Light cruiser HMS Dublin

The light cruiser HMS Dublin belonged to the Town class, the subcategory Chatham class, which consisted of three ships for the Royal Navy and three ships for the Australian Navy.

 

Launching and design:

The three light cruisers of the Chatham class were a subcategory of the Town class. In contrast to the predecessor ships of the Weymouth class, the waterline armor has now been reinforced, but the deck armor has been reduced slightly.

The main armament served eight 6-inch (152 -mm) single guns, which were provided with a shield and now far enough apart that a hit could not set several guns at the same time out of action.

The launching of the HMS Dublin took place on April 30, 1912, the commissioning in March 1913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

History of HMS Dublin:

After the commissioning and the test drives, the ship was first assigned to the first battle squadron.

In July 1913, the transfer was made to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of Home Fleet and end of 1913 in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean.

 

 

 

Use in the war:

After in the Mediterranean the German battle cruiser SMS Goeben and the small cruiser SMS Breslau had shot at two Algerian ports, they ran on 4 August 1914 past the two British battlecruisers HMS Indomitable and HMS Indefatigable direction Messina. Since at this time, although war between France and the German Empire, but not yet prevailed with Great Britain, pursued the two British ships, the Germans only. Bizerta's HMS Dublin was called in as reinforcement. Since the two British battle cruisers were slower than the Germans, only the Dublin had visual contact in the evening. When fog set in and it got too dark, Dublin also lost contact and had to stop the persecution.

After the German ships expelled again on 6 August, the British ships pursued them again. After some course changes on 7 August the HMS Dublin with the destroyers HMS Beagle and HMS Bulldog had to pursue the persecution and should stop or sink the SMS Goeben with a night torpedo attack, because at that time there was also war between the German Empire and Great Britain.

On the calculated course, the ships could not discover the Goeben, but the SMS Breslau. However, as this was faster than the British ships, it was only briefly tracked. Since the Goeben could not be found, the search had to be canceled again and was moved back to Malta.

At the beginning of 1915, when the Dardanelles landing company began, HMS Dublin remained in Malta, securing the route between Malta and Suez. Only at the end of February 1915 she was also used by the Dardanelles and shelled Ottoman coastal fortifications.

When Italy joined the British side in the war, Dublin was used to support the Italian Navy. The ship fired at the beginning of June positions of the Austro-Hungarian troops on the Adriatic coast. The ship itself was torpedoed on June 9, 1915 by the Austrian submarine SM U-4. Twelve crew members died in the attack and the ship was damaged so badly that it had to return to the UK.

After the HMS Dublin was operational again, the ship was assigned to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. With this association, the ship participated in the Battle of the Skagerrak from 31 May to 1 June 1916. Together with the HMS Southampton could the German torpedo boat SMS S 35 sunk, even the ship, however, also had serious damage. In the battle 3 crew members died, 27 were injured. The subsequent repair lasted until June 17, 1916.

The last use of the war took place on 3 May 1917, when the Dublin together with the four destroyers HMS Nepean, HMS Obdurate, HMS Pelican and HMS Pylades controlled the area between the Firth of Forth and the Humber. The ship was attacked by a total of three German submarines and the airship Zeppelin L-43, but remained undamaged.

 

 

 

Whereabouts:

After World War I HMS Dublin changed to the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron and later to the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean.

In 1924, the ship was finally decommissioned, sold in July 1926 to the company J. J. King and scrapped until July 1927 in Troon.

 

 

 

Ship data:

Name:	HMS Dublin
Country:	Great Britain
Ship Type:	Light cruiser
Class:	Town-Class (Subcategory Chatham-Class)
Boatyard:	Wm. Beardmore & Co., Dalmuir
Building-costs:	unknown
Launched:	April 30, 1912
Commissioning:	March 1913
Whereabouts:	Sold in July 1926 and scrapped in Troon until July 1927
Length:	139,6 meters
Width:	14,9 meters
Draft:	Max. 4,8 meters
Displacement:	Max. 6.000 tons
Crew:	429–475 men
Drive:	12 Yarrow steam boilers 4 Parsons steam turbines
Power:	25.000 PSw
Maximum speed:	25,5 kn
Armament:	8 x 6 "/ 50 BL Mk XI (15,2 cm L / 50) 4 x 3 Pdr 1.85 "/ 50 QF (4,7-cm L / 50) 4 x machine guns 2 x torpedo tubes 53,3-cm
Armor:	Deck 50-76 mm Slopes 20 mm Command tower 102 mm

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

British Battleships of World War One

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

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

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)

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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