H.M.S. RAMILLIES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 84, 3 January 1940, Page 8

H.M.S. RAMILLIES

Seventh Ship Of Her

Name A FAMOUS VICTORY Story Of The Battleship

I By

S.D.W.)

H..M..5. Ramillies is the seventh warship in the Royal Navy tp bear the name, which dates back to 1706, when the Royal Katherine, built at Portsmouth in 1702, was ordered to be renamed Ramillies. This was to commemorate the victory of May 12-23, 1706, over the French, during the War of the Spanish Succession. The battle was fought near the village of Ramillies, in Belgium. The British forces and their allies, the Dutch, were commanded by rhe Duke of Marlborough, the French were under Marshal de Villeroy, and their allies, the Bavarians, under, the Elector of Bavaria. The present Ramillies, the last of the Royal. Sovereign class of five ships and the last British battleship to be completed during the Great War, was the first capital ship to have anti-torpedo bulges built into her original structure.

Built by Beardmore’s at Dalmuir, on the Clyde, her keel was laid on November 12, 1913, and she was launched on September 12. 1916, by Lady Jackson, wife of the then First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, the late Admiral Sir Henry Jackson.

At the launch, tlie ship did not "bring up” in time. but. crossed the Clyde ami bumped tlie opposite bank, cracking her stern post and damaging her bottom and main rudder. As she could not be docked locally it was necessary for her to go to Liverpool for completion. On May 7. 1917, she was towed down the Clyde, with great difficulty, aud there were further groundings. Three days later she departed for Liverpool, but in tlie open sea was not under control by her own power and had to return. Finally, on May 23, 1917, she set off in tow of eight Liverpool tugs, with an escort of six destroyers, eight minesweepers and eight trawlers. Shortly after starting, the trawler Merse, only a mile away, bumped a mine and was blown up with the loss of all hands. In 24 hours, the Ramillies only made good 10S miles at an average speed of 41 knots, but arrived at Liverpool next day. Commissioned by Captain 11. M. Doughty, on May 15, 1917, on the Clyde, she did not join tlie Grand Fleet till five months later. Her year of war service proved uneventful, and when the Grand Fleet ’ dispersed in April, .1919, she became a unit of the Atlantic Fleet. Post-war Service. During the Turkish crisis of 1920 she was lent to the Mediterranean Fleer, an'd engaged several times in operations against the Turks in the Sea of .Marmora. On June IS, she bombarded Turkish billets near Ismid with her main armament. This was the last occasion for a British battleship to use 15-inch guns against an enemy. Selected as the King's guardship for Cowes Week of .1926, she performed this duty again in tlie following' year. In September, 1927, she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet and on December S left Malta with the Barham for a special tropical cruise off tlie West Coast of Africa. In 1929, tlie Ramillies was at Cannes for tlie Centenary Celebrations, and witli tlie cruiser London visited Barcelona at the time of the International Exhibition. On tlie outbreak of trouble in Palestine, in October, she was ordered to Jaffa, but when she arrived the (Situation had become easier, and her landing parties were not required. Serious rioting occurred at Alexandria in July, 1930. in which 14 people were killed aud 130 injured. The Ramillies, with the Fleet flagship, Queen Elizabeth, was ordered there from Skiathos, Greece, to support the civil and military authorities. Paid off into dockyard control at Devonport in February, 1933, for an extensive retit, which cost £469,166, the Ramillies was recommissioned in July, 1934, for further service on the Mediterranean Station.

She visited Villefranche in April, 1935, for the Franco-British celebrations, when detachments of bluejackets and inarjjies, supported by artillery aud infantry of the Chasseurs Alpins, formed a guard of honour, with the bauds of the Black Watch, Royal Marines and Chasseurs Alpins in attendance, at a ceremony held at the Monument aux Morts.

The Ramillies was one of the ships which took part in the Jubilee review at Spitbead in 1935, afterward exchanging crews with the Valiant aud transferring to the Home Fleet. She was employed for some time as a seagoing training ship for boys, but on February 2, 1939, she was cominissionat Devonport for service in the First Battle Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. Captain of the Ramillies.

Captain H. T. Baillie-Grohman, D. 5.0., 0.8. E., was in command of small craft all through the Great 'War. He commanded the destroyers Lively and Ghurka from March, .1914, and July, 1915, respectively; the sloop Gentian from February, 191 G; ami. the minesweeper Totnes from September, 1917. He was awarded the D.S.O. in April, 1918, for service in minesweeping operations, and the 0.8. E. in 1923 when in command of the sloop Crocus in the Persian Gulf. In 1931-33 he was lent, to the Chinese Government as head of the British naval mission and took tlie rank of commodore in the Chinese navy.

Captain Baillie-Grohman was Captain (D) in command of the First Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterunnean from February, 1934, to May, 193 G. He was in command of the St. Vincent, boys' training establishment, at Gosport, for the next two years. After attending the senior officers' tactical course he was appointed to his present command on January J of last year. He recommissioned the Ramiliies on February 2 after refit for service in the First Battle Squadron, Mediterranean, in place of the Repulse. Commander IV. It. C. Leggatt, chief executive officer of the Ramiliies, is a gunnery specialist. Trained at Osliorne and Dartmouth as a cadet in 1914-17, he passed out as a midshipman with seniority of May 1. 1917, and was appointed to 11.M.5. Royal Sovereign, in the Grand Fleet, in which lie served till after the Armistice. In 1923, as a lieutenant, he returned to the Royal Sovereign for duty as second gunnery officer. Later he served in a similar capacity in the battleship Warspite. As lieutenant-commander he was gunnery'officer of the battleship Barham. Promoted commander in December, 1935, he attended the tactical course, and in April, 193 G, was appointed . to the Training and Staff Duties Division. He was appointed to the Ramiliies on December 19, 1938. . . IT A New Zealander serving m li.Ai.jJ. Ramiliies is Midshipman J. E ; bourn, a son of Dr. and Mrs. H. L. W • bourn, of Nelson. He is the younger brother of Lieutenant R. E. Washbourn, gunnery officer of H.M.S. Achilles Midshipman Washbourn is at present on short leave to enable him to visit his patents in Nelson.