HMS Blenheim (1890)
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 HMS Blenheim |
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Blake class armoured cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Blenheim |
| Builder: | Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company, Blackwall |
| Laid down: | October 1888 |
| Launched: | July 5, 1890 |
| Reclassified: | Depot ship 1907 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking up July 13, 1926 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 9,150 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 7,350 tons |
| Length: | 375 ft (114 m) |
| Beam: | 65 ft (20 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 propellers 20,000 hp |
| Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
| Armament: | 2 × 9 in (22 ton) guns 10 x 6 in guns 18 x 3-pounder guns |
HMS Blenheim was a Blake class armoured cruiser that served in the Royal Navy from 1890-1926.
Launched July 5, 1890, she displaced 9,150 tons and her steel hull measured 375 feet (length) and 65 feet (beam) with 20,000 horsepower turning 2 propellers giving a top speed of 22 knots (41 km/h). Her main armament was two 9-inch (22 ton) smooth bore guns protected behind armoured casements on the upper deck. She also carried ten 6-inch (152 mm) guns and eighteen 3-pounders.
She was built by Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company at Blackwall.
She served as a cruiser with the Channel Squadron until May 1908 when she joined the Mediterranean Fleet as a destroyer depot ship. She was sent to Mudros in March 1915 in support of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at the Battle of Gallipoli. She was scrapped in 1926 at Pembroke Dock.
Blenheim served in the repatriation of the remains of two dignitaries during her career:
- His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Battenberg died from malaria while on active duty onboard HMS Blonde off Sierra Leone in 1896. Blenheim repatriated his body from the Canary Islands. Her Majesty Queen Victoria appointed the commanding officer Captain Edmund S. Poe to the fourth class of the Royal Victorian Order as a mark of appreciation for this service.
- Sitting Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Thompson died in England, just after being named to HM The Queen's Privy Council in 1894 and was repatriated to Halifax, Nova Scotia by Blenheim, which was painted black for the occasion.[1]
Whilst being used as a depot ship, future Rear-Admiral and VC winner Eric Gascoigne Robinson served aboard her.
[edit] References
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5
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