HMS Blanche (1909)
{{short description|Blonde class cruiser}}
{{other ships|HMS Blanche}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Blanche underway.jpg |Ship caption=Blanche at anchor }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |Ship name=HMS Blanche |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Pembroke Royal Dockyard |Ship laid down=12 April 1909 |Ship launched=25 November 1909 |Ship christened= |Ship completed=November 1910 |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=1919 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship fate=Sold for scrap, 27 July 1921 }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Blonde-class scout cruiser |Ship displacement={{convert|3350|LT|t}} (normal) |Ship length={{convert|406|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} (o/a) |Ship beam={{convert|41|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship draught={{convert|14|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship power=*{{convert|18000|shp | lk=in|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=*4 × shafts
|Ship speed={{convert|25|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=317 |Ship armament=*10 × single BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIIs
|Ship armour=*Deck: {{convert|.5 |
1|in|mm|abbr=on}}
|Ship notes= }} |
HMS Blanche was the second of two Blonde-class scout cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She led the 1st Destroyer Flotilla from completion until 1912 and was then briefly transferred to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla before the ship was assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron in 1913. During World War I, Blanche was assigned to several different battleship squadrons of the Grand Fleet. She was present at, but did not fight in, the Battle of Jutland in mid-1916. The ship was converted into a minelayer in early 1917 and made 16 sorties to lay mines during the war. Blanche was paid off in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1921.
Design and description
Designed to provide destroyer flotillas with a command ship capable of outclassing enemy destroyers with her 10 {{convert|4|in|mm|adj=on|0|spell=in}} guns, Blanche proved too slow in service from the start of her career. Her {{convert|25|kn|adj=on|lk=in}} speed was inadequate to match the {{convert|27|to|30|kn|adj=on}} speeds of the destroyers she led in her flotilla.Preston 1985, p. 50
Displacing {{convert|3350|LT|t}}, the ship had an overall length of {{convert|406|ft|m|1}}, a beam of {{convert|41|ft|6|in|m|1}} and a deep draught of {{convert|14|ft|3|in|m|1}}. She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines, each driving one shaft. The turbines produced a total of {{convert|18000|ihp|lk=in}}, using steam produced by 12 Yarrow boilers, and gave a maximum speed of {{convert|25|kn}}. She carried a maximum of {{convert|780|LT|t}} of coal and {{convert|189|LT|t}} of fuel oil.Friedman 2009, p. 295 Her crew consisted of 314 officers and ratings.
Her main armament consisted of 10 breech-loading (BL) four-inch Mk VII guns. The forward pair of guns were mounted side by side on a platform on the forecastle, three pairs were port and starboard amidships, and the two remaining guns were on the centreline of the quarterdeck, one ahead of the other. The guns fired their {{convert|31|lb|adj=on}} shells to a range of about {{convert|11400|yd}}.Friedman 2011, pp. 75–76 Her secondary armament was four quick-firing (QF) Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickerss and two submerged {{convert|21|in|adj=on}} torpedo tubes.
As a scout cruiser, the ship was only lightly protected to maximise her speed. She had a curved protective deck that was {{convert|1|in|mm|0|spell=in}} thick on the slope and {{convert|.5|in}} on the flat. Her conning tower was protected by four inches of armour.
==Construction and service==
Blanche, the seventh ship of that name, was laid down in No. 5 Slipway at Pembroke Royal Dockyard by Mrs. Munday, wife of Captain Godfrey Mundy, Captain-Superintendent of the dockyard, on 12 April 1909. The ship was launched on 25 November 1909 by Lady Mai Philipps, wife of Sir Owen Philips, Member of Parliament for Pembroke and Haverfordwest.Hampshire Telegraph (Saturday, 27 November 1909), p. 9; Phillips 2014, p. 295 She was completed in November 1910 and served as the flotilla leader of the First Destroyer Flotilla through 1912. On 14 August 1911, the cruiser took part in practice with the flotilla.{{cite news|title=Destroyer Flotillas' Bases For Autumn Practices|newspaper=The Times|issue=39625|page=15|date=30 June 1911}} During the night of 2 October, the ship struck a rock on the Pentland Skerries and suffered damage to her bow and stern.{{cite news|title=The Stranding Of The Blanche|newspaper=The Times|issue=39751|page=4|date=24 November 1911}} Captain Wilfred Henderson assumed command of the ship and the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla of the First Fleet on 1 May 1912.{{cite web|title=H.M.S. Blanche (1909)|url=http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/H.M.S._Blanche_%281909%29|website=www.dreadnoughtproject.org|publisher=The Dreadnought Project|access-date=26 April 2016}} Blanche had been transferred to the Third Battle Squadron as of 18 June 1913{{cite web|title=The Navy List|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistjul1913grea|website=National Library of Scotland|date=18 June 1913|publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office|location=London|access-date=31 March 2016|page=269}} and Captain Richard Hyde assumed command on 5 July. Blanche patrolled off the Irish coast in early 1914, during the Home Rule Crisis.Goldrick 2015, p. 8
She was still assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow at the start of World War I.Corbett 1997, Vol. I, p. 439; Vol. II, pp. 413, 417 On 15 December the ship was badly damaged due to severe weather in the Pentland Firth as she sortied to intercept German ships bombarding ports in Yorkshire and had to return to port for repairs.Massie 2004, p. 335 Blanche was transferred to the Fourth Battle Squadron, joining her sister ship, {{HMS|Blonde|1910|2}}, in January 1916.{{cite web|title=Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing the Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officer's Commands, &c.|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistjan1916grea|website=National Library of Scotland|publisher=Admiralty|date=January 1916|access-date=1 April 2016|page=14}} On 28 February, she was one of three cruisers dispatched to patrol off the Norwegian coast during the hunt for the German raider SMS Greif, although she did not come into contact with the German ship before she was sunk.Corbett 1997, Vol. III, p. 270 Captain John Casement relieved Hyde on 21 May. During the Battle of Jutland, she was assigned to a position at the rear of the squadron during the battle and did not fire her guns.Corbett 1997, Vol. III, p. 345 By January 1917, Blanche was detached from the Grand Fleet,{{cite web|title=Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing the Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officer's Commands, &c.|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistjan1917grea|website=National Library of Scotland|publisher=Admiralty|date=January 1917|access-date=1 April 2016|page=14}} presumably to be converted into a minelayer and Casement was relieved by Captain The Honourable Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax on 15 January. The ship had been assigned to the Fifth Battle Squadron by April.{{cite web|title=Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing the Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officer's Commands, &c.|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistapr1917grea|website=National Library of Scotland|publisher=Admiralty|date=April 1917|access-date=1 April 2016|page=10}} Blanche laid mines at the entrance to the Kattegat on the nights of 18/19 and 24/25 February 1918,Smith 2005, pp. 32–37 part of her total of 1,238 mines laid during 16 sorties during the war. Captain Francis Buller assumed command in lieu of Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax on 5 April 1918. He, in turn, was relieved by Captain Charles Wrightson on 7 January 1919. The ship was still assigned to the Fifth Battle Squadron in February,{{cite web|title=Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing the Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officer's Commands, &c.|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistfeb1919grea|website=National Library of Scotland|publisher=Admiralty|date=1 February 1919|access-date=1 April 2016|page=10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401010101/https://archive.org/details/navylistfeb1919grea|archive-date=1 April 2016}} but had been assigned to the Nore Reserve by 1 May, together with Blonde.{{cite web|title=Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing the Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officer's Commands, &c.|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistmay1919grea|website=National Library of Scotland|publisher=Admiralty|date=1 May 1919|access-date=1 April 2016|page=16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401010101/https://archive.org/details/navylistmay1919grea|archive-date=1 April 2016}} The sisters were listed for sale by 18 March 1920{{cite web|title=The Navy List|url=https://archive.org/details/navylistapr1920grea|website=National Library of Scotland|date=18 March 1920|publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office|location=London|access-date=31 March 2016|page=1105}} and Blanche was sold to Fryer for scrap on 27 July 1921 and broken up at Sunderland.Colledge 2006, p. 41
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{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, Tennessee|isbn=0-89839-256-X}}
- {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|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, Tennessee|isbn=1-870423-74-7}}
- {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|title=Naval Operations|edition=reprint of the 1940 second|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|volume=III|year=1997|publisher=Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=1-870423-50-X}}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|author-link=Norman Friedman|title=British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2009|isbn=978-1-59114-081-8}}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Weapons of World War One|publisher=Seaforth|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84832-100-7}}
- {{cite book|last=Goldrick|first=James|title=Before Jutland: The Naval War in Northern European Waters, August 1914–February 1915|year=2015|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-59114-349-9}}
- {{cite book|title=Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea |last=Massie|first=Robert K.|author-link=Robert K. Massie|publisher=Jonathan Cape|year=2004|location= London|isbn=0-224-04092-8}}
- {{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Lawrie; Lieutenant Commander|title=Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History|date=2014|publisher=The History Press|location=Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK|isbn=978-0-7509-5214-9}}
- {{cite book|last=Preston|first=Antony|chapter=Great Britain and Empire Forces|pages=1–104|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}}
- {{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Peter C.|title=Into the Minefields: British Destroyer Minelaying 1916 - 1960|date=2005|publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=1-84415-271-5}}
External links
- [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Blonde.html Blonde class in World War I]
- [http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_HMS_Blanche.html History of HMS Blanche]
- [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/blonde_class.htm Blonde class at battleships-cruisers.co.uk]
- [https://www.jutlandcrewlists.org/blanche Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Blanche Crew List]
{{Blonde class cruiser}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanche (1909)}}
Category:Blonde-class cruisers