Royal Oak (1914) Royal Oak (1914)One of a class of five battleships intended for fighting in line with the main fleet, Royal Oak was engaged at Jutland. It was the first capital ship to be sunk in World War II, torpedoed at anchor in Scapa Flow.
Eight ships were originally to form the Revenge class, but only five were built. Royal Oak was laid down at Devonport Naval Dockyard on 15 January 1914, launched on 29 April 1915 and completed in May 1916. Its cost was £2,468,269.
The 381mm (15in) guns were the same as on the Queen Elizabeth class. Secondary armament was 14 152mm (6in) guns: the last time a main-deck level battery was included on a Royal Navy battleship, though they were set further back from the bows than on previous ships to minimise drenching by waves and spray. It had two 76mm (3in) AA guns and four 3-pounder guns. Four underwater 533mm (21in) torpedo tubes were fitted, with 20 torpedoes. These were removed by 1930, but in 1934–35 four torpedo tubes were fitted in the bow above the waterline, pointing abeam on each side.
Two ships of the Revenge class were ultimately built as the battlecruisers Renown and Repulse (1916). Of similar dimensions, they had six 381mm (15in) guns and turbines developing a maximum 93,958kW (126,000hp).
Mixed coal-oil firing of the boilers was in the original plan, as high speed was not a requirement, but when Admiral Fisher was re-appointed as First Sea Lord in 1914 he demanded a change to oil only, giving an additional 3.7km/h (two knots) of speed. With three boiler rooms next to one another, the flues were trunked into a single massive funnel, and searchlight positions were built up about the after casing of it. By 1939 Royal Oak was the only ship in the class not to have a black-painted peaked cowl on the funnel-top.
Beginning with HMS Ramillies, the class were the first battleships to be fitted with anti-torpedo bulges, or ‘blisters’, adding 4m (13ft) to the beam, and in Royal Oak the bulges were heightened in 1927, almost reaching the battery deck. As on other RN battleships, the original secondary armament was progressively reduced and additional AA guns fitted. Between 1917 and 1923 all ships of the class had aircraft take-off platforms fitted to the superfiring turrets; and in 1934–1935 Royal Oak had a catapult mounted on the ‘X’ turret, and an aircraft crane was placed on the port side of the mainmast. Other modernisations made at Devonport at this time were a redesigned bridge structure, improved wireless communications and improvements to AA defences, including the mounting of an eight-barrelled 2-pounder pom-pom on each side of the funnel, along with two quadruple-mount 18mm (0.7in) machine guns on each side of the conning tower.
Up to 1938 the mainmast was of pole type, supporting a derrick, but when gunnery control instrumentation was installed at the crosstrees it was fitted with additional supports as a tripod. By this time, too, additions to the tower platforms and their combining into a single housing made tower and foremast into an integrated structure. Nevertheless, in 1939 the extent of modernisation on board Royal Oak was quite limited. It still had the original engines, and its speed was no longer sufficient to maintain station with the fleet.
On commissioning, Royal Oak joined the 1st Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, took part almost immediately in the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916, and remained with the Grand Fleet until 1919, when it moved to the 2nd Battle Squadron and the Atlantic Fleet until 1922. Between then and 1924 it underwent a refit, then rejoined the 2nd Battle Squadron. From 1926 to 1934 it was flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet based at Malta. In a well-publicised episode, public disagreement between the Flag Officer on board and the captain and his chief officer led to their removal from their posts.
Specification
Dimensions |
Length 189m (620ft 6in), Beam (with bulge) 31.2m (102ft 2in), Draught 8.7m (28ft 6in), Displacement 25,991 tonnes (28,650 tons); 30,390 tonnes (33,500 tons) with bulges |
Propulsion |
18 Yarrow boilers, Parsons geared turbines developing 30,000kW (40,000hp), 4 screws |
Armament |
8 381mm (15in) Mk 1 guns, 12 152mm (6in) guns, 8 102mm (4in) guns, 4 533mm (21in) torpedo tubes |
Armour |
Belt 330mm (13in), Turret faces 330mm (13in), Barbettes 254mm (10in), Bulkhead 152mm (6in), Deck 51–25mm (2–1in) |
Range |
7400km (4200nm) at 10 knots |
Speed |
23 knots |
Complement |
997 |
Torpedo bulges
Torpedo bulges had first been fitted to shallow-draught big-gun coastal monitors operating in U-boat-infested waters off the coast of Flanders in 1917. Flattening out fore and aft, it bulged outwards from the sides, intended to keep the centre of a detonation as far away as possible from the hull plating and to deflect the destructive energy upwards and downwards. Internally divided by a longitudinal watertight partition, the outer section of the bulge was empty and subdivided into watertight cells; the inner section was filled with water admitted through openings in the bottom. In normal loading, the bulge’s top was just above the waterline. Speed was marginally reduced as a result (0.3 knots), but the staying power (and survival chances) of a ship in action were extended; the concept was soon copied by other navies. But Royal Oak succumbed to torpedoes fired from ahead and exploding against unprotected hull plates on the ship’s bottom.
A further refit took place from May 1934 to August 1936, after which it returned to the 2nd Battle Squadron as flagship with the Home Fleet. From 24 January 1937 it was back with the Mediterranean Fleet, at Gibraltar, and was involved in neutrality patrols off the Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War, taking two minor hits from incidental firing. On 4 June 1937 it returned to Plymouth and was deployed with the Home Fleet. With the outbreak of war it was moved to the Scapa Flow anchorage, where it was torpedoed in a bravura operation on the night of 14 October 1939 by U-47 (captained by Günther Prien). A first torpedo hit the bows, followed by a second salvo which scored three hits, exploding beneath the ship’s bottom. It capsized and sank within 10 minutes with the loss of 833 lives.
A veteran of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, HMS Revenge undertook escort duties in the early part of World War II, eventually being reduced to reserve status in 1943.