HMS Hibernia (1905)

HMS Hibernia
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Hibernia
Namesake:	Hibernia, the Roman name for Ireland
Ordered:	1903/04 Estimates
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard
Cost:	£1,438,690
Laid down:	6 January 1904
Launched:	17 June 1905
Completed:	December 1906
Commissioned:	2 January 1907
Decommissioned:	October 1917
Nickname(s):	The King Edward VII-class battleships were known as "The Wobbly Eight"
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 8 November 1921
Notes:	The first launch of an aeroplane from a warship underway was from Hibernia in 1912
General characteristics
Class and type:	King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	16,350 tons (standard) 17,500 tons (full load)
Length:	453 ft 6 in (138.23 m)
Beam:	78 ft (24 m)
Draught:	26 ft 9 in (8.15 m)
Installed power:	18,000 ihp (13 MW)
Propulsion:	12 coal-fired (with oil sprayers) Babcock & Wilcox water-tube and 3 cylindrical boilers, two 4-cylinder vertical compound expansion steam engines, two screws
Speed:	18.5 knots (34 km/h)
Range:	2,000 nautical miles (3,704 km) at 18.5 knots (34 km/h); 5,270 nautical miles (9,760 km) at 10 knots (18.5 km/h)
Complement:	777
Armament:	4 × BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk X guns (2 × 2) 4 × BL 9.2-inch (233.7 mm) Mk X guns (4 × 1) 10 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI guns (replaced by 4 × 6 inch (152 mm) guns in 1917) 14 × QF 12 pounder 18 cwt guns 14 × 3 pounder quick-firing guns 5 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged), four on the beam and one in the stern 2 × Maxim machine guns
Armour:	Belt amidships: 9 inches tapering to 8 inches (203 mm) Bulkheads: 12 inches (305 mm) to 8 inches (203 mm) Barbettes: 12 inches (356 mm) Main turrets (gunhouses): 12 inches (356 mm) to 8 inches (203 mm) 9.2 inch (234 mm) turrets: 9 inches (229 mm) to 5 inches (127 mm) 6 inch (152 mm) battery: 7 inches (178 mm) Conning tower: 12 inches (305 mm) Armoured deck: 2.5 inches (63.5 mm) to 1 inch (25.4 mm)
Notes:	2,164–2,238 tons coal maximum, 380 tons oil

HMS Hibernia was a King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship of Britain's Royal Navy. Like all ships of the class (apart from HMS King Edward VII) she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely Ireland. Commissioned in early 1907, she served as the flagship of the Rear Admirals of firstly the Atlantic Fleet and then the Channel Fleet. When the latter fleet was reorganised to the Home Fleet, she was based at the Nore.

In 1912, Hibernia hosted trials in naval aviation with the temporary addition of a runway to her foredeck, and the first launch of an aircraft from a vessel underway was achieved from her in early May. Later in 1912, after her experiment with aviation was completed, she and her sister ships formed the 3rd Battle Squadron. The squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet at the beginning of World War I, and served on the Northern Patrol. In 1915 she supported the Dardanelles Campaign and provided cover for the evacuation from the Gallipoli Peninsula. On returning to the United Kingdom she was again attached to the Grand Fleet before being transferred to Nore Command in May 1916, finishing the war as an accommodation ship. She was decommissioned in 1919 and scrapped in 1922.

HMS Hibernia was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 6 January 1904, launched on 17 June 1905, and completed in December 1906. She was the last of the eight King Edward VII-class battleships to be completed.

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