St. VINCENT - The Battle of Jutland - Centenary Initiative
15464
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St. VINCENT

Fleet

Royal Navy

Ship Type

Battleship

Nickname

Ship Class

St. Vincent

Grouping

Ist Battle Squadron

Command

Grand Fleet

Builder's Yard

Budget Year

Construction Notes

Date Laid Down

12.10.1907

Launch Date

10.09.1908

Completed date

03.05.2009

Commission date

Year laid down

Year launched

Year completed

Commission Year

Pennant No

Photo Details

Related stories

Sister ships

HMS Collingwood and HMS Vanguard

Eventual Fate

Jutland result

HMS St Vincent: Present at Jutland on the 31st May 1916 in the 5th. division of the 1st. Battle squadron led by Colossus under rear Admiral Guant followed by Collingwood, Neptune and St Vincent. St Vincent fired a total of 98 rounds of 12 “ 90 being Armour Piercing Capped (APC) and eight being Common Percussion capped (CPC) she did not use her secondary armament. The St Vincent was not hit or damaged during the battle. St Vincent began her engagement of the German battleships between 1833 and 1845 fired occasional salvo’s but visibility was poor due to smoke and no hits were observed; at 1854 she opened on the German light cruiser Wiesbaden; at 1858 she altered course to evade German torpedo attacks by the 6th and 9th destroyer flotillas . At 1915 ships of the German 1st Scouting group were sighted and St Vincent opened fire on the Seydlitz, followed by the Moltke. She hit the Seydlitz twice with 12” APC rounds at a range of 9,500 to 10,000 yards, due to visibility problems she checked fire 1926, the first shell to hit the Seydlitz was quite possibly a ricochet off the sea which pierced the hull and deck plating abreast the bridge structure and exploded on entry. Damage to the 1 inch battery deck was substantial with heavy bulging of the deck and a large number of splinter holes, the explosion of the shell wrecked the sick bay; splinters from this hit also entered the control tower through the viewing slits injuring one man; also caused flooding of the port forward outer coal bunker over a length of 63 feet and later this flooding spread to the lower bunker and stokers bathrooms. The second 12 “ shell hit and struck the 8 ¾ inch rear armour of the aft super-firing turret, the shell penetrated the armour on this already disabled turret and exploded inside the turret , the hole in the armour being 20 by 16 inches, damage in the turret was heavy with fragements wrecking all the optical and range-finding equipment. Tthe explosion and fragments destroyed both shell hoists and rammers shells, in the ready use racks, were thrown about but did not explode; small fires started which were soon put out. Outside of the turret fragments penetrated the 1 inch thick battery deck and severed the electrical; wiring to the after turret which had to be worked from it’s auxiliary training motor. At about 2000 St Vincent reported another near miss from a torpedo with it passing between her and the Neptune Due to the German fleet executing a turn 180 degrees away, the St Vincent made no further contact, but did possibly sight an imaginary torpedo at 0230 the following morning whilst following the withdrawing German ships during that night. Source: Article by Steve Woodward:Bibliography IWM: Jutland – John Campbell, Jutland - Geoffrey Bennett. H.M.S. St. Vincent at the Battle of Jutland Report of Proceedings E.106. H.M.S. " St. Vincent," 10th June 1916. SIR, I HAVE the honour to forward the following report of the action of 31st May 1916, as far as it concerned " St. Vincent." In the approach " St. Vincent " was rear ship of the 5th Division, i.e., the next division to port of the starboard wing Division led by " Marlborough." On forming line of battle to port, " St. Vincent," therefore, became the fifth ship from the rear. The weather was very misty—visibility extreme about 5½ miles. Sea smooth. The first enemy seen, at which fire could be opened, was a three-funnelled cruiser two points before the starboard beam, heading the opposite way to our line, and apparently stopped. Range, 11,000 yards. "St. Vincent" gave her a few salvoes, as did every other ship of the squadron apparently, but she making no reply, and being evidently in a sinking condition, cease fire was ordered. Ten minutes later (about 6.54 p.m.) three large ships came into view near the starboard beam, steering a roughly similar course. (At times a fourth was seen, and also another Division, very faint indeed, beyond these ships.) The leading ship that I looked at carefully, I took to be a " Kaiser " class battleship, but her funnels were short, neat and square. Arrangement of them with regard to masts was similar to " Kaiser " class. Also their distance apart was great. It is possible that this ship may have been " Lützow," but was not thought to be so at the time. The German ships opened fire with quick ripples almost simultaneously with " St. Vincent's" first broadside, which was directed against their third ship considered to be a " Kaiser." The third ship was chosen as there were many ships ahead of " St. Vincent " who could attack the two leading ships. And this was clearly done, all ships being continuously surrounded by splashes. Rangefinders on " St. Vincent's " target agreed closely, gun range varying from 10,000 yards at start to 9,500 yards at the end. Rate very small, about 50 closing. Only small spotting corrections of up or down 50 occasionally necessary to change from 1 short to 2 short. German fire, which was brisk and regular at the start, very soon declined in rate and accuracy. " St. Vincent's " fire was by Director, and the target was held closely till 7.26 p.m. (32 minutes in all), when the enemy had turned 8 or 10 points away, disappearing into the mist and with a smoke screen made by Destroyers to cover them as well. Total rounds fired, 96 (88 A.P. Lyddite and 8 Common Lyddite). To avoid enemy torpedoes crossing the track of the First Battle Squadron all ships were frequently under helm, and this led to a little bunching, but mutual understanding and consideration prevented embarrassment—e.g., " Neptune " turns sharply to avoid torpedo—" St. Vincent," next astern, wishes to keep steady for gunfire and is not threatened by that torpedo—" St. Vincent " must overlap " Neptune " for a short time. The Director was, of course, invaluable under the conditions obtaining. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, W. W. FISHER, Captain. The Vice Admiral Commanding First Battle Squadron, H.M.S. " Royal Oak." From The Dreadnought Project http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/H.M.S._St._Vincent_at_the_Battle_of_Jutland

Ready for action after dock repairs

Commander

Captain William W. Fisher, M.V.O.

Noteable Officers

Crew complement

823

Officers

Ratings

Killed

Wounded

Prisoners

Displacement full Load (tons)

19,700 (Tarrrant: 19,560)

Artefacts Data

Ship's Model

Length (ft)

536

Length (mtrs)

163.4

Beam (ft)

84

Beam (mtrs)

25.6

Draught (ft)

27 to 31 feet

Draught (mtrs)

8.5

Max. Speed (knots)

21

Range (miles)

6,900 nautical miles at 10 knots

Range (kilometres)

12,800 kms at 10 knots

Fuel

Propulsion

Armour Main Belt

10 to 8"

Deck Armour

3 to 1.5"

Turret Armour IN CM

11"

Conning Tower Armour

11"

Barbette Armour

9 to 5"

Weight of armour

5,590

Armour / Displacement Ratio

28%

Watertight compartments

General Notes

Post Jutland St Vincent spent her time on routine patrols and with other members of the Dreadnought design found herself side-lined by the newer super-dreadnoughts with 13.5 inch guns, In June 1916 she joined the 4th. BS increasingly in secondary roles she was reduced to reserve in March 1919 to become a gunnery training ship, another victim of the 1920’s Washington treaties she was put on the disposal list in March 1921 and sold for scrap on the 01st December 1921

Fire Control Table

Dreyer Mk 1

Fire Control - Clock

Primary Gun calibre

12"

No. Primary Turrets

Guns (No.barrels)

10

Primary gun layout

Rounds per main gun

Effective broadside guns

The St Vincent class was equipped with ten breech-loading (BL) 12-inch (305 mm) Mk XI guns in five twin gun turrets, three along the centreline and the remaining two as wing turrets. The secondary, or anti-torpedo boat armament, comprised twenty BL 4-inch (102 mm) Mk VII guns. Two of these guns were each installed on the roofs of the fore and aft centreline turrets and the wing turrets in unshielded mounts, and the other ten were positioned in the superstructure. All guns were in single mounts.[3] The ships were also fitted with three 18-inch torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and the third in the stern

Primary shell Weight (inches or cm)

1

Primary Broadside Weight

10

Secondary Gun Calibre

4"

Guns (No.barrels) 2

18

Rounds per secondary

Other Armament

Elevation (degrees)

Gunnery Range (yards)

Gunnery Range (metres)

Rate of Fire (rds per minute)

Shells expended Main

Fired 98 rounds of 12”: 90 being Armour Piercing Capped (APC) and eight being Common Percussion capped (CPC) she did not use her secondary armament at all.

Mines dropped

Shells expended Secondary

St Vincent did not use her secondary armament at all.

Torpedoes fired

Gunnery Notes

Torpedo Type IN

No. tubes

Torpedo Type MM

No. Mines

Torpedo Notes

References & sources

Materials on her role at Jutland and W.W. Fisher's correspondence courtesy of "Dreadnoughtproject.org"