Construction and service HMS Royal Oak (08)

1 construction , service

1.1 first world war

1.1.1 battle of jutland
1.1.2 later actions


1.2 1920s
1.3 1930s
1.4 second world war

construction , service

royal oak laid down @ devonport royal dockyard on 15 january 1914. launched on 17 november, , after fitting-out, commissioned on 1 may 1916 @ final cost of £2,468,269. named after oak tree in charles ii hid following defeat @ 1651 battle of worcester, eighth vessel bear name royal oak, replacing pre-dreadnought scrapped in 1914. upon completion royal oak assigned third division of fourth battle squadron of grand fleet, under command of captain crawford maclachlan.

first world war







battle of jutland

in attempt lure out , destroy portion of grand fleet, german high seas fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 6 light cruisers, , 31 torpedo boats, departed jade on morning of 31 may. fleet sailed in concert rear admiral franz von hipper s 5 battlecruisers , supporting cruisers , torpedo boats. royal navy s room 40 had intercepted , decrypted german radio traffic containing plans of operation. admiralty ordered grand fleet, totalling 28 dreadnoughts , 9 battlecruisers, sortie night before cut off , destroy high seas fleet. initial action fought british , german battlecruiser formations in afternoon, 18:00, grand fleet approached scene. fifteen minutes later, jellicoe gave order turn , deploy fleet action.

the german cruiser sms wiesbaden had become disabled british shellfire, , both sides concentrated in area, germans trying protect cruiser , british attempting sink her. @ 18:29, royal oak opened fire on german cruiser, firing 4 salvoes main guns in quick succession, along secondary battery. scored hit on wiesbaden aft third salvo. in return, royal oak straddled german salvo @ 18:33 undamaged. german torpedo boats attempted reach wiesbaden shortly after 19:00, , @ 19:07, royal oak s secondary guns opened fire on them, believing instead trying launch torpedo attack. 19:15, royal oak gunners had observed german battlecruiser squadron , opened fire @ leading vessel, sms derfflinger. gunners overestimated range initially, 19:20 had found correct distance scored pair of hits aft, though these did not inflict serious damage. derfflinger disappeared in haze, royal oak shifted fire next battlecruiser, sms seydlitz. scored hit @ 19:27 before seydlitz lost in mist.

while royal oak attacking battlecruisers, german torpedo boat flotilla launched attack on british line. royal oak s secondary guns first open fire, @ 19:16, followed rest of british line. following german destroyer attack, high seas fleet disengaged, , royal oak , rest of grand fleet saw no further action in battle. was, in part, due confusion aboard fleet flagship on exact location , course of german fleet; without information, jellicoe not bring fleet action. @ 21:30, grand fleet began reorganise night-time cruising formation. on morning of 1 june, grand fleet combed area, looking damaged german ships, after spending several hours searching, found none. in course of battle, royal oak had fired 38 rounds main battery , 84 rounds secondary guns.

later actions

an anti-aircraft gun crew aboard royal oak

following battle, royal oak reassigned first battle squadron.

on 18 august, germans again sortied, time bombard sunderland; vice admiral reinhard scheer, german fleet commander, hoped draw out beatty s battlecruisers , destroy them. british signals intelligence decrypted german wireless transmissions, allowing jellicoe enough time deploy grand fleet in attempt engage in decisive battle. both sides withdrew, however, after opponents submarines inflicted losses: british cruisers nottingham , falmouth both torpedoed , sunk german u-boats, , german battleship sms westfalen damaged british submarine e23. after returning port, jellicoe issued order prohibited risking fleet in southern half of north sea due overwhelming risk mines , u-boats. in late 1917, germans began using destroyers , light cruisers raid british convoys norway; forced british deploy capital ships protect convoys. in april 1918, german fleet sortied in attempt catch 1 of isolated british squadrons, though convoy had passed safely. grand fleet sortied late catch retreating germans, though battlecruiser sms moltke torpedoed , badly damaged submarine hms e42.

on 5 november 1918, in final week of first world war, royal oak anchored off burntisland in firth of forth accompanied seaplane tender campania , light battlecruiser glorious. sudden force 10 squall caused campania drag anchor, collide royal oak , glorious. both capital ships suffered minor damage; campania, however, holed initial collision royal oak. ship s engine rooms flooded, , settled stern , sank 5 hours later, though without loss of life.

following capitulation of germany in november 1918, allies interned of high seas fleet in scapa flow. fleet rendezvoused british light cruiser cardiff, led ships allied fleet escort germans scapa flow. massive fleet consisted of 370 british, american, , french warships. fleet remained in captivity during negotiations produced treaty of versailles. reuter believed british intended seize german ships on 21 june 1919, deadline germany have signed peace treaty. morning, grand fleet left scapa flow conduct training maneuvers, , while away reuter issued order scuttle high seas fleet.

1920s

capt. kenneth dewar, court-martialled in 1928

the peacetime reorganisation of royal navy assigned royal oak second battle squadron of atlantic fleet. modernised 1922–24 refit, transferred in 1926 mediterranean fleet, based in grand harbour, malta. in 1928, duty saw notorious incident contemporary press dubbed royal oak mutiny . began simple dispute between rear-admiral bernard collard , royal oak s 2 senior officers, captain kenneth dewar , commander henry daniel, on band @ ship s wardroom dance, descended bitter personal feud spanned several months. dewar , daniel accused collard of vindictive fault-finding , openly humiliating , insulting them before crew; in return, collard countercharged 2 failing follow orders , treating him worse midshipman . when dewar , daniel wrote letters of complaint collard s superior, vice-admiral john kelly, passed them on commander-in-chief admiral sir roger keyes. on realising relationship between 2 , flag admiral had irretrievably broken down, keyes removed 3 posts , sent them england. since on eve of major naval exercise, obliged postpone it, allowed rumours fly around fleet royal oak had experienced mutiny. story picked press worldwide, described affair hyperbole. public attention reached such proportions raise concerns of king, summoned first lord of admiralty william bridgeman explanation.

for letters of complaint, dewar , daniel controversially charged writing subversive documents. in pair of highly publicised courts-martial, both found guilty , severely reprimanded, leading daniel resign navy. collard himself criticised excesses of conduct press , in parliament, , on being denounced bridgeman unfitted hold further high command , forcibly retired service. of three, dewar escaped career, albeit damaged one: remained in royal navy, in series of more minor commands. promotion rear-admiral, have been formality, delayed until following year, 1 day before retirement. daniel attempted career in journalism, when , other ventures unsuccessful, disappeared obscurity amid poor health in south africa. collard retreated private life , never spoke publicly of incident again.

the scandal proved embarrassment reputation of royal navy, still world s largest, , satirised @ home , abroad through editorials, cartoons, , comic jazz oratorio composed erwin schulhoff. 1 consequence of damaging affair undertaking admiralty review means naval officers might bring complaints against conduct of superiors.

1930s

during spanish civil war, royal oak tasked conducting non-intervention patrols around iberian peninsula. on such patrol , steaming 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) east of gibraltar on 2 february 1937, came under aerial attack 3 aircraft of republican forces. dropped 3 bombs (two of exploded) within 3 cables (555 m) of starboard bow, though causing no damage. british chargé d affaires protested incident republican government, admitted error , apologised attack. later same month, while stationed off valencia on 23 february 1937 during aerial bombardment nationalists, accidentally struck anti-aircraft shell fired republican position. 5 men injured, including royal oak s captain, t. b. drew. on occasion british elected not protest republicans, deeming incident act of god . in may 1937, , hms forester escorted ss habana, liner carrying basque child refugees, england. in july, war in northern spain flared up, royal oak, along battleship hms resolution rescued steamer gordonia when spanish nationalist warships attempted capture off santander. unable on 14 july prevent seizure of british freighter molton spanish nationalist cruiser almirante cervera while trying enter santander. merchantmen had been engaged in evacuation of refugees.

royal oak returns body of queen maud norway, 24 november 1938

this same period saw royal oak star alongside fourteen other royal navy vessels in 1937 british film melodrama our fighting navy, plot of centres around coup in fictional south american republic of bianco. royal oak portrays rebel battleship el mirante, commander forces british captain (played robert douglas) choosing between lover , duty. film poorly received critics, gained redemption through dramatic scenes of naval action.

in 1938, royal oak returned home fleet , made flagship of second battle squadron based in portsmouth. on 24 november 1938, returned body of british-born queen maud of norway, had died in london, state funeral in oslo, accompanied husband king haakon vii. paying off in december 1938, royal oak recommissioned following june, , in late summer of 1939 embarked on short training cruise in english channel in preparation 30-month tour of mediterranean, crew issued tropical uniforms. hostilities loomed, battleship instead dispatched north scapa flow, , @ anchor there when war declared on 3 september.

second world war

the next few weeks proved uneventful, in october 1939 royal oak joined search german battleship gneisenau, had been ordered north sea diversion commerce-raiding heavy cruisers deutschland , admiral graf spee. search fruitless, particularly royal oak, top speed, less 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), inadequate keep rest of fleet. on 12 october, royal oak returned defences of scapa flow in poor shape, battered north atlantic storms. many of carley floats had been smashed , several of smaller-calibre guns rendered inoperable through flooding. mission had underlined obsolescence of 25-year-old warship. concerned recent overflight german reconnaissance aircraft heralded imminent air attack upon scapa flow, admiral of home fleet charles forbes ordered of fleet disperse safer ports. royal oak remained behind, anti-aircraft guns still deemed useful addition scapa s otherwise scanty air defences.

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