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HMS Agincourt (1913)

HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought battleship built in the United Kingdom in the early 1910s. Originally part of Brazil's role in a South American naval arms race, she holds the distinction of mounting more heavy guns (fourteen) and more turrets (seven) than any other dreadnought battleship, in keeping with the Brazilians' requirement for an especially impressive design.

Agincourt in 1915
History
Brazil
NameRio de Janeiro
NamesakeRio de Janeiro
BuilderArmstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne
Cost$14,500,000 (estimated)[1]
Yard number792
Laid down14 September 1911
Launched22 January 1913
FateSold December 1913 to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
NameSultan Osman-ı Evvel
NamesakeSultan Osman I
AcquiredDecember 1913
FateSeized in August 1914 by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
NameAgincourt
NamesakeThe Battle of Agincourt of 1415
Cost£2,900,000 (estimated)[2]
Completed20 August 1914
Acquired3 August 1914
Commissioned7 August 1914
DecommissionedApril 1921
Nickname(s)Gin Palace
FateSold for scrap, 19 December 1922
General characteristics (in British service)
TypeDreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length671 ft 6 in (204.7 m)
Beam89 ft (27.1 m)
Draught29 ft 10 in (9.1 m)
Installed power
Propulsion4 × shafts; 4 × steam turbines
Speed22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement1268 (1917)
Armament
Armour

Brazil ordered the ship in 1911 as Rio de Janeiro from the British company Armstrong Whitworth. However, the collapse of Brazil's rubber boom and a warming in relations with Argentina, the country's chief rival, led to the ship's sale while under construction to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans renamed her Sultan Osman I, after the empire's founder, and the ship was nearly complete when the First World War broke out. The British government seized her for use by the Royal Navy, together with another Ottoman dreadnought being constructed in Britain. This act caused resentment in the Ottoman Empire, as the payments for both ships were complete, and contributed to the decision of the Ottoman government to join the Central Powers.

Renamed Agincourt by the Royal Navy, she joined the Grand Fleet in the North Sea. During the war, the ship spent the bulk of her time on patrols and exercises, although she did participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Agincourt was put into reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.

Background edit

 
Starboard elevation and plan view of Agincourt
 
Fantasy drawing of Sultan Osman I underway for the Ottoman Navy. The royal yacht Ertuğrul is at left, and the cruiser Hamadieh is in the background.

In the unstable period during and following the 1889 coup in Brazil, which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II, and the 1893–94 navy revolt, the Brazilian Navy found itself unable to care for its own ships, let alone acquire new vessels.[3] Meanwhile, Chile had agreed to a naval-limiting pact in 1902 with Brazil's principal rival, Argentina, as part of solving a larger boundary dispute, but they both retained the vessels built in the interim, many of which were significantly more modern and powerful than Brazil's ships.[4][A] The Brazilian Navy was left behind its Argentine and Chilean counterparts in quantity as well—by the turn of the 20th century, Chile's total naval tonnage was 36,896 long tons (37,488 t), Argentina's 34,425 long tons (34,977 t), and Brazil's 27,661 long tons (28,105 t)—even though Brazil had nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times that of Chile.[6][7]

Rising international demand for coffee and rubber in the early 20th century brought Brazil an influx of revenue.[5] Simultaneously, the Baron of Rio Branco spearheaded a drive by prominent Brazilians to force the leading world nations to recognize Brazil as an international power.[8] The National Congress of Brazil inaugurated a large naval acquisition program in late 1904. They ordered three small battleships in 1906, but the launch of Dreadnought caused the Brazilian Navy to reconsider their purchase. In March 1907, they signed a contract for three Minas Geraes-class battleships. Two ships would be constructed immediately by the British companies Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers, with the third to follow.[9]

Alarmed at the Brazilian move, Argentina and Chile quickly nullified their 1902 pact and sought dreadnoughts of their own.[6] Argentina's orders, after a drawn-out bidding process, went to an American company, Fore River Shipbuilding Company, while Chile's orders, delayed by the 1906 Valparaíso earthquake, went to Armstrong.[10] Since Brazil's relations with Argentina were warming and the country's economic boom was losing steam, the government negotiated with Armstrong to remove the third dreadnought from the contract, but without success. They borrowed the necessary money, and Armstrong laid down Rio de Janeiro's keel in March 1910.[11]

The Brazilian Navy had divided into two distinct factions, based on the size of the main battery. The outgoing naval minister favoured an increase over the 12-inch guns mounted on board the Minas Geraes class, while his incoming counterpart, Admiral Marques Leão, favoured keeping the smaller but faster-firing gun. While the exact influences upon the Brazilian government are unclear, Leão was advocating strongly for his position in meetings with President Hermes da Fonseca. Other events probably influenced them as well, such as the November 1910 Revolt of the Lash, payments on loans taken out for the dreadnoughts, and a worsening economy that had led to high government debt compounded by budget deficits.[12][B] By May 1911, Fonseca had made up his mind:

When I assumed office, I found that my predecessor had signed a contract for the building of the battleship Rio de Janeiro, a vessel of 32,000 tons, with an armament of 14 in. guns. Considerations of every kind pointed to the inconvenience of acquiring such a vessel and to the revision of the contract in the sense of reducing the tonnage. This was done, and we shall possess a powerful unit which will not be built on exaggerated lines such as have not as yet stood the time of experience.[14]

A contract to build the ship that would become Agincourt was signed on 3 June 1911, and its keel was laid on 14 September 1911. The design called for fourteen 12-inch guns, an extreme number that historian David Topliss attributed to political necessity: the ship had to appear more powerful to the Brazilian populace than her predecessors (with twelve 12-inch guns) but, without increasing the gun size, the only option left was increasing the total number of guns.[15]

Design and description edit

General characteristics edit

Agincourt had an overall length of 671 feet 6 inches (204.7 m), a beam of 89 feet (27 m), and a draught of 29 feet 10 inches (9.1 m) at deep load. She displaced 27,850 long tons (28,297 t) at load and 30,860 long tons (31,355 t) at deep load. The ship had a metacentric height of 4.9 feet (1.5 m) at deep load.[16] She had a large turning circle, but manoeuvred well despite her great length. She was considered to be a good gun platform.[17]

When she came to serve in the Royal Navy, Agincourt was considered a particularly comfortable ship and very well-appointed internally. A knowledge of Portuguese was necessary to work many of the fittings—including those in the heads—as the original instruction plates had not all been replaced when she was taken over by the British.[17] In 1917, her crew numbered 1,268 officers and men.[2]

Propulsion edit

Agincourt had four Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each of which drove one propeller shaft. The high-pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the wing shafts while the low-pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the inner shafts. The three-bladed propellers were 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m) in diameter. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 34,000 shaft horsepower (25,000 kW), but achieved more than 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) during her sea trials, slightly exceeding her designed speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).[18]

The steam plant consisted of twenty-two Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers with an operating pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm2). Agincourt normally carried 1,500 long tons (1,500 t) of coal, but could carry a maximum of 3,200 long tons (3,300 t), as well as 620 long tons (630 t) of fuel oil to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Electrical power was provided by four steam-driven reciprocating electrical generators.[2]

Armament edit

 
Sultan Osman-ı Evvel, soon to become Agincourt, in the fitting-out stage of her construction

Agincourt mounted fourteen BL 12-inch Mk XIII 45-calibre guns in seven twin hydraulically powered turrets,[19] unofficially named after the days of the week, starting from Sunday, forward to aft.[20] This was the largest number of turrets and heavy guns ever mounted on a dreadnought battleship.[21] The guns could be depressed to −3° and elevated to 13.5°. They fired 850-pound (386 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,725 ft/s (831 m/s); at 13.5°, this provided a maximum range of just over 20,000 yards (18,000 m) with armour-piercing (AP) shells. During the war the turrets were modified to increase their maximum elevation to 16°, but this only extended the range to 20,435 yards (18,686 m). The rate of fire of these guns was 1.5 rounds per minute.[22] When a full broadside was fired, "the resulting sheet of flame was big enough to create the impression that a battle cruiser had blown up; it was awe inspiring."[23] No damage was done to the ship when firing full broadsides, despite the common idea that doing so would break the ship in half, but much of the ship's tableware and glassware did shatter when Agincourt fired her first broadside.[24]

As built, Agincourt mounted eighteen BL 6-inch Mk XIII 50-calibre guns. Fourteen were placed in armoured casemates on the upper deck and two each in the fore and aft superstructures, protected by gun shields. After the ship was seized by the British, two more were added abreast the bridge in pivot mounts, protected by gun shields.[25] The guns could be depressed to −7° and elevated to 13°, later increased to 15°. They had a range of 13,475 yards (12,322 m) at 15° when firing a 100-pound (45 kg) shell with a muzzle velocity of 2,770 ft/s (840 m/s). Their rate of fire was about five to seven rounds per minute, but this dropped to about three rounds per minute after the ready ammunition was used up because the ammunition hoists were too slow or few to keep the guns fully supplied. About 150 rounds were carried per gun.[26]

Close-range defence against torpedo boats was provided by ten 3-inch (76 mm) 45-calibre quick-firing guns. These were mounted in the superstructure in pivot mounts and protected by gun shields. Agincourt also carried three 21-inch (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes; one was on each beam and the last was in the stern. The water that entered the torpedo tubes when they were fired was discharged into the torpedo flat to facilitate reloading the tube and then pumped overboard. This meant that the torpedo crewmen would be operating in 3 feet (0.9 m) of water if rapid fire was required. Ten torpedoes were carried for them.[27]

Fire control edit

Each turret was fitted with an armoured rangefinder in the turret roof. In addition, another one was mounted on top of the foretop. By the time of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, Agincourt was possibly the only dreadnought of the Grand Fleet not fitted with a Dreyer fire-control table.[28] A fire-control director was later fitted below the foretop and one turret was modified to control the entire main armament later in the war.[2] A director for the 6-inch (152 mm) guns was added on each side in 1916–17. A high-angle rangefinder was added in 1918 to the spotting top.[25]

Armour edit

So much weight had been devoted to Agincourt's armament that little remained for her armour. Her waterline belt was just 9 inches (229 mm) thick, compared with twelve inches or more found in other British dreadnoughts. It ran some 365 feet (111.3 m), from the forward edge of "Monday" barbette to the middle of "Friday" barbette. Forward of this the belt thinned to six inches for about 50 feet (15.2 m) before further reducing to 4 inches (102 mm) all the way to the bow. Aft of the midships section the belt reduced to six inches for about 30 feet (9.1 m) and then thinned to four inches (102 mm); it did not reach the stern, but terminated at the rear bulkhead. The upper belt extended from the main to the upper deck and was six inches thick. It ran from "Monday" barbette to "Thursday" barbette. The armour bulkheads at each end of the ship angled inwards from the ends of the midships armoured belts to the end barbettes and were three inches thick. Four of Agincourt's decks were armoured with thicknesses varying from 1 to 2.5 inches (25 to 64 mm).[29]

The armour of the barbettes constituted a major weakness in Agincourt's protection. They were 9 inches thick above the upper deck level, but decreased to 3 inches between the upper and main decks and had no armour at all below the main deck except for "Sunday" barbette (which had 3 inches), and "Thursday" and "Saturday" barbettes (which had 2 inches). The turret armour was 12 inches thick on the face, 8 inches (203 mm) on the side and 10 inches (254 mm) in the rear. The turret roofs were 3 inches thick at the front and 2 inches at the rear. The casemates for the secondary armament were protected by 6 inches of armour and were defended from raking fire by 6-inch-thick bulkheads.[2]

The main conning tower was protected by 12 inches of armour on its sides and it had a 4-inch roof. The aft conning tower (sometimes called the torpedo control tower) had 9-inch sides and a 3-inch roof. The communications tube down from each position was 6 inches thick above the upper deck and 2 inches thick below it. Each magazine was protected by two armour plates on each side as torpedo bulkheads, the first one an inch thick and the second one and a half inches thick.[25]

Agincourt had another weakness in that she was not subdivided to Royal Navy standards as the Brazilians preferred to eliminate all possible watertight bulkheads that might limit the size of the compartments and interfere with the crew's comfort. One example was the officer's wardroom, which was 85 by 60 feet (25.9 by 18.3 m) in size, much larger than anything else in the Grand Fleet.[30]

Wartime modifications edit

Approximately 70 long tons (71 t) of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck after the Battle of Jutland to protect the magazines. Two 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns were added to the quarterdeck in 1917–18. A 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinder was added to the former searchlight platform on the foremast at the same time. A high-angle rangefinder was added to the spotting top in 1918.[25]

Construction and seizure edit

 
Agincourt depicted on a postcard, prior to the British modifications

Rio de Janeiro, as Agincourt was named by her first owners, was laid down on 14 September 1911 by Armstrongs in Newcastle upon Tyne and launched on 22 January 1913.[2] After the keel-laying, the Brazilian government found itself in an unenviable position: a European depression after the end of the Second Balkan War in August 1913 reduced Brazil's ability to obtain foreign loans, while at the same time Brazil's coffee and rubber exports collapsed, the latter due to the loss of the Brazilian rubber monopoly to British plantations in the Far East.[31][C] In addition, reports on new dreadnought construction coming in from overseas indicated that the vessel would be outclassed upon completion.[32] These factors caused Brazil to put the ship up for sale in October 1913, and she was sold to the Ottoman Navy for £2,750,000 on 28 December 1913.[33] Renamed Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel, she underwent trials during the July Crisis the following year and was completed in August, just as the First World War was beginning.[34]

The war broke out during her sea trials before delivery. Even though the Ottoman crew had arrived to collect her, the British Government took over the vessel for incorporation into the Royal Navy. The Turkish captain, waiting with five hundred Turkish sailors aboard a transport in the River Tyne, threatened to board his ship and hoist the Turkish flag; First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill gave orders to resist such an attempt "by armed force if necessary."[35] At the same time, the British also took over a second Ottoman battleship, a King George V class-derived vessel being built by Vickers—Reşadiye—which was renamed HMS Erin. Such an action was allowed in the contract only if Britain was at war at the time, but since Britain was not yet at war, these actions were illegal; the British government nevertheless determined to present the Ottomans with a fait accompli. On 3 August, a day before Germany invaded Belgium, causing British political elites to reach a consensus on entering the war, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire informed the government that Britain had seized the ships.[36] Churchill did not want to risk the ships being used against the British, but it had consequences.[37]

The takeover caused considerable ill will in the Ottoman Empire, where public subscriptions had partially funded the ships. When the Ottoman government had been in a financial deadlock over the budget of the battleships, donations for the Ottoman Navy had come in from taverns, cafés, schools and markets, and large donations were rewarded with a "Navy Donation Medal". The seizure, and the gifts of the German battlecruiser Goeben and the cruiser Breslau to the Ottomans, influenced public opinion in the Empire to turn away from Britain, and they entered the war on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia on 29 October, after Goeben had attacked Russian facilities in the Black Sea.[38]

The Royal Navy made modifications to Agincourt before commissioning her: in particular, it removed the flying bridge over the two centre turrets. The ship was also initially fitted with Turkish-style lavatories that had to be replaced.[39] Her name, "Agincourt", was a favourite of Churchill's, and had initially been allocated to a sixth vessel of the Queen Elizabeth class ordered under the 1914–15 Naval Estimates, but not yet begun at the war's outbreak.[40] Her nickname, The Gin Palace, came from her luxurious fittings and a corruption of her name ("A Gin Court"), pink gin being a popular drink among Royal Navy officers at the time.[41]

The Admiralty was unprepared to man a ship of Agincourt's size on such short notice and her crew was drawn "from the highest and lowest echelons of the service: the Royal yachts, and the detention barracks." Agincourt's captain and executive officer came from HMY Victoria and Albert, most of whose crew was also transferred to Agincourt on 3 August 1914. Most of the naval reservists had already been called up by this time and sent to other ships, so a number of minor criminals who had had their sentences remitted were received from various naval prisons and detention camps.[42]

Service edit

Agincourt was working up until 7 September 1914, when she joined the 4th Battle Squadron (BS) of the Grand Fleet.[43] The fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow was not yet secure against submarine attack and much of the fleet was kept at sea, where Agincourt spent forty of her first eighty days with the Grand Fleet. This was the beginning of "a year and a half of inaction, only broken by occasional North Sea 'sweeps' intended to draw the enemy from his bases."[44]

 
4th Battle Squadron in the North Sea in 1915. Agincourt is the second ship from the front.

On 1 January 1915, Agincourt was still assigned to the 4th BS, but had been assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron before the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. She was the last ship of the Sixth Division of the 1st BS, along with Hercules, Revenge and the flagship, Marlborough, the most heterogeneous group possible as each ship was from a different class. The Sixth Division was the starboardmost column of the Grand Fleet as it headed south to rendezvous with the ships of Admiral Beatty's Battle Cruiser Fleet, then engaged with their opposite numbers from the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea.[45] Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, kept it in cruising formation until 18:15,[D] when he ordered it to deploy from column into a single line based on the port division, each ship turning 90° in succession. This turn made the Sixth Division the closest ships in the Grand Fleet to the battleships of the High Seas Fleet, and they fired on each ship as they made their turn to port. This concentration of fire later became known as "Windy Corner" to the British, as the ships were drenched by German shell splashes although none were hit.[46]

 
Agincourt in 1918

At 18:24, Agincourt opened fire on a German battlecruiser with her main guns. Shortly afterwards her six-inch guns followed suit as German destroyers made torpedo attacks on the British battleships to cover the turn to the south of the High Seas Fleet.[47] Agincourt successfully evaded two torpedoes, although another struck Marlborough.[48] Visibility cleared around 19:15, and she engaged a Kaiser-class battleship without result before it was lost in the smoke and haze.[49] Around 20:00, Marlborough was forced to reduce speed because of the strain on her bulkheads from her torpedo damage and her division mates conformed to her speed.[50] In the reduced visibility the division lost sight of the Grand Fleet during the night, passing the badly damaged battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz without opening fire.[51] Dawn found them with only the detritus from the previous day's battle in sight and the division arrived back at Scapa Flow on 2 June.[52] Agincourt fired 144 twelve-inch shells and 111 six-inch shells during the battle, although she is not known to have hit anything.[43]

 
Both of the seized Ottoman ships in 1918: Agincourt (foreground) with Erin

Although the Grand Fleet made several sorties over the next few years it is not known if Agincourt participated in them. On 23 April 1918, Agincourt and Hercules were stationed at Scapa Flow to provide cover for the Scandinavian convoys between Norway and Britain when the High Seas Fleet sortied in an attempt to destroy the convoy. The reports from German Intelligence were slightly off schedule, as both the inbound and outbound convoys were in port when the Germans reached their normal route, so Admiral Scheer ordered the fleet to return to Germany without spotting any British ships.[53]

Agincourt was later transferred to the 2nd Battle Squadron[43] and was present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918.[54] She was placed in reserve at Rosyth in March 1919. After unsuccessful attempts to sell her to the Brazilian Government, she was listed for disposal in April 1921, but was used for experimental purposes later that year.[25] The Royal Navy then planned to convert her into a mobile naval base and she was recommissioned on 21 November[55] in preparation for the conversion, which would have included the removal of five of her seven turrets with their barbettes converted into storage and workshops; Nos. 2 and 5 turrets would have been retained.[56] The conversion was cancelled on 23 February 1922 after the Washington Naval Treaty was signed that limited the battleship tonnage allowed to the RN and she was paid off on 7 April and listed again for disposal.[55]

The ship was sold on 22 January 1923 to J&W Purves for £25,000 with the proviso that she had to be demolished 18 months after the treaty had been ratified. Her contract was immediately transferred to the Rosyth Shipbreaking Co. which had leased facilities at Rosyth Dockyard for that purpose. As the deadline of 17 January 1925 approached, the ship did not yet meet the treaty standards for scrapping. The Admiralty agreed that cutting the hull in half would be acceptable and the company attempted to move the ship through the dockyard locks on the highest Spring Tide to its beaching ground to complete the demolition. Bad weather thwarted that effort and the Admiralty agreed to allow the use of one of Rosyth's dry docks to meet the deadline. Two days later the hull had been severed and both halves had been floated out so they could be beached.[57]

Notes edit

  1. ^ The only modern armoured ships in the Brazilian Navy were two small coast-defence ships launched in 1898.[5]
  2. ^ Brazil's external and internal debt would reach $500 and $335 million (respectively) by 1913, partly through rising deficits, which were $22 million in 1908 and $47 million by 1912.[13]
  3. ^ The price of coffee declined by 20% and Brazilian exports of it dropped 12.5%(This figure is unduly precise) between 1912 and 1913; rubber saw a similar decline of 25 and 36.6%,(This figure is unduly precise) respectively.[13]
  4. ^ The times used in this article are in GMT, one hour behind CET, which is often used in German works.

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ "Brazil's 32,000-Ton Dreadnought," Bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics 31, no. 1 (July 1910): 515.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Burt, p. 245
  3. ^ Grant, p. 148; Livermore, p. 32; Topliss, p. 240
  4. ^ Scheina, pp. 45–52
  5. ^ a b Preston, p. 403
  6. ^ a b Livermore, p. 32
  7. ^ Preston, p. 403; Livermore, p. 32
  8. ^ Scheina, p. 80
  9. ^ Scheina, p. 80; Preston, p. 403; Topliss, p. 240
  10. ^ Hough, p. 22; Livermore, pp. 39–41
  11. ^ Topliss, pp. 247–249
  12. ^ Scheina, pp. 81–82; Topliss, p. 269; Martin, p. 37
  13. ^ a b Martin, p. 37
  14. ^ Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca, 3 May 1911, in Scheina, p. 354
  15. ^ Topliss, p. 280
  16. ^ Burt, p. 244
  17. ^ a b Parkes, p. 604
  18. ^ Burt, pp. 245, 250
  19. ^ Preston, p. 37
  20. ^ Hough, p. 150
  21. ^ Gibbons, p. 201
  22. ^ "British 12"/45 (30.5 cm) Mark XIII". navweaps.com. 20 February 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  23. ^ Parkes, p. 603
  24. ^ Hough, p. 160
  25. ^ a b c d e Burt, p. 250
  26. ^ "British 6"/50 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XIII". navweaps.com. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  27. ^ Parkes, pp. 600, 603
  28. ^ Friedman, p. 46
  29. ^ Burt, pp. 244–245
  30. ^ Hough, pp. 89–90
  31. ^ Martin, pp. 36–37
  32. ^ Vanterpool, p. 140
  33. ^ Hough, pp. 72, 75
  34. ^ Hough, pp. 109–122
  35. ^ Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim (1962). "Chapter Ten: Goeben ... An Enemy Then Flying". The Guns of August. New York: Ballantine Books (Random House). ISBN 978-0-307-56762-8.
  36. ^ Fromkin, pp. 57–58
  37. ^ Hough, p. 121
  38. ^ Hough, pp. 143–144
  39. ^ Hough, pp. 152–153
  40. ^ Parkes, p. 600
  41. ^ Hough, p. 147
  42. ^ Hough, pp. 148–152
  43. ^ a b c Parkes, p. 605
  44. ^ Hough, p. 161
  45. ^ Hough, p. 174
  46. ^ Hough, p. 179
  47. ^ Tarrant, pp. 131, 133
  48. ^ Massie, p. 630
  49. ^ Hough, p. 183
  50. ^ Burt, p. 206
  51. ^ Massie, p. 651
  52. ^ Hough, pp. 184–185
  53. ^ Newbolt, pp. 236–237
  54. ^ Hough, p. 186
  55. ^ a b Dodson 2021, p. 196
  56. ^ Harner, p. 152
  57. ^ Dodson 2022, pp. 219–224

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  • Tarrant, V. E. (1999) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 1-86019-917-8.
  • Topliss, David (1988). "The Brazilian Dreadnoughts, 1904–1914". Warship International. XXV (3): 240–289. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Vanterpool, Alan (1969). "The Riachuelo". Warship International. VI (2): 140–141. ISSN 0043-0374.

External links edit

  • Dreadnought Project – Technical material on the weaponry and fire control for the ship
  • Maritimequest HMS Agincourt Photo Gallery
  • Agincourt Class Battleship – includes a diagram of her layout
  • Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project – HMS Agincourt Crew List

agincourt, 1913, other, ships, with, same, name, agincourt, agincourt, dreadnought, battleship, built, united, kingdom, early, 1910s, originally, part, brazil, role, south, american, naval, arms, race, holds, distinction, mounting, more, heavy, guns, fourteen,. For other ships with the same name see HMS Agincourt HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought battleship built in the United Kingdom in the early 1910s Originally part of Brazil s role in a South American naval arms race she holds the distinction of mounting more heavy guns fourteen and more turrets seven than any other dreadnought battleship in keeping with the Brazilians requirement for an especially impressive design Agincourt in 1915History Brazil NameRio de Janeiro NamesakeRio de Janeiro BuilderArmstrong Newcastle upon Tyne Cost 14 500 000 estimated 1 Yard number792 Laid down14 September 1911 Launched22 January 1913 FateSold December 1913 to the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire NameSultan Osman i Evvel NamesakeSultan Osman I AcquiredDecember 1913 FateSeized in August 1914 by the United Kingdom United Kingdom NameAgincourt NamesakeThe Battle of Agincourt of 1415 Cost 2 900 000 estimated 2 Completed20 August 1914 Acquired3 August 1914 Commissioned7 August 1914 DecommissionedApril 1921 Nickname s Gin Palace FateSold for scrap 19 December 1922 General characteristics in British service TypeDreadnought battleship Displacement27 850 long tons 28 300 t load 30 860 long tons 31 360 t deep load Length671 ft 6 in 204 7 m Beam89 ft 27 1 m Draught29 ft 10 in 9 1 m Installed power22 water tube boilers 34 000 shp 25 000 kW Propulsion4 shafts 4 steam turbines Speed22 knots 41 km h 25 mph Range7 000 nmi 13 000 km 8 100 mi at 10 knots 19 km h 12 mph Complement1268 1917 Armament7 twin 12 in 305 mm guns 20 single 6 in 152 mm guns 10 single 3 in 76 mm guns 3 21 in 533 mm torpedo tubes ArmourBelt 9 in 229 mm Deck 1 2 5 in 25 64 mm Barbettes 2 9 in 51 229 mm Turret 8 12 in 203 305 mm Conning tower 12 in 305 mm Bulkheads 2 5 6 in 64 152 mm Brazil ordered the ship in 1911 as Rio de Janeiro from the British company Armstrong Whitworth However the collapse of Brazil s rubber boom and a warming in relations with Argentina the country s chief rival led to the ship s sale while under construction to the Ottoman Empire The Ottomans renamed her Sultan Osman I after the empire s founder and the ship was nearly complete when the First World War broke out The British government seized her for use by the Royal Navy together with another Ottoman dreadnought being constructed in Britain This act caused resentment in the Ottoman Empire as the payments for both ships were complete and contributed to the decision of the Ottoman government to join the Central Powers Renamed Agincourt by the Royal Navy she joined the Grand Fleet in the North Sea During the war the ship spent the bulk of her time on patrols and exercises although she did participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 Agincourt was put into reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty Contents 1 Background 2 Design and description 2 1 General characteristics 2 2 Propulsion 2 3 Armament 2 4 Fire control 2 5 Armour 2 6 Wartime modifications 3 Construction and seizure 4 Service 5 Notes 6 Footnotes 7 Bibliography 8 External linksBackground editMain article South American dreadnought race See also Minas Geraes class battleship nbsp Starboard elevation and plan view of Agincourt nbsp Fantasy drawing of Sultan Osman I underway for the Ottoman Navy The royal yacht Ertugrul is at left and the cruiser Hamadieh is in the background In the unstable period during and following the 1889 coup in Brazil which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II and the 1893 94 navy revolt the Brazilian Navy found itself unable to care for its own ships let alone acquire new vessels 3 Meanwhile Chile had agreed to a naval limiting pact in 1902 with Brazil s principal rival Argentina as part of solving a larger boundary dispute but they both retained the vessels built in the interim many of which were significantly more modern and powerful than Brazil s ships 4 A The Brazilian Navy was left behind its Argentine and Chilean counterparts in quantity as well by the turn of the 20th century Chile s total naval tonnage was 36 896 long tons 37 488 t Argentina s 34 425 long tons 34 977 t and Brazil s 27 661 long tons 28 105 t even though Brazil had nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times that of Chile 6 7 Rising international demand for coffee and rubber in the early 20th century brought Brazil an influx of revenue 5 Simultaneously the Baron of Rio Branco spearheaded a drive by prominent Brazilians to force the leading world nations to recognize Brazil as an international power 8 The National Congress of Brazil inaugurated a large naval acquisition program in late 1904 They ordered three small battleships in 1906 but the launch of Dreadnought caused the Brazilian Navy to reconsider their purchase In March 1907 they signed a contract for three Minas Geraes class battleships Two ships would be constructed immediately by the British companies Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers with the third to follow 9 Alarmed at the Brazilian move Argentina and Chile quickly nullified their 1902 pact and sought dreadnoughts of their own 6 Argentina s orders after a drawn out bidding process went to an American company Fore River Shipbuilding Company while Chile s orders delayed by the 1906 Valparaiso earthquake went to Armstrong 10 Since Brazil s relations with Argentina were warming and the country s economic boom was losing steam the government negotiated with Armstrong to remove the third dreadnought from the contract but without success They borrowed the necessary money and Armstrong laid down Rio de Janeiro s keel in March 1910 11 The Brazilian Navy had divided into two distinct factions based on the size of the main battery The outgoing naval minister favoured an increase over the 12 inch guns mounted on board the Minas Geraes class while his incoming counterpart Admiral Marques Leao favoured keeping the smaller but faster firing gun While the exact influences upon the Brazilian government are unclear Leao was advocating strongly for his position in meetings with President Hermes da Fonseca Other events probably influenced them as well such as the November 1910 Revolt of the Lash payments on loans taken out for the dreadnoughts and a worsening economy that had led to high government debt compounded by budget deficits 12 B By May 1911 Fonseca had made up his mind When I assumed office I found that my predecessor had signed a contract for the building of the battleship Rio de Janeiro a vessel of 32 000 tons with an armament of 14 in guns Considerations of every kind pointed to the inconvenience of acquiring such a vessel and to the revision of the contract in the sense of reducing the tonnage This was done and we shall possess a powerful unit which will not be built on exaggerated lines such as have not as yet stood the time of experience 14 A contract to build the ship that would become Agincourt was signed on 3 June 1911 and its keel was laid on 14 September 1911 The design called for fourteen 12 inch guns an extreme number that historian David Topliss attributed to political necessity the ship had to appear more powerful to the Brazilian populace than her predecessors with twelve 12 inch guns but without increasing the gun size the only option left was increasing the total number of guns 15 Design and description editGeneral characteristics edit Agincourt had an overall length of 671 feet 6 inches 204 7 m a beam of 89 feet 27 m and a draught of 29 feet 10 inches 9 1 m at deep load She displaced 27 850 long tons 28 297 t at load and 30 860 long tons 31 355 t at deep load The ship had a metacentric height of 4 9 feet 1 5 m at deep load 16 She had a large turning circle but manoeuvred well despite her great length She was considered to be a good gun platform 17 When she came to serve in the Royal Navy Agincourt was considered a particularly comfortable ship and very well appointed internally A knowledge of Portuguese was necessary to work many of the fittings including those in the heads as the original instruction plates had not all been replaced when she was taken over by the British 17 In 1917 her crew numbered 1 268 officers and men 2 Propulsion edit Agincourt had four Parsons direct drive steam turbines each of which drove one propeller shaft The high pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the wing shafts while the low pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the inner shafts The three bladed propellers were 9 feet 6 inches 2 9 m in diameter The turbines were designed to produce a total of 34 000 shaft horsepower 25 000 kW but achieved more than 40 000 shp 30 000 kW during her sea trials slightly exceeding her designed speed of 22 knots 41 km h 25 mph 18 The steam plant consisted of twenty two Babcock amp Wilcox water tube boilers with an operating pressure of 235 psi 1 620 kPa 17 kgf cm2 Agincourt normally carried 1 500 long tons 1 500 t of coal but could carry a maximum of 3 200 long tons 3 300 t as well as 620 long tons 630 t of fuel oil to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate At full capacity she could steam for 7 000 nautical miles 13 000 km 8 100 mi at a speed of 10 knots 19 km h 12 mph Electrical power was provided by four steam driven reciprocating electrical generators 2 Armament edit nbsp Sultan Osman i Evvel soon to become Agincourt in the fitting out stage of her construction Agincourt mounted fourteen BL 12 inch Mk XIII 45 calibre guns in seven twin hydraulically powered turrets 19 unofficially named after the days of the week starting from Sunday forward to aft 20 This was the largest number of turrets and heavy guns ever mounted on a dreadnought battleship 21 The guns could be depressed to 3 and elevated to 13 5 They fired 850 pound 386 kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2 725 ft s 831 m s at 13 5 this provided a maximum range of just over 20 000 yards 18 000 m with armour piercing AP shells During the war the turrets were modified to increase their maximum elevation to 16 but this only extended the range to 20 435 yards 18 686 m The rate of fire of these guns was 1 5 rounds per minute 22 When a full broadside was fired the resulting sheet of flame was big enough to create the impression that a battle cruiser had blown up it was awe inspiring 23 No damage was done to the ship when firing full broadsides despite the common idea that doing so would break the ship in half but much of the ship s tableware and glassware did shatter when Agincourt fired her first broadside 24 As built Agincourt mounted eighteen BL 6 inch Mk XIII 50 calibre guns Fourteen were placed in armoured casemates on the upper deck and two each in the fore and aft superstructures protected by gun shields After the ship was seized by the British two more were added abreast the bridge in pivot mounts protected by gun shields 25 The guns could be depressed to 7 and elevated to 13 later increased to 15 They had a range of 13 475 yards 12 322 m at 15 when firing a 100 pound 45 kg shell with a muzzle velocity of 2 770 ft s 840 m s Their rate of fire was about five to seven rounds per minute but this dropped to about three rounds per minute after the ready ammunition was used up because the ammunition hoists were too slow or few to keep the guns fully supplied About 150 rounds were carried per gun 26 Close range defence against torpedo boats was provided by ten 3 inch 76 mm 45 calibre quick firing guns These were mounted in the superstructure in pivot mounts and protected by gun shields Agincourt also carried three 21 inch 533 mm submerged torpedo tubes one was on each beam and the last was in the stern The water that entered the torpedo tubes when they were fired was discharged into the torpedo flat to facilitate reloading the tube and then pumped overboard This meant that the torpedo crewmen would be operating in 3 feet 0 9 m of water if rapid fire was required Ten torpedoes were carried for them 27 Fire control edit Each turret was fitted with an armoured rangefinder in the turret roof In addition another one was mounted on top of the foretop By the time of the Battle of Jutland in 1916 Agincourt was possibly the only dreadnought of the Grand Fleet not fitted with a Dreyer fire control table 28 A fire control director was later fitted below the foretop and one turret was modified to control the entire main armament later in the war 2 A director for the 6 inch 152 mm guns was added on each side in 1916 17 A high angle rangefinder was added in 1918 to the spotting top 25 Armour edit So much weight had been devoted to Agincourt s armament that little remained for her armour Her waterline belt was just 9 inches 229 mm thick compared with twelve inches or more found in other British dreadnoughts It ran some 365 feet 111 3 m from the forward edge of Monday barbette to the middle of Friday barbette Forward of this the belt thinned to six inches for about 50 feet 15 2 m before further reducing to 4 inches 102 mm all the way to the bow Aft of the midships section the belt reduced to six inches for about 30 feet 9 1 m and then thinned to four inches 102 mm it did not reach the stern but terminated at the rear bulkhead The upper belt extended from the main to the upper deck and was six inches thick It ran from Monday barbette to Thursday barbette The armour bulkheads at each end of the ship angled inwards from the ends of the midships armoured belts to the end barbettes and were three inches thick Four of Agincourt s decks were armoured with thicknesses varying from 1 to 2 5 inches 25 to 64 mm 29 The armour of the barbettes constituted a major weakness in Agincourt s protection They were 9 inches thick above the upper deck level but decreased to 3 inches between the upper and main decks and had no armour at all below the main deck except for Sunday barbette which had 3 inches and Thursday and Saturday barbettes which had 2 inches The turret armour was 12 inches thick on the face 8 inches 203 mm on the side and 10 inches 254 mm in the rear The turret roofs were 3 inches thick at the front and 2 inches at the rear The casemates for the secondary armament were protected by 6 inches of armour and were defended from raking fire by 6 inch thick bulkheads 2 The main conning tower was protected by 12 inches of armour on its sides and it had a 4 inch roof The aft conning tower sometimes called the torpedo control tower had 9 inch sides and a 3 inch roof The communications tube down from each position was 6 inches thick above the upper deck and 2 inches thick below it Each magazine was protected by two armour plates on each side as torpedo bulkheads the first one an inch thick and the second one and a half inches thick 25 Agincourt had another weakness in that she was not subdivided to Royal Navy standards as the Brazilians preferred to eliminate all possible watertight bulkheads that might limit the size of the compartments and interfere with the crew s comfort One example was the officer s wardroom which was 85 by 60 feet 25 9 by 18 3 m in size much larger than anything else in the Grand Fleet 30 Wartime modifications edit Approximately 70 long tons 71 t of high tensile steel was added to the main deck after the Battle of Jutland to protect the magazines Two 3 inch 76 mm anti aircraft guns were added to the quarterdeck in 1917 18 A 9 foot 2 7 m rangefinder was added to the former searchlight platform on the foremast at the same time A high angle rangefinder was added to the spotting top in 1918 25 Construction and seizure edit nbsp Agincourt depicted on a postcard prior to the British modifications Rio de Janeiro as Agincourt was named by her first owners was laid down on 14 September 1911 by Armstrongs in Newcastle upon Tyne and launched on 22 January 1913 2 After the keel laying the Brazilian government found itself in an unenviable position a European depression after the end of the Second Balkan War in August 1913 reduced Brazil s ability to obtain foreign loans while at the same time Brazil s coffee and rubber exports collapsed the latter due to the loss of the Brazilian rubber monopoly to British plantations in the Far East 31 C In addition reports on new dreadnought construction coming in from overseas indicated that the vessel would be outclassed upon completion 32 These factors caused Brazil to put the ship up for sale in October 1913 and she was sold to the Ottoman Navy for 2 750 000 on 28 December 1913 33 Renamed Sultan Osman i Evvel she underwent trials during the July Crisis the following year and was completed in August just as the First World War was beginning 34 The war broke out during her sea trials before delivery Even though the Ottoman crew had arrived to collect her the British Government took over the vessel for incorporation into the Royal Navy The Turkish captain waiting with five hundred Turkish sailors aboard a transport in the River Tyne threatened to board his ship and hoist the Turkish flag First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill gave orders to resist such an attempt by armed force if necessary 35 At the same time the British also took over a second Ottoman battleship a King George V class derived vessel being built by Vickers Resadiye which was renamed HMS Erin Such an action was allowed in the contract only if Britain was at war at the time but since Britain was not yet at war these actions were illegal the British government nevertheless determined to present the Ottomans with a fait accompli On 3 August a day before Germany invaded Belgium causing British political elites to reach a consensus on entering the war the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire informed the government that Britain had seized the ships 36 Churchill did not want to risk the ships being used against the British but it had consequences 37 The takeover caused considerable ill will in the Ottoman Empire where public subscriptions had partially funded the ships When the Ottoman government had been in a financial deadlock over the budget of the battleships donations for the Ottoman Navy had come in from taverns cafes schools and markets and large donations were rewarded with a Navy Donation Medal The seizure and the gifts of the German battlecruiser Goeben and the cruiser Breslau to the Ottomans influenced public opinion in the Empire to turn away from Britain and they entered the war on the side of Germany and the Austro Hungarian Empire against the Triple Entente of Britain France and Russia on 29 October after Goeben had attacked Russian facilities in the Black Sea 38 The Royal Navy made modifications to Agincourt before commissioning her in particular it removed the flying bridge over the two centre turrets The ship was also initially fitted with Turkish style lavatories that had to be replaced 39 Her name Agincourt was a favourite of Churchill s and had initially been allocated to a sixth vessel of the Queen Elizabeth class ordered under the 1914 15 Naval Estimates but not yet begun at the war s outbreak 40 Her nickname The Gin Palace came from her luxurious fittings and a corruption of her name A Gin Court pink gin being a popular drink among Royal Navy officers at the time 41 The Admiralty was unprepared to man a ship of Agincourt s size on such short notice and her crew was drawn from the highest and lowest echelons of the service the Royal yachts and the detention barracks Agincourt s captain and executive officer came from HMY Victoria and Albert most of whose crew was also transferred to Agincourt on 3 August 1914 Most of the naval reservists had already been called up by this time and sent to other ships so a number of minor criminals who had had their sentences remitted were received from various naval prisons and detention camps 42 Service editAgincourt was working up until 7 September 1914 when she joined the 4th Battle Squadron BS of the Grand Fleet 43 The fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow was not yet secure against submarine attack and much of the fleet was kept at sea where Agincourt spent forty of her first eighty days with the Grand Fleet This was the beginning of a year and a half of inaction only broken by occasional North Sea sweeps intended to draw the enemy from his bases 44 nbsp 4th Battle Squadron in the North Sea in 1915 Agincourt is the second ship from the front On 1 January 1915 Agincourt was still assigned to the 4th BS but had been assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron before the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916 She was the last ship of the Sixth Division of the 1st BS along with Hercules Revenge and the flagship Marlborough the most heterogeneous group possible as each ship was from a different class The Sixth Division was the starboardmost column of the Grand Fleet as it headed south to rendezvous with the ships of Admiral Beatty s Battle Cruiser Fleet then engaged with their opposite numbers from the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea 45 Admiral Jellicoe commander of the Grand Fleet kept it in cruising formation until 18 15 D when he ordered it to deploy from column into a single line based on the port division each ship turning 90 in succession This turn made the Sixth Division the closest ships in the Grand Fleet to the battleships of the High Seas Fleet and they fired on each ship as they made their turn to port This concentration of fire later became known as Windy Corner to the British as the ships were drenched by German shell splashes although none were hit 46 nbsp Agincourt in 1918 At 18 24 Agincourt opened fire on a German battlecruiser with her main guns Shortly afterwards her six inch guns followed suit as German destroyers made torpedo attacks on the British battleships to cover the turn to the south of the High Seas Fleet 47 Agincourt successfully evaded two torpedoes although another struck Marlborough 48 Visibility cleared around 19 15 and she engaged a Kaiser class battleship without result before it was lost in the smoke and haze 49 Around 20 00 Marlborough was forced to reduce speed because of the strain on her bulkheads from her torpedo damage and her division mates conformed to her speed 50 In the reduced visibility the division lost sight of the Grand Fleet during the night passing the badly damaged battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz without opening fire 51 Dawn found them with only the detritus from the previous day s battle in sight and the division arrived back at Scapa Flow on 2 June 52 Agincourt fired 144 twelve inch shells and 111 six inch shells during the battle although she is not known to have hit anything 43 nbsp Both of the seized Ottoman ships in 1918 Agincourt foreground with Erin Although the Grand Fleet made several sorties over the next few years it is not known if Agincourt participated in them On 23 April 1918 Agincourt and Hercules were stationed at Scapa Flow to provide cover for the Scandinavian convoys between Norway and Britain when the High Seas Fleet sortied in an attempt to destroy the convoy The reports from German Intelligence were slightly off schedule as both the inbound and outbound convoys were in port when the Germans reached their normal route so Admiral Scheer ordered the fleet to return to Germany without spotting any British ships 53 Agincourt was later transferred to the 2nd Battle Squadron 43 and was present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918 54 She was placed in reserve at Rosyth in March 1919 After unsuccessful attempts to sell her to the Brazilian Government she was listed for disposal in April 1921 but was used for experimental purposes later that year 25 The Royal Navy then planned to convert her into a mobile naval base and she was recommissioned on 21 November 55 in preparation for the conversion which would have included the removal of five of her seven turrets with their barbettes converted into storage and workshops Nos 2 and 5 turrets would have been retained 56 The conversion was cancelled on 23 February 1922 after the Washington Naval Treaty was signed that limited the battleship tonnage allowed to the RN and she was paid off on 7 April and listed again for disposal 55 The ship was sold on 22 January 1923 to J amp W Purves for 25 000 with the proviso that she had to be demolished 18 months after the treaty had been ratified Her contract was immediately transferred to the Rosyth Shipbreaking Co which had leased facilities at Rosyth Dockyard for that purpose As the deadline of 17 January 1925 approached the ship did not yet meet the treaty standards for scrapping The Admiralty agreed that cutting the hull in half would be acceptable and the company attempted to move the ship through the dockyard locks on the highest Spring Tide to its beaching ground to complete the demolition Bad weather thwarted that effort and the Admiralty agreed to allow the use of one of Rosyth s dry docks to meet the deadline Two days later the hull had been severed and both halves had been floated out so they could be beached 57 Notes edit The only modern armoured ships in the Brazilian Navy were two small coast defence ships launched in 1898 5 Brazil s external and internal debt would reach 500 and 335 million respectively by 1913 partly through rising deficits which were 22 million in 1908 and 47 million by 1912 13 The price of coffee declined by 20 and Brazilian exports of it dropped 12 5 This figure is unduly precise between 1912 and 1913 rubber saw a similar decline of 25 and 36 6 This figure is unduly precise respectively 13 The times used in this article are in GMT one hour behind CET which is often used in German works Footnotes edit Brazil s 32 000 Ton Dreadnought Bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics 31 no 1 July 1910 515 a b c d e f Burt p 245 Grant p 148 Livermore p 32 Topliss p 240 Scheina pp 45 52 a b Preston p 403 a b Livermore p 32 Preston p 403 Livermore p 32 Scheina p 80 Scheina p 80 Preston p 403 Topliss p 240 Hough p 22 Livermore pp 39 41 Topliss pp 247 249 Scheina pp 81 82 Topliss p 269 Martin p 37 a b Martin p 37 Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca 3 May 1911 in Scheina p 354 Topliss p 280 Burt p 244 a b Parkes p 604 Burt pp 245 250 Preston p 37 Hough p 150 Gibbons p 201 British 12 45 30 5 cm Mark XIII navweaps com 20 February 2009 Retrieved 4 May 2010 Parkes p 603 Hough p 160 a b c d e Burt p 250 British 6 50 15 2 cm BL Mark XIII navweaps com 22 January 2009 Retrieved 4 May 2010 Parkes pp 600 603 Friedman p 46 Burt pp 244 245 Hough pp 89 90 Martin pp 36 37 Vanterpool p 140 Hough pp 72 75 Hough pp 109 122 Tuchman Barbara Wertheim 1962 Chapter Ten Goeben An Enemy Then Flying The Guns of August New York Ballantine Books Random House ISBN 978 0 307 56762 8 Fromkin pp 57 58 Hough p 121 Hough pp 143 144 Hough pp 152 153 Parkes p 600 Hough p 147 Hough pp 148 152 a b c Parkes p 605 Hough p 161 Hough p 174 Hough p 179 Tarrant pp 131 133 Massie p 630 Hough p 183 Burt p 206 Massie p 651 Hough pp 184 185 Newbolt pp 236 237 Hough p 186 a b Dodson 2021 p 196 Harner p 152 Dodson 2022 pp 219 224Bibliography editBurt R A 1986 British Battleships of World War One Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 0 87021 863 8 Dodson Aidan 2021 Warship Notes The Mobile Naval Base In Jordan John ed Warship 2021 Oxford UK Osprey Publishing p 196 ISBN 978 1 4728 4779 9 Dodson Aidan 2022 Warship Gallery The Scrapping of HMS Agincourt New Zealand and Princess Royal at Rosyth 1923 1925 In Jordan John ed Warship 2022 Oxford Osprey Publishing pp 219 224 ISBN 978 1 4728 4781 2 Friedman Norman 2008 Naval Firepower Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1 59114 555 4 Fromkin David 1989 A Peace to End All Peace The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East New York H Holt ISBN 978 0 8050 0857 9 Gibbons Tony 1983 The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships A Technical Directory of Capital Ships from 1860 to the Present Day New York Crescent Books ISBN 0 517 37810 8 Grant Jonathan 2007 Rulers Guns and Money The Global Arms Trade in the Age of Imperialism Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0 674 02442 7 OCLC 166262725 Harner Robert 2006 Question 18 02 British Naval Base at Addu Atoll Warship International XLIII 2 152 ISSN 0043 0374 Hough Richard 1967 The Great Dreadnought The Strange Story of H M S Agincourt The Mightiest Battleship of World War I New York Harper amp Row OCLC 914101 Livermore Seward 1944 Battleship Diplomacy in South America 1905 1925 Journal of Modern History 16 1 31 48 doi 10 1086 236787 ISSN 0022 2801 JSTOR 1870986 OCLC 62219150 S2CID 145007468 Martin Percy Allen 1967 1925 Latin America and the War Gloucester Massachusetts Peter Smith OCLC 468553769 Massie Robert 2004 Castles of Steel Britain Germany and the Winning of the Great War New York Random House ISBN 0 224 04092 8 Murfin David 2020 Warship Notes The Mobile Naval Base In Jordan John ed Warship 2020 Oxford UK Osprey pp 188 192 ISBN 978 1 4728 4071 4 Newbolt Henry 1997 Naval Operations History of the Great War Based on Official Documents Vol V reprint of the 1931 ed London Imperial War Museum and Battery Press ISBN 1 870423 72 0 Parkes Oscar 1990 1966 British Battleships Warrior1860 toVanguard1950 A History of Design Construction and Armament New amp rev ed Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 1 55750 075 4 Preston Antony 1985 Great Britain and Empire Forces In Gardiner Robert amp Gray Randal eds Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1906 1921 Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press pp 1 104 ISBN 0 85177 245 5 Scheina Robert 1987 Latin America A Naval History 1810 1987 Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 0 87021 295 8 Tarrant V E 1999 1995 Jutland The German Perspective A New View of the Great Battle 31 May 1916 London Brockhampton Press ISBN 1 86019 917 8 Topliss David 1988 The Brazilian Dreadnoughts 1904 1914 Warship International XXV 3 240 289 ISSN 0043 0374 Vanterpool Alan 1969 The Riachuelo Warship International VI 2 140 141 ISSN 0043 0374 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Agincourt ship 1913 Dreadnought Project Technical material on the weaponry and fire control for the ship Maritimequest HMS Agincourt Photo Gallery Agincourt Class Battleship includes a diagram of her layout Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project HMS Agincourt Crew List Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title HMS Agincourt 1913 amp oldid 1206179384, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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