Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships: HMS Magnificent, HMS Majestic, HMS Victorious, HMS Prince George, HMS Jupiter, HMS Mars, HMS Caesar, HMS Hannibal, HMS Illustrious

Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleships: HMS Magnificent, HMS Majestic, HMS Victorious, HMS Prince George, HMS Jupiter, HMS Mars, HMS Caesar, HMS Hannibal, HMS Illustrious

Majestic class

Intended for the 1892 programme, what was initially to have been a class of three ships was delayed to the following year as the new 12-inch gun they were designed to carry had not completed testing. The design, also prepared by White, incorporated the same advances first seen with Renown in a larger first-class battleship (though White had in fact designed Majestic first). Due to public criticism, John Spencer, the First Lord of the Admiralty, ordered a total of nine new battleships as part of the so-called Spencer Programme to allay concerns that the Royal Navy had fallen in strength relative to France and Russia. The Majestics became a benchmark of battleship design, and they were widely copied, both generally with characteristics like the calibre of the main battery, and literally in that the Japanese Shikishima class and the battleship Mikasa were little more than minor improvements on the Majestics.

Most of the class joined the Channel Fleet on entering service and HMS Magnificent became the fleet flagship. HMS Caesar, HMS Illustrious, and HMS Victorious instead went to the Mediterranean Fleet upon their commissioning. Caesar and Illustrious joined the rest of the class in the Channel Fleet in 1903 and 1904 respectively, while Victorious was transferred to the China Station from 1898 to 1900, before returning to the Mediterranean until 1904, when she, too, joined the Channel Fleet. In 1906, the ships were reduced to the reserve, assigned to the Nore, Portsmouth, and Devonport Divisions, seeing little activity until the First World War, when they were mobilised. They served in a variety of roles through the first year of the war, including escorting the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1914, and as part of the force waging the Dardanelles campaign. There, Majestic was sunk by U-21 in May 1915. By that time, the ships of the class began to be withdrawn from service, disarmed, and reduced to subsidiary roles, including as depot ships, ammunition ships, and repair ships. Caesar, as a depot ship, was the last British pre-dreadnought to be used overseas when she supported the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919. With no further use for the obsolete vessels, the Royal Navy sold the Majestics for scrap in the early 1920s. (Wikipedia)

HMS Magnificent

(IWM Photo, Q 39473, 1899)

HMS Magnificent was one of the nine Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy. She entered service in late 1895 with the Channel Fleet, remaining with the fleet through its subsequent reorganisation into the Atlantic Fleet. In 1905, an explosion caused the deaths of 18 men but she remained in service until 1906, after which she underwent a refit. She served with the Home Fleet for most of her pre-war service.

Among the oldest of Britain’s battleships at the time, Magnificent was a guard ship on the Humber when the First World War broke out. She was then, together with her sister ship Hannibal, assigned to Scapa Flow as a guard ship. In 1915, she was stripped of her main armament, and later in that year was converted to a troopship for use in the Dardanelles Campaign. Returning to England in 1916, she was inactive until late 1917, at which time she was converted to an ammunition ship. She continued to serve in this role until 1921, at which time she was decommissioned before being scrapped the following year. (Wikipedia)

(IWM Photo, Q 39478)

HMS Magnificent at Spithead, 1899.

(Agence Rol Photo)

HMS Magnificent visiting Brest, France, 10 July 1905.

(Agence Rol Photo)

HMS Magnificent visiting Brest, France, 10 July 1905.

(IWM Photo, Q 39466)

HMS Magnificent, 1903.

(Agence Rol Photo)

HMS Magnificent visiting Brest, France, 10 July 1905.

HMS Majestic

(IWM Photo, Q 21480)

HMS Majestic was commissioned in 1895, she was the largest pre-dreadnought launched at the time. She served with the Channel Fleet until 1904, following which she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. In 1907, she was part of the Home Fleet, firstly assigned to the Nore Division and then with the Devonport Division. From 1912, she was part of the 7th Battle Squadron.

When the First World War broke out Majestic, together with the rest of the squadron, was attached to the Channel Fleet during the early stages of the war before being detached for escort duties with Canadian troop convoys. She then had spells as a guard ship at the Nore and the Humber. In early 1915, she was dispatched to the Mediterranean for service in the Dardanelles Campaign. She participated in bombardments of Turkish forts and supported the Allied landings at Gallipoli. On 27 May 1915, she was torpedoed by a U-boat at Cape Helles, sinking with the loss of 49 men. (Wikipedia)

(Royal Navy Photo)

HMS Victorious

HMS Prince George

HMS Jupiter

HMS Mars

HMS Caesar

HMS Hannibal

HMS Illustrious