HMS Irresistible (1898)
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| HMS Irresistible (1898) | |
|---|---|
| Career | Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |
| Ordered: | |
| Builders: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Laid down: | April 11, 1898 |
| Launched: | |
| Commissioned: | February 4, 1902 |
| Fate: | Sunk by mine, March 18, 1915 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 14,685 tons load 15,805 tons deep |
| Length: | 411 ft (126 m) waterline 431 ft 9 in (131 m) overall |
| Beam: | 75 ft (23 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft 9 in (8.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | Water tube boilers, 2x vertical triple expansion engines, 2 shafts, 15,500 ihp (11.6 megawatts) |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,500 nautical miles (approx) at 10 knots (18 km/h) |
| Complement: | 780 |
| Armament: | four Mk IX 12 inch guns twelve Mk VII 6 inch guns sixteen 12 pounder (5.4 kg) guns six 3 pounder (1.4 kg) guns two machine guns four 18 in submerged torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft: | None |
| Motto: | |
HMS Irresistible was a Formidable-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Chatham shipyards.
HMS Irresistible has been the name of four Royal Navy ships.
Irresistible's first assignment was with the 5th Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet, and on 25th August 1914 she took part in the transportation of the Portsmouth Marine Battalion to Ostend. Between October and November the same year, she was attached to the Dover Patrol to assist with attacks on the Belgian coast, and then during February 1915 was sent to join the Dardanelles squadron.
During the Dardanelles Campaign HMS Irresistible struck a Turkish mine at about 4:16 PM local time on March 18, 1915 while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits, and sank about four hours later. All the crew, except for the captain and a few volunteers, were transferred to HMS Wear which then transferred them to HMS Queen Elizabeth. HMS Ocean was sent to bring the Irresistible under tow, but the water was shallow and Irresistible continued to drift nearer the shore. The Ocean rescued the remaining men from Irresistible as her fate became clearer. Whilst under fire from on-shore forts and just after she began to withdraw about about 6.05pm, the Ocean struck a mine and moments later received a shell strike. All on board the Ocean were rescued by Royal Navy ships in the vicinity before she sank about one and a half hours later.
The Royal Navy sent HMS Jed back into the Dardenelles to torpedo the abandoned Pre-dreadnoughts if they remained afloat; however, they were not found.
[edit] External links
| Formidable-class battleship |
| Formidable | Irresistible | Implacable | London | Bulwark | Venerable | Queen | Prince of Wales |
| List of battleships of the Royal Navy |
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