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Frederic Logghe
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King Edward VII



HMS King Edward VII, named after King Edward VII, was the lead ship of the King Edward VII class of British Royal Navy battleships.

The ship was built at Devonport Dockyard and launched 23 July 1903.

King Edward VII hit a mine whilst travelling from Rosyth to Devonport around the Northern coast of Scotland for a refit. The mine had been laid by the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Moewe off Cape Wrath on 6 January 1916. The explosion occurred under the starboard engine room and attempts to tow her were abandonded because of a heavy sea and strong winds. After about five hours, the list had become so great that the crew were taken off by destroyers. The ship capsized and sank around nine hours after the explosion. At the time it was not clear whether she had hit a mine or a torpedo, the presence of the minefield being determined from German records after the war. The wreck, in 115 metres of water, was first visited by divers in April 1997.

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Commonwealth



HMS Commonwealth, was a member of the King Edward VII class of British Royal Navy battleships.

The ship was built at Fairfield, Govan and launched 13 May 1903.

Commonwealth at the start of 1915 served as part of the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. As of 1 July 1915 Commonwealth was 2nd Flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron for the rest of the year. She served with the 3BS until 1918, when alone of her class she was earmarked for extensive reconstruction. She was fitted with torpedo bulges, a tripod foremast, a director and fire control system, in effect the most advanced Pre-Dreadnought in the world. With the end of the war it was decided that Commonwealth would be a Gunnery ship to train crews in the use of all weapons used on the modern Dreadnought battleships. After three years of faithful service as a training ship, she was scrapped at the end of 1921.

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Hindustan



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Britannia



The sixth HMS Britannia of the British Royal Navy was a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the King Edward VII class, launched in 1904. She became the last Royal Navy vessel to be sunk during World War I when she was torpedoed off Cape Trafalgar by UB 50 on 9 November 1918, only two days before the Armistice was signed.

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Dominion



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New Zealand



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Africa



The most recent HMS Africa was a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy; the last battleship constructed at Chatham Dockyard, England (later classes of battleships were too large for the yard). She was the penultimate ship of the King Edward VII class, being commissioned in 1905.

Africa initially joined the Atlantic Fleet, subsequently becoming the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir William Henry May, commander of the 3rd and 4th divisions of the Home Fleet in August 1911. Ships in these divisions had a small permanent core crew, being brought up to full complement with reservists in time of war. However, in May 1912 she was brought back to full crew with the 3rd Battle Squadron, which was made up of the eight King Edward VII-class battleships. Although very manoeuverable, these were known as the "Wobbly Eight" on account of their difficulty in steering a straight course.

Lieutenant Charles Samson made the first British shipboard aircraft takeoff from Africa on January 10, 1912 in a Short Brothers pusher seaplane from a platform constructed on the foredeck whilst the ship was at anchor in the River Medway, England.

The 3rd Battle Squadron became part of the Grand Fleet on the outbreak of the First World War, and Africa was present at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, but she played little part as by then the faster and better-armed Dreadnoughts made ships such as Africa a liability to the fleet. In 1917, she went into refit and had the 6 inch (152 mm) guns on the main deck replaced with four 6 inch (152 mm) guns a deck higher because the original guns were awash in even slightly rough weather.

Following the war, she was briefly the depot ship of the 9th Cruiser Squadron. She was sold for scrap on June 30, 1920, having served through the whole war without ever firing her guns at an enemy ship.

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Hibernia



HMS Hibernia was a King Edward VII-class battleship of Britain's Royal Navy, the last generation of British pre-dreadnoughts.

She was commissioned into Atlantic Fleet but was transferred to the Channel Fleet in early 1907 as flagship of its Vice admiral. During this period, William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, served as her commander. In March 1909 she was transferred to the Home Fleet as flagship of the rear admiral (second in command) of the 2nd Division.

She was placed in reserve at the Nore with a small reserve crew in January 1912. In May 1912 she was used for experiments with early naval aircraft and had a wooden runway constructed on her forecastle. On 4 May 1912 Commander Charles Samson became the first man to take off from a ship which was underway. He did this in a Shorts S27 biplane whilst Hibernia steamed at 10.5 knots (19 km/h) at the Royal Fleet Review in Weymouth Bay, England.

When World War I broke out she immediately joined the Grand Fleet and in October 1915 sailed for the Dardanelles as Rear Admiral Fremantle's flagship, from where she returned in May 1916. Among those serving aboard her during this time was Augustus Agar, later V.C. and famous for exploits against the Bolsheviks and as captain of HMS Dorsetshire in World War Two.

In 1917 her 6-inch guns were removed from their casemates since these were flooded in heavy seas, and replaced with four on the higher shelter deck. At the end of the war she returned to the Nore where she was used as an accommodation ship until she was scrapped.

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