20 ғасырдың британдық HMS Hampshire крейсерінің тарихы

20th century Royal Navy ship

HMS Hampshire was one of six armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Channel Fleet upon completion. After a refit, she was assigned to the reserve Third Fleet in 1909 before going to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1911. She was transferred to the China Station in 1912 and remained there until the start of the First World War in August 1914. The ship hunted for German commerce raiders until she was transferred to the Grand Fleet at the end of 1914. She was assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron upon her return home. She was transferred to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in 1916 and was present at the Battle of Jutland. Several days later, on 5 June, she was sailing to Arkhangelsk, Russia, carrying the Secretary of State for War, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, when she is believed to have struck a mine laid by a German submarine. She sank with 737 of 749 people aboard killed, including Kitchener and his staff. Rumours later circulated of German spies and sabotage being involved in the sinking. Her wreck is listed under the Protection of Military Remains Act, though parts were later salvaged. Several films have been made exploring the circumstances of her loss.

Hampshire was designed to displace The ship had an overall length of 473 feet (144 m), a beam of 68 feet (21 m) and a deep draught of 24 feet (7 m). She was powered by two 4 cylinder triple expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of The engines were powered by seventeen Yarrow and six cylindrical boilers. She carried a maximum of of coal and her complement consisted of 610 officers and ratings. Her main armament consisted of four breech loading (BL) Mk I guns mounted in four single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and one on each side. The guns fired their shells to a range of about Her secondary armament of six BL Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Four of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather. They had a maximum range of approximately with their shells. Hampshire also carried 18 quick firing (QF) 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged torpedo tubes. The ship's waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of and was closed off by transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets was also five inches thick, whilst that of their barbettes was six inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from and the conning tower was protected by of armour. was laid down by Armstrong Whitworth at their Elswick shipyard on 1 September 1902 and launched on 24 September 1903. She was completed on 15 July 1905

When the war began, she was in Wei Hai Wei, and was assigned to the small squadron led by Vice Admiral Martyn Jerram, commander in chief of the China Station. She was ordered to destroy the German radio station at Yap together with the armoured cruiser and the light cruiser En route, the ships captured the collier on 11 August and sank her; Hampshire was too short on coal by then to make the island so Jerram ordered her back to Hong Kong with the crew of the Elspeth. At the end of the month, she was ordered down to the Dutch East Indies to search for any German ships at sea, narrowly missing the German light cruiser The German ship had not been reported since the war began and she sailed into the Bay of Bengal and began preying upon unsuspecting British shipping beginning on 14 September. Hampshire was ordered there to search for Emden and remained there through October and November, together with the armed merchant cruiser , looking for the raider until she was destroyed on 9 November by Hampshire then escorted an ANZAC troop convoy through the Indian Ocean and Red Sea to Egypt. Hampshire was refitted in Gibraltar in December before returning home to serve with the Grand Fleet. She was assigned the 7th Cruiser Squadron in January 1915 and was detached in November to escort shipping in the White Sea. with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. During the battle, she was never actually engaged and only fired four salvos at the German II Scouting Group that fell well short of their targets, in addition to shooting at illusory submarine periscopes throughout the day.