 Howe at anchor, before October 1904 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Howe |
| Namesake | AdmiralRichard Howe |
| Builder | Pembroke Dockyard |
| Cost | £639,434 |
| Laid down | 7 June 1882 |
| Launched | 28 April 1885 |
| Commissioned | 18 July 1889 |
| Out of service | September, 1904 |
| Fate | Sold forscrap, 11 October 1910 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Admiral-classironcladbattleship |
| Displacement | 10,300long tons (10,500 t) |
| Length | 325 ft (99.1 m) (p.p.) |
| Beam | 68 ft (20.7 m) |
| Draught | 27 ft 10 in (8.5 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16.9 kn (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph) (forced draught) |
| Range | 7,200 nmi (13,300 km; 8,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 525–536 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
HMSHowe was anAdmiral-classironcladbattleship built for theRoyal Navy during the 1880s. The ship was assigned to theChannel Fleet in mid-1890 and was badly damaged when sheran aground in late 1892. After repairs were completed,Howe was transferred to theMediterranean Fleet in late 1893. She returned home in late 1896 and became aguardship in Ireland.Howe remained there until late 1901 when she was assigned to theReserve Fleet. The ship waspaid off in three years later and then sold forscrap in 1910.
The Admiral class was built in response to French ironclad battleships of theHoche andMarceau classes.[1]Howe and hersister ship,Rodney, were enlarged and improved versions ofCollingwood with a more powerful armament. The sisters had alength between perpendiculars of 325 feet (99.1 m), abeam of 68 feet (20.7 m), and adraught of 27 feet 10 inches (8.5 m) atdeep load. They displaced 10,300long tons (10,500 t) at normal load, some 800 long tons (813 t) heavier thanCollingwood, mainly due to the heavier armament, which also increased the draught by 18 inches (457 mm).[2] The ships had a complement of 525–536 officers andratings.[3]
Howe was powered by two 3-cylinder invertedcompound-expansion steam engines, each driving onepropeller. TheHumphreys engines produced a total of 7,500indicated horsepower (5,600 kW) at normaldraught and 11,500 ihp (8,600 kW) withforced draught, using steam provided by a dozencylindrical boilers.[3] The sisters were designed to reach a speed of 16knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) at normal draught andHowe reached 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph) on hersea trials, using forced draught.[2] The ships carried a maximum of 1,200 long tons (1,219 t) ofcoal that gave her a range of 7,200nautical miles (13,300 km; 8,300 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[4]
UnlikeCollingwood, the later four Admiral-class ships had a main armament of 30-calibrerifled breech-loading (BL)13.5-inch (343 mm) Mk II guns, rather than the 12-inch (305 mm) guns in the earlier ship. The four guns were mounted in two twin-gun, pear-shapedbarbettes, one forward and one aft of thesuperstructure. The barbettes were open, without hoods orgun shields, and the guns were fully exposed. The 1,250-pound (570 kg) shells fired by these guns were credited with the ability to penetrate 28 inches (711 mm) ofwrought iron at 1,000 yards (910 m), using a charge of 630 pounds (290 kg) ofsmokeless brown cocoa (SBC).[5] At maximum elevation, the guns had a range of around 11,950 yards (10,930 m) with SBC; later a charge of 187 pounds (85 kg) ofcordite was substituted for the SBC which extended the range to about 12,620 yards (11,540 m).[6] There were significant delays in the production of the heavy guns for this ship and her sisters, due to cracking in the innermost layer of the guns, that significantly delayed the delivery of these ships. Even as late as early 1890,Howe only had two of her guns installed.[7]
Thesecondary armament of the Admirals consisted of six 26-calibreBL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk IV guns on single mounts positioned on theupper deckamidships, three on eachbroadside. They fired 100-pound (45 kg) shells that were credited with the ability to penetrate 10.5 inches (267 mm) of wrought iron at 1000 yards.[5] They had a range of 8,830 yards (8,070 m) at an elevation of +15° usingprismatic black powder. Beginning around 1895 all of these guns were converted intoquick-firing guns (QF) with a much faster rate of fire. Using cordite extended their range to 9,275 yards (8,481 m).[8] For defence againsttorpedo boats the ships carried a dozenQF 6-pounder 2.2-inch (57 mm) Hotchkiss guns and 10QF 3-pdr 1.9-inch (47 mm) Hotchkiss guns. They also mounted five 14-inch (356 mm) above-watertorpedo tubes, one in the bow and four on the broadside.[2]
The armour scheme ofHowe andRodney was virtually identical to that ofCollingwood. Thewaterlinearmour belt ofcompound armour extended across the middle of the ships between the rear of each barbette for athe length of 140 feet (42.7 m). It had a total height of 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m) deep of which 6 feet 6 inches (2.0 m) was below water and 1 foot (0.3 m) above at normal load; at deep load, their draught increased by another 6 inches. The upper 4 feet (1.2 m) of the belt armour was 18 inches (457 mm) thick and the plates tapered to 8 inches (203 mm) at the bottom edge. Lateralbulkheads at the ends of the belt connected it to the barbettes; they were 16 inches (406 mm) thick at main deck level and 7 inches (178 mm) below.[9]
The barbettes ranged in thickness from 11.5 to 10 inches (292 to 254 mm) with the main ammunition hoists protected by armoured tubes with walls 12 inches thick. Theconning towers also had walls of that thickness as well as roofs 2 inches (51 mm) thick. The deck of the central armoured citadel had a thickness of 3 inches (76 mm) and the lower deck was 2.5 inches (64 mm) thick from the ends of the belt to the bow and stern.[9]
Howe, named after AdmiralRichard Howe,[10] was the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy.[11] The ship waslaid down atPembroke Dockyard on 7 June 1882,launched on 28 April 1885 and was delivered atPortsmouth on 15 November 1885, complete except for her main armament, at a cost of£639,434. She wascommissioned on 18 July 1889 to take part in fleet manoeuvres. Finally fully armed, she was assigned to the Channel Fleet in May 1890.[12] On 2 November 1892, she ran aground on ashoal offFerrol, Spain, due primarily to faulty charts,[13][14] and was salvaged with great difficulty, being finally freed byHMS Seahorse on 30 March 1893.[15] The shippaid off atChatham Dockyard for repairs and anoverhaul that cost £45,000.[16]
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In October of that year,Howe was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet where she remained until December 1896, when she became port guardship atQueenstown.[16] Captain Henry Louis Fleet was in command from January 1900 until she was paid off atDevonport on 12 October 1901, when her entire crew was transferred toHMS Empress of India, which took over as the Queenstown guardship.[17] The ship was then assigned to the Reserve Fleet and then fully decommissioned after her last manoeuvres in September 1904.[16]Howe was sold toThos. W. Ward for £25,100 on 11 October 1910 and towed toBriton Ferry,Wales, to be broken up in January 1912.[18]
