LATEST DREADNOUGHTS.

Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 8

LATEST DREADNOUGHTS.

In reply to a question in tho House of Commons on May 19, the First Lord of the Admiralty stated that the two battleships of tho improved Dreadnought type which had just been ordered were to* be named ) the " Colossus" and tho "Hercules." Both of these ships belong to the 1909-10 naval programme. Ono of them will be built and engincd by Scott's Shipbuilding and Engineering Companv at Greenock, and the other bv Palmer's "Shipbuilding and Iron Company, of Jarrow-on-Tvne. The contracts for the guns and gun mountings for these ships have been placed with Messrs Armstrong, Whitworth, and Co. and Messrs Vickers. Sou, and Maxim. With these latest additions to tho Fleet, names rich in historic interest will be again restored to the navy list. The following is a brief record of the war and other services of ships which have in tho past borne these titles : —H.M.S. Colossus.— This name was, it seems, first introduced into tho British Navy in 1781. A Colossus. 74-gtm. two-decker, accompanied Lord Hoed at the occupation of Toulon in 1793, and in June, 1794, she formed ono of the squadron that sailed from Plymouth under Rear-admiral Montagu to reinforce Lord Howe, but, of course, was too lato for liis great victory On Juno 25, 1795, she participated in lxird Bndport's action and capture of three French line of battleships, and she was present on February 14, 1797, at the battle of St. Vincent. She was subse?n e 'i&o Y rCcked off Sjci] - V on December 10, 1798, but happily her crew were saved. She was, however, soon replaced, as on August 14, 1803, we find another Colossus recapturing the East Indiaman Lord Nelson. In 1805 this ship, also a 74-gun twodecker, toolc part, under Collmgwood's orders, m the blockade of Cadiz, and later on she figured conspicuously in the triumphant victory of Trafalgar. In this action the Colossus had no less than 2CO officers and men killed and wounded, bein" the most numerous list of casualties in any ship on the British side. She, amongst other achievements, shared in the capture and actually took possession of two 74gun ships, one French and the other Spanish. Her successor, the. Colossus. 80 guns, was launchod at Pembroke on Tune- 5, 1848; length over all 227 ft, beam 57ft, tons measurement 2,539. The last snip of the name, was built at Portsmouth ' Launched in 1882, she was commissioned > n 188&—a central citadel turreW-hip, 9,420 tons displacement, carrying as a main armament four 12in M.L.JI "gune m ?£?! 1 1 ?„ tw^ tu . i ; rets - Sho cost the country ±,613,160 to build, and was sold to a Sheffield firm of ship breakers in October of last year for £IB,OOO. —H.M.S. Hercules.— This name appears in British naval annals as far back as 1616. when it was borne by a ship of 24 guns, 300 tons, hired from private owners. She went with Mansell to the Mediterranean, and off Algiers shared in sinking one of the pirates that had ventured out from that stronghold. In 1650 a hired ship named Hercules was despatched to Blake's assistance near the Portuguese coast, and it was very probably this same ship that was captured by the Dutch in 1652. A Hercules, 74 guns, was with Hawke at the battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, and again (possibly the same ship) with Rodney at hi 6 peat victory over the French fleet in the West Indies on April 12, 1782. In November, 1803, another 74, designated Hercules, was off San Domingo when a French fngate got on the rocks, and was in a desperate plight, A launch from the 74 boarded the Gaul, and "to the exertions of Acting-Lieutenant Willoughby and his men was owing the preservation of 900 lives and the acquisition of a fine frigate." In 1807 the Hercules was sent to the Baltic, and formed one of the force that compelled tho surrender of Copenhagen and the Danish fleet. Our last Hercules was launched at Chatham in 1868. A broadside ship of 8,630 tons displacement, she carried a main battery of eight lOin M.L.R. guns. She i 6 now used as a floating barrack for dockyard employees at Gibraltar.