:HMS Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh displaced {{convert|12590|LT|t|lk=on}} as built and {{convert|13965|LT|t}} fully loaded. The ship had an overall length of {{convert|505|ft|6|in|m|1}}, a beam of {{convert|73|ft|6|in|m|1}} and a draught of {{convert|27|ft|m|1}}. She was powered by a pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by 20 Babcock & Wilcox boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. The engines produced a total of {{convert|23000|ihp|lk=on}} that was designed to give a maximum speed of {{convert|23|kn|lk=in}}. The ship carried a maximum of {{convert|2,150|LT|t}} of coal and an additional {{convert|600|LT|t|0}} of fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for {{convert|8,130|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}. The ship's complement was 789 officers and ratings.Parkes, p. 442

Her main armament consisted of six BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX - X in single turrets. The guns were distributed in two centreline turrets (one each fore and one aft) and four turrets disposed in the corners about the funnels. Her secondary armament of ten BL 6 inch Mk XI naval gun was arranged in single casemates. They were mounted amidships on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather. Twenty Vickers quick-firing (QF) Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers were fitted, six on turret roofs and fourteen in the superstructure. The ship also mounted three submerged British 18 inch torpedo torpedo tubes.Parkes, pp. 442–443

File:HMS Duke of Edinburgh 1909.jpg

Duke of Edinburgh was ordered under the 1902/1903 naval construction programme as the lead ship of her class. She was laid down on 11 February 1903 at Pembroke Royal Dockyard in Wales. She was launched on 14 June 1904 and completed on 20 January 1906Chesneau and Kolesnik, p. 72 at a cost of £1,193,414. The ship was named after Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, one of Queen Victoria's sons.Silverstone, p. 228

The ship was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1906 to 1908 and was then transferred to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Channel Fleet. When the Royal Navy's cruiser squadrons were reorganized in 1909, Duke of Edinburgh rejoined the 5th Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet.Parkes, p. 444 On 13 August 1910 Duke of Edinburgh ran aground on Atherfield Ledge, Isle of Wight. She was successfully refloated, but in the resulting Court-martial to investigate the incident, the ship's Captain and Navigating Officer were severely reprimanded and the latter dismissed from the ship.{{cite magazine|title=Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Portsmouth Dockyard |journal=The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect |volume=33|date=October 1910|page=98}} She helped to rescue the survivors of the SS Delhi which ran aground off the coast of Morocco in December 1911.{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/12/14/104885851.pdf|title=Three Princesses Nearly Drowned|date=14 December 1911|work=New York Times|access-date=4 February 2011}} From 1913 to 1914 she served with the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet.

When the British began to prepare for war in July 1914, the ship was refitting at Malta. Her refit was cut short and she joined the rest of her squadron in the southern approaches to the Adriatic.Corbett, I, pp. 33, 35 She was involved in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau at the outbreak of World War I, but was ordered not to engage them.Preston, p. 13 On 10 August Duke of Edinburgh and her sister ship {{HMS|Black Prince|1904|6}} were ordered to the Red Sea to protect troop convoys arriving from India. While on that duty the ship captured the German merchantman Altair of 3,200 tons GRT on 15 August.Corbett, I, pp. 83, 87–88 While escorting a troop convoy from India to France in November 1914, Duke of Edinburgh provided cover to three battalions of infantry that seized the Turkish fort at Cheikh Saïd at the entrance to the Red Sea. The ship then landed a demolition party, which blew the fort up on 10 November; she then rejoined the convoy.Corbett, I, pp. 377–379

Duke of Edinburgh rejoined the 1st Cruiser Squadron, which had been transferred to the Grand Fleet in the meantime, in December 1914. In March 1916 the ship had her main deck 6-inch guns removed and the openings plated over. Six of the guns were remounted on the upper deck, three on each side, between the wing turrets, protected by gun shields. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, the 1st Cruiser Squadron was in front of the Grand Fleet, on the right side. At 5:47 p.m.The times used in this article are in UTC, which is one hour behind CET, which is often used in German works. The two leading ships of the squadron, the flagship, {{HMS|Defence|1907|6}}, and {{HMS|Warrior|1905|6}}, spotted the German II Scouting Group and opened fire. Their shells felt short and the two ships turned to port in pursuit, cutting in front of the battlecruiser {{HMS|Lion|1910|6}}, which was forced to turn away to avoid a collision. Duke of Edinburgh could not follow the first two ships and turned to port (northeast).Marder, pp. 97–98 The ship spotted the disabled German light cruiser {{SMS|Wiesbaden}} at 6:08 and fired twenty rounds at her. By about 6:30 she had steamed to a position off the starboard bow of {{HMS|King George V|1911|6}}, the leading ship of the 2nd Battle Squadron, where her funnel smoke obscured the German ships from the foremost dreadnoughts of the 2nd Battle Squadron.Campbell, pp. 122, 150, 152 A torpedo attack by German destroyers on Admiral Beatty's battlecruisers, failed, but forced Duke of Edinburgh to evade one torpedo at 6:47. The ship reported a submarine sighting at 7:01, although no German submarines were operating in the area. She fired at another false submarine contact between 7:45 and 8:15.Campbell, pp. 161, 164, 250

After the battle, Duke of Edinburgh was attached to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and remained at sea until 2 June, searching for disabled ships. She arrived in Scapa Flow on the afternoon of 3 June.Newbolt, IV, p. 1 On the evening of 18 August 1916, the Grand Fleet, including Duke of Edinburgh, put to sea in response to a deciphered message that the High Seas Fleet, minus the II Battle Squadron, would be leaving harbour that night. The Germans planned to bombard the port of Sunderland on 19 August, with extensive reconnaissance provided by airships and submarines. The Germans broke off their planned attack to pursue a lone British battle squadron reported by an airship, which was in fact the Harwich Force under Commodore Tyrwhitt. Realising their mistake, the Germans then set course for home. After Jutland the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, now including Duke of Edinburgh, was ordered to reinforce the patrols north of the Shetland Islands against German blockade runners and commerce raiders.Newbolt, IV, pp. 36, 192 The ship's foremast was converted to a tripod to support the weight of a fire-control director in May 1917, but when the director was actually fitted is not known. Two more 6-inch guns were added in embrasures on the forecastle deck during that same refit. She was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in August 1917 for convoy escort duties,Newbolt, V, p. 135 where she remained for the duration of the war. Upon her return, Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in the Humber, before she was sold for scrap on 12 April 1920 and broken up at Blyth in Northumberland.

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Campbell|first=John|title=Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting|year=1998|location=London|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|isbn=1-55821-759-2}}
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
• {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Corbett|title=Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands|edition=2nd, reprint of the 1938|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|date=March 1997|volume=I|publisher=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, TN|isbn=0-89839-256-X}}
• {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Corbett|title=Naval Operations|edition=reprint of the 1929 second|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|volume=II|year=1997|publisher=Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, TN|isbn=1-870423-74-7}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Eger|first1=Christopher L.|title=Hudson-Fulton Naval Celebration, Part I|journal=Warship International|date=2012|volume=XLIX|issue=2 |pages=123–151|issn=0043-0374}}
• {{cite book |title=From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, 1904–1919 |edition=Second |volume=III: Jutland and After, May 1916 – December 1916 |last=Marder |first=Arthur J. |year=1978 | publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |isbn=0-19-215841-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Newbolt|first=Henry|title=Naval Operations|edition=reprint of the 1928|series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents|volume=IV|year=1996|publisher=Battery Press|location=Nashville, TN|isbn=0-89839-253-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Newbolt|first=Henry|title=Naval Operations|publisher=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, TN|edition=reprint of the 1931|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|year=1997|volume=V|isbn=1-870423-72-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Parkes|first=Oscar|title=British Battleships|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, MD|year=1990|edition=reprint of the 1957|isbn=1-55750-075-4}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-85177-245-5 |name-list-style=amp|chapter=Great Britain and Empire Forces|first1=Antony|last1=Preston|author-link=Antony Preston|pages=1–104}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}

{{Commons category|HMS Duke of Edinburgh (ship, 1904)}}

• [https://www.jutlandcrewlists.org/duke-of-edinburgh Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Duke of Edinburgh Crew List]

{{Duke of Edinburgh class cruiser}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke of Edinburgh (1904)}}

Category:Duke of Edinburgh-class cruisers

Category:Ships built in Pembroke Dock

Category:World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom

Category:1904 ships

Category:Royal Navy ship names