HMS Terror: История боевой службы монитора Первой и Второй мировых войн.

Erebus class monitor

HMS Terror was an Erebus class monitor built for the Royal Navy during the First World War in Belfast. Completed in 1916, she was assigned to the Dover Patrol where her primary duties involved bombarding German targets on the coast of occupied Belgium, particularly at the ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend. In October 1917 Terror was hit by three torpedoes, taking severe damage to the bow, and had to be towed into Portsmouth for repair. In April 1918 she participated in the Zeebrugge raid and provided gunnery support for the Fifth Battle of Ypres in September of the same year. After the war the monitor was attached to HMS Excellent, the Royal Navy's gunnery school in Portsmouth and participated in gunnery trials in the 1920s. In January 1934 Terror became the base ship at Sembawang Naval Base in Singapore where she remained for the rest of the decade. From May 1939 to the end of the year she underwent an extensive refit in Singapore's dockyards. After the outbreak of the Second World War and the completion of her refit, Terror was ordered home to Europe in January 1940. From early March, she served in the Mediterranean and defended Malta from Italian air raids before supporting the land based assault of Italian positions in North Africa at the end of the year. In January 1941 the ship helped capture Bardia and Tobruk before attempting to defend Benghazi from German air attacks in February. After being damaged by two air attacks and two mines on 22 and 23 February, Terror was scuttled off the coast of Libya in the early hours of 24 February. The crew were evacuated to the minesweeper and corvette before she sank.

During the First World War, the Royal Navy developed several classes of ships which were designed to give close support to troops ashore through the use of naval bombardment. Termed monitors, they owed little to the monitors of the 19th century, though they shared the characteristics of poor seaworthiness, shallow draught and heavy armament in turrets. The size of the various monitor classes of the Royal Navy and their armaments varied greatly. The was the United Kingdom's first attempt at a monitor carrying guns. Following construction of the first two of the Marshall Ney class, another four were ordered in May 1915, with the Harland and Wolff shipyard at Govan receiving a contract to construct two hulls, which were given yard numbers 492 and 493. However, all four were cancelled in June when it was realised that there were insufficient gun turrets to complete both the battleship, , and the monitors before 1917. By August 1915, , the first of her class, had revealed a very poor performance in her sea trials. The monitor's engines would not start reliably and were prone to stalling, making it impossible for the ship to achieve even the minimum standard for the trial of four hours of continuous sailing at full power. The vessel was also difficult to steer. Disappointed by the failure, the Admiralty began the design of a replacement class on 6 September, which incorporated lessons learned from all of the previous classes of monitor commissioned during the war. Some of the main modifications were an increase in the power supply to guarantee a speed of and a change to the angles and lines of the hull to improve steering. Another significant change was to raise the top of the anti torpedo bulge above the waterline and reduce its width; both changes would improve the stability and maneuverability of the ship at sea. The bulge was fitted along each side of the ship and was intended to absorb the impact of any explosions. To maintain protection while reducing the bulge's width, its inner compartment was made water tight and filled with 70 steel tubes, rather than leaving the inner compartment open to the sea as in previous designs.

The new design, which would later be named the Erebus class, was for a vessel 405 feet (123 m) long, 88 feet (27 m) wide with a draught of 11 feet (3 m). It would have loaded displacement, with a maximum operational speed of produced by triple expansion steam engines with two shafts, and a crew of 204. Power would be provided by four Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers, which would generate a combined The monitors would have an operational range of at a speed of 12knots. With the main 15 in guns being originally intended for use on a battleship, the armour for the turret was substantially thicker than elsewhere in the design; with on the front, on the other sides and on the roof. The conning tower was protected by of armour on the sides and on the roof. Each anti torpedo bulge was 13 feet (4 m) wide with an outer air filled compartment 9 feet (3 m) wide and an inner compartment 4 feet (1 m) wide containing the steel tubes. The ship's main armament consisted of two BL 15in Mk I naval guns in a single forward turret. Terror's turret had previously been installed on Marshal Ney, which had been rearmed with smaller guns following its poor sea trials. Learning from the earlier experience with Ney, the turrets were adjusted to increase elevation to 30 degrees, which would add greater firing range.

Within a few months of launch, Terror's armament was supplemented by two QF 6 inch naval guns with a second 3in gun following soon after. Additional guns were fitted while her bow was being repaired from October 1917; two more 6in guns and two 2 pdr (40 mm) "pom poms", which fired projectiles. In the summer of 1918 the 6in guns were replaced with eight BL 4in Mk IX naval guns. The 12pdr and 2pdr guns were removed during Terror's 1933 refit while the ship's capacity for oil and ammunition reserves were increased for her journey to Singapore. During the monitor's 1939 refit her eight 4 inch guns were replaced with six QF 4 in Mk V high angle anti aircraft guns and the 3in anti aircraft guns were replaced by eight Vickers machine guns in two quadruple mounts. At the same time, her ageing 15in gun barrels were replaced by partly worn barrels from the old battleship At Malta in 1940 Terror had a further refit to increase her armour to 4in on the upper and main deck along with additional plating on her sides.

On completion, Terror immediately departed Belfast and joined the Dover Patrol on 8 August. In August and September she joined with other members of the patrol to bombard minor targets in occupied Belgium. However, the new monitor only fired a small number of shots, as it was felt wiser to conserve her guns for more important targets. On 24 September the ship made an attempt to bombard the port of Zeebrugge but this was soon aborted when the weather conditions prevented the accurate observation of the fall of shot and any subsequent correction of trajectory. Poor weather conditions continued for the rest of 1916 and the patrol made no further attempts that year to bombard the Belgian coast. During the winter of 1916 and 1917, Terror acted as a guard ship for merchant vessels anchored at The Downs, following a spate of attacks by German destroyers. In early 1917, Terror and the rest of the patrol made several aborted attempts to bombard the lock gates of the Bruges Canal at Zeebrugge but the operation had to be postponed each time. Reasons for postponement included snapped towlines and poor weather conditions. The operation eventually commenced on the evening of 11 May with Terror acting as flagship for Vice Admiral Reginald Bacon. The flotilla anchored off Zeebrugge and began their bombardment at around 05:00 on 12 May, with the monitors and Terror concentrating on the south lock gate and her sister ship Erebus concentrating on the north gate. Poor visibility and problems with spotting aircraft meant that the fall of shot couldn't be fully observed or their trajectories corrected. The German shore battery began to return fire but ceased after four rounds due to the same poor visibility, enhanced by a British smoke screen. The British bombardment was called off at 06:00 due to a change in the wind direction clearing their smoke screen and making their ships visible from the shore. The flotilla withdrew to Dover, in the mistaken belief that their bombardment had been successful. Subsequent aerial reconnaissance revealed damage to the surrounding area but the lock gates, the primary targets, were untouched. A bombardment of Ostend on 5 June by Erebus and Terror was more successful, destroying or damaging several vessels and damaging the dockyard. efn lr|Crossley (2013) makes the claim that U boat UC.70 was destroyed in the 5 June attack. However, Dunn (2017) observes that UC.70 was not destroyed until 1918 and he can find no corresponding record of a U boat being destroyed on that day. Buxton (2008) clarifies that the U boat was sunk in the attack but subsequently refloated and repaired. On 19 October, in an encounter with three German coastal torpedo boats (A59, A60 and A61) However, Crossly observes that the bulges only protected the ship from the hit further aft and it was the watertight doors that saved the ship by restricting flood water to the forward compartments only. On 21 October, Iron guided the monitor across the strait to Dover but grew concerned about the pressure exerted on the bulkheads. For the next leg of the journey to Portsmouth, Iron advised Terror's commanding officer, Captain Bruton, to sail the ship stern first. On the evening of 22 March Terror bombarded Ostend harbour, firing 39 shots before a German smoke screen obscured the harbour from view. Aerial photographs taken the next day revealed that all 39 shots had landed within the target area. In April, Terror was in the Long Range Bombardment force for the Zeebrugge raid with Erebus and destroyers Termagant, Truculent, and
In September, in preparation for a further offensive, Terror had her 15in gun barrels replaced. Having fired around 340 rounds, it was felt they had become worn and were in no condition to support a prolonged battle.

At the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, Terror was continuing her refit at Singapore, under the command of Commander Henry John Haynes. In the first day alone the island was hit by 9 separate air raids and an estimated 83 in the first month. For three months the monitor helped to defend Malta from daily air attacks until the arrival of additional anti aircraft guns allowed a refit of her armour to begin on 4 September.

Terror later moved to North Africa where she supported Operation Compass, the British assault against the Italian Tenth Army in Libya. The monitor shelled Italian positions at Maktila in Egypt on the night of 8 December, as part of the Battle of Sidi Barrani, before coming under the command of Captain Hector Waller's Inshore Squadron off Libya on 13 December. After the Bardia bombardment concern was raised about the condition of the 15in gun barrels which had been fitted, having been previously used, in 1939. The barrels were inspected by Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham and the order was given for Terror to reduce the amount of cordite used when firing the main guns, in an attempt to extend the weapons' useful life. In a further attempt to conserve the monitor's main guns, her duties were changed to concentrate on providing anti aircraft cover for the rest of the squadron and to ferry supplies from Alexandria. The ship also served as a water carrier for the advancing British and Commonwealth army. On the morning of 3 January 1941, she participated in a major bombardment of Bardia together with a number of battleships and their destroyer escorts. The formation was protected by a screen of fighters; No. 274 Squadron RAF intercepted five Italian Savoia Marchetti SM.79 bombers that were attacking Terror nine miles to the north east of Bardia. Three of the bombers were shot down or crashed and a fourth was damaged. The battleships, the destroyers and their fighter cover were withdrawn in the afternoon leaving the monitor to continue the bombardment with the gunboats Aphis and Ladybird. Bardia was captured the following day. Along with the flotilla leader Stuart, the gunboat Gnat and the destroyers Vampire and Voyager, Terror supported the assault on Tobruk on 21 January by the 6th Australian Division with the port being secured on 22nd. By this point the monitor's main gun barrels had each fired over 600 rounds of ammunition and the rifling had been worn away. While the main guns could still be fired, the shots would rarely land accurately and frequently exploded in mid air.

In early February the British and Commonwealth forces captured the port of Benghazi from the Italians after the Battle of Beda Fomm. Intending to use the port as a key supply point for their armies, the allies recognised that the shortage of anti aircraft guns, lack of radar and limited air cover from the RAF was a strategic weakness that would have to be addressed. However, the capture of the port coincided with the arrival of the Luftwaffe in North Africa as the advance forces of Operation Sonnenblume. The Germans immediately began an intense series of air raids against both Benghazi and Tobruk, which included the dropping of magnetic mines into the harbours. The minesweeper cleared a safe channel into Benghazi harbour before the arrival of Terror on 17 February and a supply convoy the day after. While Peony made steady progress in clearing the harbour, work was slow due to the shallow waters reducing the effectiveness of her degaussing equipment. As part of this work, a team from Peony safely detonated a mine close to Terror's mooring. Despite the monitor's efforts to protect the harbour using her anti aircraft guns, the convoy was unable to offload the majority of its cargo due to the frequent air attacks and sailed on to Tobruk on 20 February. Terror remained in port together with the minesweeper Fareham and corvette Salvia to protect the naval parties clearing the harbour. Terror was subjected to continued bombing attacks while in harbour and a near miss early on 22 February caused significant damage and flooding of the decks. Haynes protested the lack of air support to Cunningham along with the dangers of remaining at anchor, stating that it was only a matter of time before Terror received a direct hit. Accepting this assessment, Cunningham ordered the ship to sail for Tobruk on the evening tide with Fareham and Salvia. As they were exiting the harbour the monitor triggered two magnetic mines in the previously cleared channel; although again not a direct hit, the explosions in close proximity caused further damage and flooding. On the evening of 23 February she was attacked once more by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers from III/StG 2 under the command of Helmut Mahlke. The gruppe, which had been initially set up as an anti shipping unit by the Kriegsmarine, had been drafted in to attack shipping in the vicinity. The attack occurred while the ship was from Tobruk; the near misses of this final assault leaving the ship critically damaged. Further floodwater disabled the electric generators and pumps and extinguished the boiler furnaces. The majority of the crew were evacuated to Fareham and Salvia with a skeleton crew of officers and anti aircraft gunners remaining on board to operate the ship. Terror was taken under tow by Fareham in an attempt to reach Tobruk and additional ships were scrambled from Alexandria and Tobruk. However, the monitor continued to take on water and it was accepted that she would never reach port. Terror was scuttled through the opening of the seacocks and the use of depth charges on the morning of 24 February, to the north west of Derna. The remaining crew were evacuated successfully. Bechthold (2017) gives the date of the sinking as 26 February, however Brown (2013), Crossley (2013) and Buxton (2008) agree that her final damage was taken on the evening of 23 February and she was scuttled during the night. Buxton gives 04:20 on 24 February as the precise time of her sinking. Following the sinking, Commander Haynes was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in August 1941 for "courage, skill and devotion to duty in operations off the Libyan Coast." A number of the other officers and crew were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal or mentioned in dispatches for the same reason.