HMS General Wolfe: A Tiny Ship With the LARGEST Gun in Royal Navy Service Ever
HMS General Wolfe was one of eight 12-inch gun monitors built for the Royal Navy in 1915. These ships were constructed using spare 12-inch guns from older pre-dreadnoughts, made possible by the influence of Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral Jackie Fisher, the First Sea Lord. Churchill's campaigns, such as the bombardment of the Dardanelles, and Fisher's Baltic Project, necessitated the use of such specialized vessels. Upon completion in 1915, General Wolfe was assigned to various bombardment roles as part of the Dover Patrol, participating in raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge. However, she is best known for her significant modification: the addition of a single 18-inch gun, one of the largest ever fitted to a Royal Navy warship.
The concept of a small ship with a large gun and shallow draft dates back to the age of sail, when bomb vessels were used to bombard forts. These vessels, called bomb ketches, were small, shallow-draft ships equipped with large-bore mortars. In the iron and steam age, similar concepts were revived during the Crimean War and the American Civil War. By November 1914, during the First World War, the Admiralty sought to break the stalemate on the Western Front by using monitors equipped with heavy guns to bombard German positions.
The idea for British monitors began when Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel Works, offered to sell 14-inch guns to Churchill. This led to the construction of the first British monitors, which were armed with these guns. Encouraged by their rapid construction, Churchill and Fisher planned further monitors using 12-inch guns from obsolete pre-dreadnoughts. Thus, the Lord Clive-class monitors, including General Wolfe, were conceived. The class was armed with modified 12-inch guns capable of firing over 21,000 yards.
These monitors had a draft of 10 feet and were powered by steam reciprocating engines, giving them a top speed of around 10 knots. The displacement was 5,600 tons, and they featured increased armor thickness. The ships were designed with an open upper deck to accommodate observation seaplanes, making them among the first to be designed to carry aircraft. They had a crew of about 200 men and were relatively sparsely equipped.
General Wolfe joined the Dover Patrol in November 1915, and after some initial operations, including attempts to intercept German airships, she participated in bombardments along the Belgian coast. These operations were quite effective, demonstrating the utility of air spotting procedures for correcting artillery fire. The monitors also engaged in anti-destroyer patrols, proving capable of deterring German naval forces.
In December 1917, General Wolfe underwent significant modifications to mount an 18-inch gun originally from the battlecruiser HMS Furious. This gun, weighing 149 tons, required extensive strengthening of the forecastle deck and resulted in increased draft and reduced freeboard. Despite these challenges, the modification was completed, and General Wolfe returned to service in August 1918, unlike her sister ships Lord Clive and Prince Eugene, which did not receive their 18-inch guns.
After the war, General Wolfe was laid up and eventually scrapped in 1923. The development and deployment of these monitors illustrate the Royal Navy's innovative approach to naval warfare, adapting older technologies to meet the strategic demands of World War I.
Intro 0:00
Background 0:26
Service 12:16
18 Inch Gun 15:30
Conclusion 21:50
Sources/Other Reading:
www.amazon.com/Big-Gun-Monito...
www.amazon.com/Monitors-Royal....
www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-...
Video Information:
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Пікірлер: 29
Thanks for watching everyone! I would like to say that if some of the photos you see here are either Lord Clive or General Wolfe when we discuss the 18 inch gun. As you can imagine, it's a bit hard to tell which one it is considering their refits were so similar, so much so, many of the sources don't even know which one it is!
Another very interesting doco. That they managed to shoehorn that 18 inch behemoth into such a relatively small ship is a testament to good engineering and 'can do' attitudes at the shipyard. On another note, congratulations on a successful internship and securing a position after you finish school. I'll bet your future employer hs seen one or two of your videos and realised he is hiring a man who has an eye for detail, and who can juggle many tasks while getting them all done in a timely and 'tiddly' fashion. Well done.
New subscriber, never enough Royal Navy. Nice to know Furious' big gun didn't go to waste!
Fantastic news regarding your successful internship! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
@ImportantHistory
28 күн бұрын
Thank you so much!!
@45CaliberCure
21 күн бұрын
Yes. Well done!
Always interesting!
An earlier iteration of a shore bombardment vessel preceded the 12 inch armed monitors. the 1892 vintage pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Revenge, which was previously a gunnery training ship so well maintained with up to date (for 1913) gunnery controls had been paid off and laid up at Motherbank prior to being scrapped in August 1914 she was reactivated to assist as a shore bombardment vessel - fist thing done was the 13.5 inch Mk1 to IV L/25 calibre guns were relined to 12 inch standard. (the Later Dreadnought 13.5 inch guns were Mk V and were 45 cal in length. She then was deployed in the bombardment of Nieuwpoort Belgium along with HMS Majestic, She later bombarded Westend. In 1915 She was refitted with bulges and with these she used to heal the ship to increase range, She also did the fist aircraft to ship bombardment co-operation work. During 1915 she was renamed HMS Redoubtable to release the name Revenge for the new 15 inch gun battleship. She finally paid off in December 1915, making way for the later monitors as described above. Great video. Thx.
I enjoyed the video. Thank you for the entertainment 👍 @ plus's I noticed -- I didn't see other videos on the ship (( there were vids about the class. But not specifically of the ship )) And you gave credit to the work of others you used in the video.
Great Info. Thanks
I love your channel- lots of unique stuff I've not seen elsewhere
Excellent and well researched presentation.
Congratulations!
Can you imagine what it must have been like serving on one of those things? Make your wrack anywhere you can, do your mess anywhere you can. Lord knows where the head was! Little ventilation, lots of hard work, the big shells had to be moved by a little, exposed rail system and when that monster gun went off, I'll bet it sucked all the air from around that part of the ship and replaced it with BOOM! On the other hand, few ships would have been more stable, even in a North Sea gale. Oh, as they were seldom used, mind numbing boredom! There couldn't even have been that much busy work. I don't think I would call dropping all those monster shells and never hitting the bridge as "accurate", though it probably took a while to get the rail line up and running again. Local Farmers probably were thankful for all the new, very deep and very wide fish ponds.
That job is excellent news, well done and i wish great success.
Good stuff dude! Now i have to watch all your other stuff. :)
@ImportantHistory
25 күн бұрын
Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it! If I might make a suggestion, I'd recommend this video first, it's my favorite one I have done :) kzread.info/dash/bejne/gnaFstWRabzfg7w.html
The "John Holmes" of little ships 🚢
@bazza945
23 күн бұрын
That name pricks my attention.
I can say I have never heard of anti torpedo nets being called crinolines, but it makes sense in a way
congrats on full time (hopefully well paid) employment! these monitor things have taken 2nd place for the oddest looking ships. (1st goes to the Russian circular, dare I call them, battleships)
@ImportantHistory
28 күн бұрын
Thanks! I'll be doing just fine. But, that's still two years out so all good for now.
While useful in time of need with emergency construction with spare parts. Not practical when a proper battleship can be built. Basic idea scaled up from placing a ship's cannon in one of her boats or on barges. Far too fragile by themselves. Might have been better to use the guns for a fixed bunker gun guarding a pass or harbor. A battleship gun mounted atop the rock of Gilbralter for example like Fort Drum in Manila bay.
None got guns from HMS Victoria
14:34 So there also was a Prince Eugene in the RN during WW1, not only the German one that accompanied Bismarck in 1941. I wonder who that prince was
@ImportantHistory
21 күн бұрын
Prince Eugen of Savoy, a very interesting general in the 17th and 18th century.
@paulhubsch5111
21 күн бұрын
@@ImportantHistory OK thanks for clarifying. Nations like to name their warships after some national hero, and they seldom overlap like in this case. So I was curious... and also, congratulations for the successful conclusion of your internship and your future full-time employment!
@ImportantHistory
21 күн бұрын
@@paulhubsch5111 Thank you so much! I'd recommend finding some reading on the Prince of Savoy, a very interesting figure.