Erebus-class monitor

Class overview
Name: Erebus-class monitor
Builders: Harland and Wolff
Operators:  Royal Navy
In service: 1916 - 1946
In commission: August 1916
Completed: Two
Laid up: Two
Lost: One
Retired: One
General characteristics
Type: Monitor
Displacement:
  • 8,000 tons (standard)
  • 8,450 tons (full load)
Length: 405 ft (123 m)
Beam: 88 ft (27 m)
Draught: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Propulsion: 4 oil-fired boilers, 2 shaft reciprocating engines, 6,000 hp (4,500 kW)
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 204, rising to 315 later
Armament:
Armour:
  • Belt and bulkheads: 4 inch
  • Barbette: 8 inch
  • Turret: 13 inch
  • Deck: 4 inch
  • Anti-torpedo bulges: 9 ft (2.7 m) wide

The Erebus class of was a class of 20th century Royal Navy monitors armed with a main battery of two 15-inch /42 Mk 1 guns in a single turret. It consisted of two vessels, Erebus and Terror. Both were launched in 1916 and saw active service in World War I off the Belgian coast. After being placed in reserve between the wars, they served in World War II, with Terror being lost in 1941 and Erebus surviving to be scrapped in 1946.

Ships

Service

The class was to see most of its service in the naval gunfire support (or "NGS") role. During World War I, they operated off the German-occupied Belgian coast bombarding naval forces based at Ostend and Zeebrugge. Erebus was damaged by a remote controlled explosive motor boat and Terror was torpedoed by motor torpedo boats.

Both ships were placed in reserve between the wars but returned to service in World War II, when they were again used to provide fire support to British troops.

Erebus participated in the D-Day invasion as part of Task Force O off Omaha beach.[2]

In popular culture

Douglas Reeman's 1965 novel H.M.S. Saracen is a fictional account of the service of an Erebus class monitor in the Mediterranean Sea in both World Wars.

References

  1. Mason, Geoffrey. "HMS Terror - Erebus-class 15in gun Monitor". Edited by Gordon Smith, Naval-History.Net. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  2. Antony Beevor (28 September 2010). D-Day: The Battle for Normandy. Penguin. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-14-311818-3. Retrieved 10 February 2012.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erebus class monitor.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.