HMS Aboukir
Career
Class and type:	Cressy-class armoured cruiser
Name:	HMS Aboukir
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Govan
Launched:	May 16, 1900
Fate:	Sunk by U-9 on September 22, 1914
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	12,000 tons
Length:	472 ft (144 m)
Beam:	69. Service Until 1908 the ships served in Home waters, the Mediterranean and the Far East. The armored cruiser, or armoured cruiser (see spelling differences) is a type of Cruiser, a naval warship. The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Scotland Govan ( Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Ghobhainn) is a district and former Burgh in the southwestern part of the City of Glasgow, Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year 5 ft (21. 2 m)
Propulsion:	triple expansion engines twin screws
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h)
Armament:	2 × 9. 2inch guns 12 × 6in guns

HMS Aboukir was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser of 12,000 tons. Service Until 1908 the ships served in Home waters, the Mediterranean and the Far East. The armored cruiser, or armoured cruiser (see spelling differences) is a type of Cruiser, a naval warship. Her triple expansion engines and twin screws gave her a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h). She carried 2 × 9. 2in and 12 × 6in guns. She was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Govan, Scotland, in 1902. The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Scotland Govan ( Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Ghobhainn) is a district and former Burgh in the southwestern part of the City of Glasgow, Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain.

The Cressy-class vessels had rapidly become obsolete due to the great advances in naval architecture in the years leading up to the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, these ships were mostly staffed by reserve sailors. The Aboukir was one of four units that made up Rear Admiral Henry H Campbell's Seventh Cruiser Squadron. Owing to the obsolescence of these ships, the squadron was nicknamed the "Live Bait Squadron". ^{[1] [2]}

The Live Bait Squadron

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Aboukir and her sister ships Bacchante, Euryalus, Hogue and Cressy were assigned to patrol the Broad Fourteens of the North Sea, in support of a force of destroyers and submarines based at Harwich which blocked the Eastern end of the English Channel from German warships attempting to attack the supply route between England and France. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Broad Fourteens is an area of the southern North Sea that is fairly consistently fourteen Fathoms (26 m deep (thus on a nautical chart with depths The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. Harwich (ˈhærɪdʒ is a town in Essex England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea Since the smaller vessels were unable to operate in rough seas, the cruisers often formed the front line. ^[3]

The British Admiralty was planning to withdraw them, when the Aboukir and two of her sisters, Cressy and Hogue were lost to submarine attack. The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty (the government minister responsible for the Navy) had minuted the First Sea Lord (the officer with overall responsibility for naval operations), Prince Louis Battenberg on 18 September 1914 that "The Bacchantes should ought not to continue on this beat. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised command over the Royal Navy. The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service. Admiral of the Fleet Louis Alexander Mountbatten 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, GCB, GCVO, KCMG, PC (24 May 1854 – 11 September Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The risk to such ships is not justified by any services they can render. The narrow seas, being the nearest point to the enemy, should be kept by a small number of good modern ships",^[4] following a representation from Roger Keyes, the commander of the Harwich submarine force the previous day. Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes 1st Baron Keyes, Bt GCB KCVO CMG DSO RN ( 4 October However, Battenburg, concerned about the threat to cross-channel traffic from surface ships, was persuaded to retain the cruisers in this role until they could be replaced by Arethusa class light cruisers, of which only one had been completed and the remaining seven were under construction. Ships ''Arethusa'', built by Chatham Dockyard laid down 28 October 1912, launched 25 October 1913, and completed A light cruiser is a Warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light Armoured cruiser " describing a small ship that carried armour in the same way In rough weather in which destroyers could not operate and in the absence of replacement ships, the old cruisers were all that were available to give an early warning of a German sortie into the channel. ^[3]

When this was written the squadron was on patrol in its assigned area. The patrol originally included a fourth Cressey-class cruiser and flagship of the squadron, Euryalus, and a destroyer screen. The Live Bait Squadron The Cressy -class vessels had rapidly become obsolete due to the great advances in naval architecture in the years leading up to the First World In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy However deteriorating weather had led to the destroyers being withdrawn back to Harwich on the night of 17 September. Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec At 6 am on 20 September, Euryalus had also returned to port because of low coal stocks. Events 451 - The Battle of Chalons takes place in North Eastern France. Rear Admiral Arthur Christian, in operational command of the squadron, had been unable to transfer to another ship because of the rough sea, and consequently command was passed to John Drummond, captain of Aboukir, as the senior officer remaining with the squadron.

The three cruisers continued their patrol uneventfully for another two days. By the evening of 22 September the rough sea had died down. Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians However the weather was still poor off Harwich and the destroyer screen was held back in port, several hours steaming from the cruisers, until 5 am. ^[3]

At around 6 am on 22 September the three cruisers were steaming at 10 knots (19 km/h) in line ahead and they were spotted by the U-9, commanded by Lt. Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians Otto Weddigen. Otto Eduard Weddigen ( September 15, 1882 – March 18, 1915) was a German U-boat Commander during World War I Although they were not zigzagging, all of the ships had lookouts posted to search for periscopes and one gun on each side of each ship was manned.

Weddigen ordered his submarine to submerge and closed the range to the unsuspecting British ships. At close range, he fired a single torpedo at the Aboukir. The modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below The torpedo broke the back of the Aboukir and she sank within 20 minutes with the loss of 527 men.

The captains of the Cressy and Hogue thought the Aboukir had struck a floating mine and came forward to assist her. A naval mine is a self-contained Explosive device placed in water to destroy Ships or Submarines Unlike Depth charges mines are deposited They stood by and began to pick up survivors. At this point, Weddigen fired two torpedoes into the Hogue, mortally wounding that ship. As the Hogue sank, the captain of the Cressy realised that the squadron was being attacked by a submarine, and tried to flee. However, Weddigen fired two more torpedoes into the Cressy, and sank her as well.

The entire battle had lasted less than two hours, and cost the British three warships, 62 officers and 1,397 ratings. Coming on the heels of the loss of the light cruiser HMS Pathfinder earlier to another submarine attack, this incident established the U-boat as a major weapon in the conduct of naval warfare. Career Not long after completion two additional 12 pounder guns were added and the 3 pounder guns were replaced with six 6 pounders U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers

References

1. ^ Channel4.
2. ^ www.divernet.com, July 2002.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Robert K. Massie (2004). Castles of Steel. Jonathan Cape, 128-131. ISBN 0-224-04092-8.  
4. ^ Churchill's Minute Regarding The Cressys. World War 1 Naval Combat. Retrieved on 2007-05-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). James Joseph Colledge (born 1908 was a noted naval Historian, author of Ships of the Royal Navy, the standard work on the fighting ships of the British Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. For a list of ships of the Royal Navy, see List of Royal Navy ships. ed. , London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475. The OCLC Online Computer Library Center is according to its website a "nonprofit membership computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose  

See also

• More Ships Built in Govan