HMS Earl of Peterborough (1915)
HMS Earl of Peterborough was a First World War Royal Navy Lord Clive-class monitor, named after Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough, a British general of the War of the Spanish Succession who fought in Spain. The ship's original 12-inch main battery was stripped from an obsolete Majestic-class battleship, HMS Mars.
 HMS Earl of Peterborough at Mudros. HMS Roberts astern | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name: | HMS Earl of Peterborough |
| Builder: | Harland and Wolff, Belfast |
| Yard number: | 480 |
| Laid down: | 16 January 1915 |
| Launched: | 26 August 1915 |
| Completed: | 23 September 1915 |
| Decommissioned: | 1921 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lord Clive-class monitor |
| Displacement: | 6,150 tons |
| Length: | 335 ft (102.1 m) |
| Beam: | 87 ft (26.5 m) |
| Draught: | 9.7 ft (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts, reciprocating steam engines, 2 boilers, 2,310 hp |
| Speed: | 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h) |
| Complement: | 187 |
| Armament: | 2 × BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk VIII guns in a single turret, two 3-inch (76 mm) guns. |
The Lord Clive-class monitors were originally built in 1915 to engage German shore artillery in occupied Belgium during the First World War. Earl of Peterborough, however was differently employed, being dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean upon completion for service with the fleet there. Early in 1916 she shelled Turkish positions in the Dardanelles and during the remainder of the war was active against Turkish units in Egypt, Palestine and Turkey itself.
Following the armistice in November 1918, Earl of Peterborough and her sisters were put into reserve pending scrapping, as the reason for their existence ended with the liberation of Central Power-led coastlines. In 1921 Earl of Peterborough was scrapped along with all her sisters.
References
- Buxton, Ian (2008) [1978]. Big Gun Monitors. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-719-8.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Dittmar, F. J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0380-4.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921. London, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5. OCLC 12227060.