecruiser vs German Battlecruiser: 1914–16 (Duel) Paperback – November 19, 2013

Battles at Dogger Bank and Jutland revealed critical firepower, armor, and speed differences in Royal Navy and Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) Battlecruiser designs.

Fast-moving and formidably armed, the battlecruisers of the British and German navies first encountered one another in 1915 at Dogger Bank and in the following year clashed near Jutland in the biggest battleship action of all time. In the decade before World War I Britain and Germany were locked in a naval arms race that saw the advent of first the revolutionary dreadnought, the powerful, fast-moving battleship that rendered earlier designs obsolete, and then an entirely new kind of vessel - the battlecruiser. The brainchild of the visionary British admiral John 'Jacky' Fisher, the battlecruiser was designed to operate at long range in 'flying squadrons', using its superior speed and powerful armament to hunt, outmanoeuvre and destroy any opponent. The penalty paid to reach higher speeds was a relative lack of armour, but Fisher believed that 'speed equals protection'. By 1914 the British had ten battlecruisers in service and they proved their worth when two battlecruisers, Invincible and Inflexible, sank the German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off the Falklands in December 1914.

Based on a divergent design philosophy that emphasised protection over firepower, the Germans' battlecruisers numbered six by January 1915, when the rival battlecruisers first clashed at Dogger Bank in the North Sea. By this time the British battlecruisers had been given a new role - to locate the enemy fleet. Five British battlecruisers accompanied by other vessels intercepted and pursued a German force including three battlecruisers; although the battle was a British tactical victory with neither side losing any of its battlecruisers, the differences in the designs of the British and German ships were already apparent. The two sides responded very differently to this first clash; while the Germans improved their ammunition-handling procedures to lessen the risk of disabling explosions, the British drew the opposite lesson and stockpiled ammunition in an effort to improve their rate of fire, rendering their battlecruisers more vulnerable. The British also failed to improve the quality of their ammunition, which had often failed to penetrate the German ships' armour.

These differences were highlighted more starkly during the battle of Jutland in May 1916. Of the nine British battlecruisers committed, three were destroyed, all by their German counterparts. Five German battlecruisers were present, and of these, only one was sunk and the remainder damaged. The limitations of some of the British battlecruisers' fire-control systems, range-finders and ammunition quality were made clear; the Germans not only found the range more quickly, but spread their fire more effectively, and the German battlecruisers' superior protection meant that despite being severely mauled, all but one were able to evade the British fleet at the close of the battle. British communication was poor, with British crews relying on ship-to-ship flag and lamp signals even though wireless communication was available. Even so, both sides claimed victory and the controversy continues to this day.

Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

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