Vickers, Barrow in Furness

1st July 1914 HMS Vengeance
HMS Vengeance
HMS Vengeance (1899 - 1921) was built at Vickers, Barrow, laid down on 23rd August 1898, launched on 25th July 1899, Commissioned in April 1902 and Scrapped in 1921.
One of the Canopus class of pre dreadnought battleships designed by Sir William White for use in the Far East and entered service between 1899 and 1902.
The lead ship was HMS Albion, which was followed by Canopus, Glory, Goliath, Ocean and Vengeance.
The class had primary armament consisting of four 12 inch (305 mm) 35 calibre long guns and six 6-inch (152 mm) 40 calibre long guns.
The introduction of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 rendered the class, and all other pre-dreadnought battleships, obsolete only a few years after the last-of-class entered service in 1902. The class saw service across the globe: in home waters, on the China Station, in the Mediterranean Fleet, in the Atlantic, in Africa, at Archangel, and in the Mediterranean where HMS Goliath and HMS Ocean were sunk during the Dardanelles campaign. The four surviving ships were reduced to subsidiary duties late in World War I and were scrapped in the early 1920s.
List of Ships in Canopus Class

HMS Albion
HMS Canopus
HMS Glory
HMS Goliath
HMS Ocean
HMS Vengeance

General characteristics
The Canopus-class battleships were designed for use in the Far East to counter the expanding Japanese navy and were required to be able to pass through the Suez Canal. They were designed to be smaller, lighter and faster than their predecessors, the Majestic-class battleships, although at 421.5 ft (128.5 m) they were slightly longer.
Armour
The armoured belt, situated at the waterline of the vessel, was 6 inches (152 mm) thick.
To save weight the Canopus class carried less armour than the Majestics, but a change from Harvey armour in the Majestics to Krupp armour in the Canopus class meant that the protective capability of the armour was maintained. Part of their armour scheme included the use of a special 1 in (25 mm) armoured deck over the armour belt to defend against plunging fire by the howitzers that France had reportedly planned to install on its ships, although this report proved to be false.
Armament
Like the Majestics, the Canopus class ships had four 12-inch (305 mm) guns mounted in twin turrets fore and aft. The final ship, Vengeance, had an improved mounting that allowed loading at any elevation; her turret gunhouses differed from those of her sisters in being Krupp-armoured and flat-sided (Krupp armour plates were difficult to form into curves). The ships mounted twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in armoured casemates as well having some smaller guns and four submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.
Propulsion
The Canopuses were the first British battleships with water-tube boilers, which generated more power for their weight when compared with the cylindrical boilers used in previous ships. The new boilers led to the adoption of fore-and-aft funnels, rather than the side-by-side funnel arrangement used in many previous British battleships. The Canopus-class ships proved to be good steamers, consuming 10 short tons (9.1 t) of coal per hour at full speed. At 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) they were fast for battleships of their time, a full 2 kn (2.3 mph) faster than the Majestics. The Canopuses were able to reach 4,500 mi (7,200 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) with a full load of coal.
First World War Service
On the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Vengeance was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron, Channel Fleet, for patrol duties in the English Channel and Atlantic transferring to the 7th Battle Squadron on 15 August 1914 to relieve battleship Prince George as flagship. She covered the landing of the Plymouth Marine Battalion at Ostend, Belgium, on 25 August 1914.
In November 1914 she transferred to West Africa for operations, against German Kamerun, then to Egypt to relieve armored cruisers Black Prince and Warrior as guard ship at Alexandria, then moved on to the Cape Verde-Canary Islands Station to relieve Albion as guard ship at Saint Vincent.
Dardanelles campaign
On 22 January 1915, Vengeance was selected to take part in the Dardanelles campaign. She stopped at Gibraltar that month to embark Admiral John de Robeck and become second flagship of the Dardanelles squadron, and arrived at the Dardanelles in February 1915.
Vengeance participated in the opening bombardment of the Ottoman Turkish entrance forts on 18 February and 19 February 1915, suffering some damage to her masts and rigging thanks to gunfire from the forts. She also took part in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March 1915, supporting the main landings at Cape Helles in the Morto Bay area on 25 April 1915, and supported the ground troops during the Turkish attack on Allied positions at Anzac Cove on 19 May 1915. A submarine attacked her on 25 May 1915 without success.
By July 1915, Vengeance had boiler defects that prevented her from continuing combat operations, and she returned to the United Kingdom and paid off that month. She was under refit at Devonport until December 1915.
Later service
Vengeance recommissioned in December 1915 and left Devonport on 30 December 1915 for a deployment to The Cape and East Africa. While there, she supported operations leading to the capture of Dar es Salaam in 1916.
In February 1917, Vengeance returned to the United Kingdom and paid off. She was laid up until February 1918, when she recommissioned for use in experiments with anti-flash equipment for the fleet's guns. She completed these in April 1918, and then was partially disarmed, with four 6-inch (152-mm) main-deck casemate guns removed and four 6-inch (152-mm) guns being installed in open shields on the battery deck. She became an ammunition store ship in May 1918.
Disposal
Vengeance was placed on the sale list at Devonport on 9 July 1920, and was sold for scrapping on 1 December 1921. She had an eventful trip to the scrapyard. After she departed Devonport under tow on 27 December 1921 en route Dover, her tow rope parted in the English Channel on 29 December 1921. French tugs located her and towed her Cherbourg, France. From there she was towed to Dover, where she finally arrived for scrapping on 9 January 1922.
John Doran

1st July 1914 HMS Dominion
HMS Dominion
HMS Dominion was ordered under the 1902 Naval Estimates. She was laid down at Vickers' yards at Barrow-in-Furness on 23 May 1902 and launched on 25 August 1903. She began trials in May 1905 and was completed in July 1905.
Early career
HMS Dominion commissioned on 15 August 1905 at Portsmouth Dockyard for service in the Atlantic Fleet. She ran aground in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 16 August 1906, suffering severe damage to her hull plating and some flooding. She arrived at Bermuda in September 1906; when these were completed in January 1907, she moved to Chatham Dockyard for completion of her repairs beginning in February 1907. While out of service at Chatham, she transferred to the Channel Fleet in March 1907.
Her repairs were completed in May,June 1907, and she recommissioned for her Channel Fleet service. Under a fleet reorganization on 24 March 1909, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division, Home Fleet, and Dominion became a Home Fleet unit in that division.
Under a fleet reorganization in May 1912, Dominion and all seven of her sisters of the King Edward VII class (Africa, Britannia, Commonwealth, Hibernia, Hindustan, King Edward VII, and Zealandia) were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, assigned to the First Fleet, Home Fleet, although Dominion was initially attached to the 2nd Battle Squadron and did not join the 3rd Battle Squadron until June 1912. The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean in November 1912 because of the First Balkan War (October 1912, May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November 1912 and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in 1913 and rejoined the Home Fleet on 27 June 1913
World War I
Upon the outbreak of World War I, the 3rd Battle Squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth. It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the Northern Patrol. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914.
Dominion served in the Grand Fleet until April 1916, serving temporarily as flagship, Vice Admiral, 3rd Battle Squadron, in August,September 1915. During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sister ships often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them.
On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was rebased at Sheerness, and on 3 May 1916 it was separated from the Grand Fleet, being transferred to the Nore Command. Dominion remained there with the squadron until March 1918, being attacked unsuccessfully by a German submarine in May 1916 and undergoing a refit at Portsmouth Dockyard in June 1917.
The units of the 3rd Battle Squadron had begun to disperse gradually in 1916, and by 1 March 1918, Dominion and battleship Dreadnought were the only ships left in the squadron. The squadron was finally dissolved in March 1918, and Dominion paid off to serve as a parent ship for the Zeebrugge Raid and the first Ostend Raid. She served in this capacity, stationed in the Swin, until May 1918.
On 2 May 1918, Dominion paid off into the Nore Reserve. She was employed as an accommodation ship.
Disposal
On 29 May 1919, Dominion was placed on the disposal list at Chatham Dockyard. She was sold for scrapping on 9 May 1921 to T. W. Ward & Company Limited. On 30 September 1923 she was towed to Belfast to be stripped, and she arrived at Preston for scrapping on 28 October 1924
John Doran

1st July 1914 HMS Emperor of India
HMS Emperor of India
HMS Emperor of India was an Iron Duke-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. She was originally to have been named Delhi but was renamed just a month before launching after King George V, who was also Emperor of India.
Emperor of India was laid down on 31 May 1912 at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers. She was launched on 27 November 1913 and commissioned on 10 November 1914.
Iron Duke Class overview
Preceded by: King George V class
Succeeded by: Queen Elizabeth class
Planned: 4 Completed: 4 : Iron Duke, Benbow, Marlborough and Emperor of India
General characteristics

Type: Battleship
Displacement: 25,000 tons / 29,500 full load
Length: 622 ft 9 in (189.8 m), Beam: 90 ft (27.4 m), Draught: 32 ft 9 in (9.98 m)
Propulsion: 4 shaft Parsons steam turbines, direct drive, 18 Babcock & Wilcox or Yarrow boilers delivering 29,000 hp
Speed: 21.25 knots (39.4 km/h)
Range: 14,000 nm at 10 knots (18.5 km/h)
Armament:
10 × BL 13.5-inch (342.9 mm) Mk V guns (5 × twin turrets)
12 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk VII guns (single mounts)
2 × QF 3 inch 20 cwt AA guns
4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour
Belt: 12 in
Bulkheads: 8 in
Barbettes: 10 in
Turrets: 11 in
Decks: 2.5 in

Upon commissioning, Emperor of India joined the First Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, based at Scapa Flow. Emperor of India later joined the Fourth Battle Squadron and was flagship of Rear-Admiral A. L. Duff. King George V visited Emperor of India while inspecting the Fleet at Scapa in July 1915.
She was in refit at Invergordon at the time of the Battle of Jutland in 1916. During Jutland, Emperor of India was replaced as flagship of Admiral Duff by Superb. In 1917, Emperor of India replaced her sister ship Marlborough as second flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron.
Emperor of India was present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918. She survived the cuts to the Royal Navy in the post-World War I climate and joined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1919.
She was decommissioned in 1929 and was sunk as a target ship on 1 September 1931. She was raised the following year and sold for scrap on 6 February 1932.
John Doran

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