HMS Resolution (09)

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HMS Resolution between the wars.
Career Royal Navy Ensign
Builder: Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow
Laid down: 29 November 1913
Launched: 14 January 1915
Commissioned: 30 December 1916
Fate: Sold for scrap on 5 May 1948
General characteristics
Displacement: 29,150 tons standard; 33,500 tons full load
Length: 620 ft 5 in (189.1 m) overall, 614 ft 5 in (187 m) waterline
Beam: 102 ft 5 in (31.2 m)
Draught: 30 ft 5 in (9.3 m) ax
Propulsion: 4 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 18 Yarrow boilers, 40,000 shp (30 MW)
Speed: 23 knots (43 km/h)
Capacity: 3,400 tons oil fuel; 160 tons coal
Complement: 1,009 to 1,146
Armament: Eight 15 inch (381 mm) guns in 4 twin mount turrets
Twelve 6 inch (152 mm) guns
Eight 4 inch (102 mm) anti-aircraft guns
Four 2 pounder (907 g) pom-poms
Sixteen Bofors 40 mm guns
Armour: Main Side Belt: 13.0 in (330 mm) midship, 6 to 4 in (152 to 102 mm) ends
Deck Armour up to 5 in (127 mm)
Turrets 13 in (330 mm) face, 5 in (127 mm) sides, 5 in (127 mm) roof
Barbettes up to 10 in (254 mm)
Citadel 11 in (279 mm)

HMS Resolution (pennant number 09) was a Revenge-class battleship of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow on 29 November 1913, launched on 14 January 1915, and commissioned on 30 December 1916.

From 1916 to 1919, Resolution served in the 1st Battle Squadron (United Kingdom) of the Grand Fleet. Between the Wars, she served in the Atlantic Fleet, with the exception of a short refit in 1930-1931.

On the outbreak of World War 2, Resolution was part of the Home Fleet, and carried out convoy escort duties in the Atlantic. Whilst supporting the Narvik campaign in May 1940, Resolution was struck by a bomb at Tjeldsundet. In June, 1940 she joined Force H at Gibraltar, and took part in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir on July 3, 1940.

In September 1940, Resolution joined Force M at Freetown, shelling French warships at the Battle of Dakar on September 24, 1940. The next day, Resolution was torpedoed by the French submarine Bévéziers and badly damaged.

Following repairs in the United states, Resolution departed in February 1942 for Colombo, and served in the Indian Ocean during 1942 and 1943. She returned to England in September 1943 and became a stokers' training ship in 1944 as part of the establishment HMS Imperieuse. HMS Resolution was sold for scrap on 5 May 1948 and broken up at Faslane.

The future First Sea Lord John H. D. Cunningham served aboard her as Flag Captain to Admiral Sir William Fisher, the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.

The ship lay-out of the British Revenge-class battleships.
The ship lay-out of the British Revenge-class battleships.

[edit] References

  • McMahon, William E. "Dreadnought Battleships and Battlecruisers", University Press of America, Washington DC, 1978. ISBN 0-8191-0465-5
  • Lenton, H.T. & Colledge, J. J. "Warships of World War II", Ian Allen, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7110-0403-X
  • Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allen, London, 1972), ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
  • Young, John. "A Dictionary of Ships of the Royal Navy of the Second World War". Patrick Stephens Ltd, Cambridge, 1975. ISBN 0-85059-332-8

[edit] External links