HMS Hermes - Warship Wednesday

A weekly column looking at interesting naval ships from around the world.

HMS Hermes





HMS Hermes was the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be ordered by any navy. Previous to Hermes existing ships had been converted to allow the take off and landing of aircraft. Ordered in 1917, during the First World War, construction began in 1918 and Hermes was launched in 1919. Too late to play any part in the war, Hermes was not commissioned into the Royal Navy until 1923.

Drawing on what little practical experience of operating aircraft at sea there was, inevitably the design was flawed. She lacked operational endurance and her complement of aircraft was limited. Of more concern to her crew she had been built with similar lines to a light cruiser, a wholly unsuitable choice. The large starboard island, sited forward amidships, caused her to list, and, she was, particularly in rough weather, somewhat unstable. Despite all these faults, Hermes can be recognised as the first real aircraft carrier.

During the inter war years Hermes served in the Far East on the China Station. Twice she returned to Britain for refits in 1928 and again in 1934.





At the outbreak of the Second World War Hermes was back in Western waters, operating against the German U-boat threat. During the short-lived British Expeditionary Force's foray into continental Europe Hermes provided air cover. She continued her active service by assisting in the epic hunt across the South Atlantic sea-lanes for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which was wreaking havoc amongst Allied shipping.

In July 1940 while operating off Dakar (to keep an eye on French vessels) Hermes bow and flight deck were damaged in a collision with the armed merchant HMS Corfu. Putting into Freetown for basic repairs, she sailed onto Simonstown, South Africa for a more complete work including a refit. Hermes was back at sea before the end of the year.

In 1941 Hermes joined Force T, which was to operate in support of a land offensive against Italian forces in Somaliland. Later that year Hermes served in the Persian Gulf, helping to prevent any German incursions into Iraq, then in the Indian Ocean. Christmas 1941 was spent in Selborne dry dock Simonstown.

Hermes, at this time commanded by Captain R.F.J. Onslow, was back on active service in the spring of 1942 as part of Force B, based at Ceylon (Sri Lanka). On 9th April Force B was southwest of Trincomolee, attacked by a massive air strike launched by the Japanese carriers Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu. Virtually defenceless, Hermes suffered 40 hits and went to the bottom with 307 of her crew. Many of the survivors were picked up by the nearby hospital ship Vita.





Fact: Hermes badge can still be seen on the side of the Selborne dry dock wall.

Fact: The wreck of Hermes is located off Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, in the Indian Ocean.

Fact: Due to the delay in commissioning Hermes, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Hosho, commissioned in 1922, has the honour of being the first aircraft carrier actually entering service with a navy.

Fact: The Akagi had been the flagship for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.


HMS Hermes (D 95) Particulars

Hermes was built by Armstrongs of Newcastle-on-Tyne, although ordered in 1917 she was not commissioned until 1923.


Laid down: January 1918
Launched: 11 September 1919
Commissioned: July 1923
Displacement: 11,085 tons
Length: 182.27 m
Beam: 21.41 m
Draft: 5.64 m
Propulsion: Two steam turbines, 40,000 hp (30 MW)
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h)
Complement: 700 officers and men
Armament: 6 x 5.5in (140 mm) guns, 3 x 4in (102 mm) AA guns and 8 x 12.7mm AA guns. 6 x 20 mm guns added in 1934
Aircraft: Initially 15 (Fairey III and Flycatcher) then 12 (Fairey Swordfish II or Supermarine Walrus)


Next week choose from:

USS Constitution: 'Old Ironsides', the heavy American frigate from the War
of 1812
IJN Yamato: one of two 65,000-ton behemoths built by Japan during WWII
H.L. Hunley: the first submarine to sink an enemy warship

If you'd like to see previous Warship Wednesday posts, you can choose from:

HMS Victoria: flagship of the British Mediterranean fleet, involved in one of the most notorious disasters to strike the Royal Navy.

SMS Emden: the infamous German commerce raider from WWI.

HMS Conqueror: 'Gotcha!' the sub that sank the Argentinean General Belgrano during the Falklands War.

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SMS Emden - Warship Wednesday

It's Wednesday again, and that means it's time for Warship Wednesday again!

Warship Wednesday is a weekly column looking at interesting naval ships from around the world. This week, it's time for...

SMS Emden





The infamous SMS Emden was the scourge of allied merchant shipping during an extended raiding cruise in the early months of the First World War.

In the latter part of 1914 the strategy of the German surface fleet was to disperse around the globe and wreak havoc amongst Allied Shipping. In just one cruise in the Indian Ocean, Emden sailed into the history books, reportedly capturing or destroying 23 Allied ships.





At the start of the war Emden was commanded by Captain Karl von Müller and stationed in the Far East as part of Admiral-Count Maximilian von Spee's German Asiatic Squadron based at the Chinese port of Tsingtao. Müller was a superb cruiser captain, and aware of the situation in Europe in July 1914, took Emden to sea before war was declared to prevent her being trapped in port by Allied ships. Müller convinced von Spee that Emden would be most effective operating alone in her prime role of commerce raiding. Her famous cruise to attack British shipping in the Indian Ocean began on 14 August.

Emden's relentless activities, sinking or capturing British ships, caused utter confusion. The British authorities had viewed the Indian Ocean as a safe area for British shipping, now, with Emden on the loose, that had changed. Moreover, the losses sent insurance rates through the roof, and, as a result, merchant ships could not afford to venture forth from their safe harbours.





The British responded by dispatching a number of ships to hunt down the Müller and the Emden, but to no effect. In fact Müller had proved to be a cunning captain as well as a superb seaman. He had installed a fake smokestack on Emden, which made her silhouette extremely similar to the British ship HMS Yarmouth. This ruse fooled many a merchantman leading to their capture. Thinking they were saluting a friendly vessel they allowed Emden to close with them, at which point Müller would hoist enemy colours and fire a shot over their bow! At one point 60 Allied ships were chasing this lone German vessel.

Emden's activities were not restrained to capturing Allied shipping. In September 1914 Müller used Emden's 4.1in guns to bombard the British port of Madras, setting fire to fuel tanks, destroying 350,000 gallons of oil and causing widespread panic. In October Müller sailed the still disguised Emden straight into Penang harbour, raised the German naval ensign and began shooting up the many Allied vessels in the harbour. Making good his escape, the French ship Mosquet chased Müller; he made short work of this pursuer quickly sending her to the bottom. Emden's luck was holding out, but that was about to change.

Müller now decided to attack the Allied Radio station at Direction Island on 9 November 1914. It was a fatal decision. Although the attack was a success, the radio operators had recognised the ship and called for help. The signal reached Captain John Glossop in HMAS Sydney, an Australian cruiser, who just happened to be close by escorting an allied convoy.

With their landing party still ashore, Emden spotted the fast approaching Sydney. Müller immediately put out to sea to engage the new threat, leaving his men ashore. Over the next 90 minutes the two ships engaged in deadly combat. Sydney's superior 6in guns and her speed eventually told. Despite having one of her guns disabled early in the fight, Sydney managed to land over 100 hits upon the Emden, inflicting fatal damage.

It was obvious to Müller that Emden was going down, to avoid exposing his crew to more danger he ran her onto North Keeling Island. Sydney then chased away a collier that had been sailing with Emden, and upon returning to the beached ship found her still flying German colours. When his signal calling upon Emden to surrender was ignored, Glossop opened fire causing more casualties before the German ensign was hauled down.





Müller had lost 131 men killed and 65 wounded, the surviving members of the crew were taken prisoner and the now decrepit Emden was destroyed. Captain Müller was the last man off his ship.


Fact: Emden was the last piston engine warship commissioned into the German Navy.

Fact: In Sri Lanka people call a particularly obnoxious person an Emden.

Fact: The German landing party left behind on Direction Island seized a schooner and sailed for the neutral Dutch territory of Sumatra. They were picked up by a German commercial ship and taken to Turkey, then Germany's ally. Travelling overland the men finally made it back to Germany after an epic journey which began with Emden leaving China.

Fact: In 1917, a 105mm gun from Emden was installed as a monument in Sydney's Hyde Park. Another is located on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.


SMS Emden Particulars

Emden was built by Kaiserliche Werft of Danzig, launched on May 26, 1908 and commissioned into the German Imperial Navy, on July 10 1909.

Laid down: April 06, 1906
Launched: May 26, 1908
Commissioned: July 10, 1909
Cost: 6,38 Million Reichsmarks
Fate: scuttled
Displacement: 3,364 tons normal
Length: 118 m
Beam: 13.4 m
Draught: 5.3 m
Propulsion: Twelve boilers, two 16,000 shaft horsepower (12 MW) 3-cylinder triple expansion reciprocating steam engines driving two propellers
Speed: 23 knots (43 km/h)
Range: 3,700 miles (6,000 km)
Complement: 360
Armament: ten 4.1in QF in single turrets, and two TT
Armour: Deck 13 mm, Belt 51 mm, Conning tower 102 mm


Emden's confirmed victims:

Indus - 3393 tons
Lovat - 6102 tons
Killin - 3514 tons
Diplomat - 7615 tons
Trabbock - 4014 tons
Kabinga - 4657 tons
Clan Matheson - 4775 tons
King Lud - 3650 tons
Foyle - 4147 tons
Riberia - 4147 tons
Tymeric - 3314 tons
Buresk - 4350 tons
Gryjedale - 4437 tons
Pontoporos - 4049 tons
Troilus - 7562 tons
Clan Grant - 3948 tons
Benmohr - 4806 tons
Chilkana - 5146 tons.
Pourabbel - 473 tons
Exford - 4542 tons
Saint Egbert - 5526 tons
Zhemtchug (Russian Cruiser)
Mousquet (French Destroyer)

Estimated value of captures: £650,000
Estimated value of cargoes: £3,000,000

Next week choose from:

USS Constitution: 'Old Ironsides', the heavy American frigate from the War
of 1812
IJN Yamato: one of two 65,000-ton behemoths built by Japan during WWII
HMS Hermes: the world's first purpose built fleet aircraft carrier

Vote by leaving comments!

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HMS Conqueror - Warship Wednesday.

A weekly column looking at interesting naval ships from around the world.

HMS Conqueror



Conqueror returns to Faslane flying the 'Jolly Roger' to mark an enemy 'kill'.

HMS Conqueror was the third vessel of the Churchill class nuclear powered submarines and is famous for one major event that occurred in May 1982 during the Falklands War: sinking the Argentinean cruiser General Belgrano.

Conqueror, under the command of Cdr Chris Wreford-Brown, set sail from Faslane bound for the Falkland Islands on April 3 1982, a mere two days after the Argentines had invaded the islands. Arriving in the theatre of operations around the islands 21 days later, Conqueror's prime role was to find the Argentinean Aircraft carrier 25 de Mayo. The presence of the carrier in waters around the Falklands would have been dangerous for the British Task Force steaming south to liberate the islands.

In fact while Conqueror was operating to the south of the Falkland Islands, the 25 de Mayo was approaching from the north. On 30 April Conqueror located the Argentinean light cruiser General Belgrano (ex-USS Phoenix) off the Burdwood Bank, to the south of the islands. The British government, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, had imposed a 200 nautical mile exclusion zone around the Falkland Islands; any Argentinean ships entering that zone could expect to be attacked. But the General Belgrano, accompanied by two destroyers, was outside the zone. The British Task Force Commander Rear-Admiral Sandy Woodward gave the order for Conqueror to attack, but this was countermanded by Submarine HQ at Northwood. Admiral of the Fleet and Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Terry Lewin approached the British Cabinet to ask for a change in the rules of engagement in order to attack the cruiser.

Faced with the prospect of Conqueror losing the Argentine ships as they passed over the Burwood Bank (Conqueror's towed sonar array would probably have snagged on the underwater reef), the order from London came for Wreford-Brown to engage. The Cabinet were aware that both of the destroyers were armed with deadly ship-to-ship Exocet missiles and thought the General Belgrano may have been similarly armed.

It was feared that the General Belgrano was acting in concert with the 25 de Mayo to create a pincer attack on the British Task Force.

Conqueror launched three torpedoes, one of which struck the General Belgrano, virtually blowing the bow off, but causing no casualties. Another hit her just aft-amidships. The explosion blasted through two mess decks and ripped a 20m hole in the upper deck. It is estimated that 275 crew were killed in this blast.

The explosions had put General Belgrano's electrics out of action, and with water pouring in through the hull, within 20 minutes of the attack it was clear that the cruiser was going to the bottom. With her two destroyer escorts leaving the scene to hunt for Conqueror, General Belgrano's commander Captain Hector Bonzo gave the order to abandon ship at 16:24. Although Argentine and Chilean ships rescued 770 men from the water, total Argentine losses were 323 men.

The sinking was controversial for a number of reasons. It coincided with a peace initiative from the Peruvian President, though this would have been rejected by the British anyway. It also appears intelligence the General Belgrano was moving away from the Islands prior to Conqueror's attack was not passed to the Cabinet, though naval opinion considered this irrelevant given the nature of naval operations. Moreover, recent evidence has shown that the British Cabinet were aware of Argentinean design to launch the pincer attack on the Task Force.


Fact: after the sinking the Argentinean navy retreated to port and stayed there for the duration of the war. Therefore the sinking can be considered a decisive moment in the war.

Fact: Conqueror is the only nuclear powered submarine to have engaged an enemy vessel with torpedoes.

Fact: Conqueror's periscope can be seen in the Royal Navy's museum in Gosport.

Fact: as with all Royal Navy submarines that score a 'kill', Conqueror flew the Jolly Roger on her return to Faslane.



Fact: the British tabloid press reacted in jingoistic style, The Sun leading the way with their infamous "Gotcha" headline. In fact the headline only appeared on early editions of the paper and was quickly pulled.


HMS Conqueror (S48) Particulars

Built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, commissioned 1971.

Commissioned: 1971
Decommissioned: 1990
Displacement: 4,900 tonnes submerged
Length: 86.9 m
Beam: 10.1 m
Draught: 8.2 m
Propulsion: One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Speed: 28 knots submerged
Complement: 103
Armament: 6 x 533 mm tubes capable of firing:
Mark 8 torpedoes
Tigerfish torpedoes
RN Sub Harpoon Missiles




Agree or disagree with this? Make up your own mind:

Naval Historian Eric Grove's view
Margaret Thatcher's memoirs of the incident
Guardian Interactive guide to the Falklands war
Thatcher in the dark on sinking of Belgrano, The Times

Read more >>
Eighteen years after the sinking of the General Belgrano, Narendra Sethia travels to Argentina to meet the men he tried to kill :
Narendra Sethia, HMS Conqueror. (The Guardian)

Next week choose from:

SMS Emden: the infamous German commerce raider from WWI
USS Constitution: 'Old Ironsides', the heavy American frigate from the War
of 1812
IJN Yamato: one of two 65,000-ton behemoths built by Japan during WWII

Vote by leaving comments!

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It's Warship Wednesday!

But seeing as no one has commented... here's a poll!



Here's a reminder about what's on the menu:

SMS Emden: the infamous German commerce raider from WWI

USS Constitution: 'Old Ironsides', the heavy American frigate from the War of 1812

HMS Conqueror: 'Gotcha!' the sub that sank the Argentinean General Belgrano during the Falklands War