Gorgon class monitor
Encyclopedia
The Gorgon class monitors were a class of monitor
s in service with the Royal Navy
during World War I
. and her sister ship were originally built as coastal defence ship
s for the Norwegian Navy, as HNoMS Nidaros and HNoMS Bjørgvin respectively. Gorgon commissioned first, in June 1918 and bombarded German positions and other targets in Occupied Flanders
. She fired the last shots of the war by the Royal Navy into Belgium
on 15 October 1918. She was offered for sale after the war, but was used as a target ship when there were no takers. She was sold for scrap in 1928. Glatton was destroyed by a magazine
explosion only days after she was completed in September 1918 while in Dover
Harbour. She remained a hazard to shipping until the wreck was partially salvaged and the remains moved out of the way during 1925–26.
for delivery in twenty-four months to supplement the older and classes of coastal defence ships. Their dimensions were limited to a length overall of 290 feet (88.4 m) and a beam
of 55 feet (16.8 m) to fit in the drydock at Horten
. Armstrong's design was for a ship with a designed displacement of 4807 LT with an armament of two 50-calibre 240 millimetres (9.4 in) Armstrong guns mounted in single turret
s fore and aft. Four 50-calibre 150 millimetres (5.9 in) guns were also mounted in single turrets; two of which were superfiring
over the main turrets and the others were on each side of the superstructure. Anti-torpedo boat defense would be provided by six 100 millimetres (3.9 in) guns mounted in the superstructure. Two submerged 450 millimetres (17.7 in) torpedo tube
s were also to be mounted. The armour belt
protected most of the waterline and was 7 inches (17.8 cm) thick, but tapered towards the ends. The protective deck
was 1–3.5 in (2.5–8.9 ) thick and ran the full length of the ship.
in August 1914, both ships were under construction at Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick
, Nidaros had already been launched and Bjørgvin was launched only days after the start of the war. However, when World War I
broke out, the Royal Navy requisitioned most warships under construction in Britain for foreign powers and refunded the two thirds of the £370,000 purchase price for each ship already paid by the Norwegians. The two ships were renamed as Glatton and Gorgon, after earlier breastwork monitor
s of 1871. Their completion was greatly delayed by the changes made by the British, which included modifying the boilers to use both oil and coal and conversion of twelve double-bottom tanks to carry the oil. This work began on 9 January 1915, but was suspended the following May, although it was estimated that only another ten to twelve months of work remained, to allow for faster progress to be made on the large light cruisers and that were building in Armstrong's Naval Yard downriver.
along about 75% of the hull's length. The Gorgons displaced 5700 long tons (5,791.5 MT) at deep load as built, almost 1000 long tons (1,016.1 MT) more than originally designed. They had a length of 310 feet (94 m), a beam of 73 in 7 in (22.43 m) at maximum, although her main hull only had a beam of 55 feet (16.8 m) and a draught of 16 in 4 in (4.98 m).
s, which developed 4000 ihp from four Yarrow
watertube boilers that gave a maximum speed of 12 knots (6.5 m/s). Addition of the bulges cost 2 knots (1.1 m/s) in speed, but prevented the extra weight resulting from all of these changes from deepening her draft. They carried 364 long tons (369.8 MT) of coal and 171 long tons (173.7 MT) of fuel oil
which gave them a range of 2700 nautical miles (5,000.4 km) at 11 knots (6 m/s).
of 3060 ft/s (932.7 m/s) to a distance of 39000 yards (35,661.6 m) using a supercharge. These guns were the longest-ranged guns, other than the BL 18 inch Mk I naval guns mounted in the s and that could range 40500 yards (37,033.2 m), used by the Royal Navy during the war. They had a rate of fire of two rounds per minute. The ships carried 130 shells per gun.
Other than the modifications to the guns to use British ammunition no changes were made to the 6 inches (15.2 cm) secondary armament. The guns had a maximum depression of 5° and a maximum elevation of 20°. They fired 100 pounds (45.4 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2874 ft/s (876 m/s) which gave a maximum range of 16020 yards (14,648.7 m). They could fire three rounds per minute. Each gun was provided with 100 high explosive shells and 100 Common-pointed, capped shells. The magazine for the two side guns was shared between them, with a shell room directly under each turret. The boiler room was directly in front of the magazine and the engine room behind it.
The 100-mm guns and the torpedo tubes planned by the Norwegians were both omitted, and a large tripod mast was fitted behind the single funnel to carry the directors for both the 6-inch and 9.2-inch guns. One QF 3 inch 20 cwt
anti-aircraft
gun was mounted on each centreline 6-inch turret. This had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. It fired a 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2500 ft/s (762 m/s) at a rate of fire of 12–14 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 23500 ft (7,162.8 m). They also carried four 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun
s with 300 rounds per gun and two or four 2-pounder guns with 1,000 rounds per gun on high-angle mounts.
unless otherwise noted. The waterline armour belt was seven inches thick between the fore and aft turrets, but tapered to 4 inches (10.2 cm) towards the bow and 3 inches (7.6 cm) towards the stern. Above it was a strake of four inch armour that covered the area between the turrets up to the upper deck that increased to six inches abreast the wing barbettes. The high-tensile steel deck was only one inch thick amidships on the flat, but increased to two inches as it curved down to meet the main armour belt. Forward of 'A' turret it increased to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) as it sloped downwards to the bow. Aft of 'Y' turret it also increased to two inches, then three inches over the steering gear and 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) as it curved down towards the stern before meeting a 5 inches (12.7 cm) bulkhead
at the rear of the ship. The main gun barbette
s and turret faces were all 8 inches (20.3 cm) thick, but the turret sides were 6 inches in thickness with three inch Krupp non-cemented armour (KNC) roofs. The secondary gun turrets and barbettes were also six inches thick with two inch roofs. The conning tower
was eight inches thick with a three inch KNC roof.
. was laid down first, on 26 May 1913, but was not launched until 8 August 1914. She commissioned after her sister on 31 August 1918, but was not formally completed, after finishing her trials, until 9 September. was laid down on 11 June 1913, but was launched before her sister, on 9 June 1914, and commissioned first as well, on 1 May 1918, although she did not complete her trials until 4 June.
The total costs, including all alterations, were £513,242 for Glatton and £777,197 for Gorgon, although there was no obvious reason for the disparity unless some of Glatton's costs had been charged against Gorgon as the lead ship of the class. A truer cost would be about £645,000 for each. This was almost double the original cost and made them more expensive than any of the other monitors.
at the end of July 1918. She bombarded the Snaeskerk bridge on 28 and 29 September, but produced a single near-miss. She fired at German artillery batteries again on 14 October, but had to retreat hurriedly when she was straddled by heavy German return fire and she was hit by splinters from near-misses. The next day she bombarded another bridge; the last rounds fired by a Royal Navy warship at targets in Occupied Belgium.
She was sent to Portsmouth after the end of the war where she was made available to investigate the cause of her sister ship Glattons magazine explosion. She was paid off on 31 August 1919 and joined the Reserve Fleet in September. She was offered back to the Norwegians, but they rejected her as unsuitable to their requirements, especially since she was now too broad for their dock at Horten
. Several attempts were made to sell her, but she was disarmed in 1922 and used as a target ship to evaluate the effects of bombs bursting underwater near a ship and the effects of six-inch gunfire. She was finally sold for scrap on 26 August 1928 and broken up at the former naval dockyard at Pembroke
.
on 11 September 1918 to prepare for the offensive planned for later that month. On the evening of 16 September Glattons midships 6-inch magazine had a low-order explosion that ignited the cordite
stored there. Flames shot through the roof of 'Q' turret, starboard midside, and started to spread aft. The forward magazines were flooded, but the rear magazines were unable to be flooded as the flames blocked access to the controls. The presence of the ammunition ship Gransha only 150 yards (137.2 m) away risked a massive explosion that would devastate Dover if Glattons rear magazine exploded and set off Granshas ammunition. Vice-Admiral Keyes ordered the destroyer to torpedo Glatton in an attempt to flood the magazine before it detonated. Cossacks torpedoes were not powerful enough and Glatton remained afloat, still burning. Keyes then ordered the destroyer to fire on Glatton with her 21 inches (53.3 cm) torpedoes. They were aimed at the hole blown in Glatton's starboard side by Cossacks second torpedo and caused Glatton to capsize until her masts and superstructure rested on the harbor bottom, dousing the fire. Casualties were heavy, 60 men were killed outright and 124 were injured of whom 19 later died of their burns.
A Court of Enquiry held immediately afterwards found that the explosion had occurred in the midships 6-inch magazine situated between the boiler and engine rooms. The cause was less easy to establish, but the Court noted that the stokers were in the habit of piling the red-hot clinker and ashes from the boilers against the bulkhead directly adjoining the magazine. The magazine was well insulated with 5 inches (12.7 cm) of cork, covered by wood planking ¾ (1.9 cm) thick and provided with special cooling equipment so it was not likely that the cordite had spontaneously combusted. Gorgons magazine was emptied and examined. The red lead paint on the bulkhead was blistered beneath the lagging and tests at the National Physical Laboratory demonstrated that it had been subject to temperatures of at least 400 °F (204.4 °C). Recorded temperatures inside the magazine did not exceed 83 °F (28.3 °C) and a test of red-hot ashes was inconclusive. Other tests did reveal that the cork could give off flammable fumes under high heat and pressurized air.
As a precaution, Gorgons cork lagging was stripped out and replaced by silicate wool which revealed the real cause. Part of the cork was missing and folded newspapers were found in the empty space. Furthermore a number of rivets were entirely missing which meant that ½-inch (12.7 mm) holes were present which could have dropped hot ashes onto the newspapers. The forced draught pressure in the boiler room would have supplied air through the rivet holes which would have caused the cork to give off flammable gases and eventually ignite the cordite charges.
Glatton remained in Dover Harbour, an obstruction to shipping, with her hull visible at low tide as the Harbour Board could not afford the £45,000 quoted on average by salvage companies. Work finally began in May 1925 as some 12000 long tons (12,192.6 MT) of silt were removed from underneath Glatton and her mainmast and superstructure were blasted away. All the holes on her topside had to be sealed and air pumped into each compartment at a rate of 70000 cubic feet (1,982 m³) per minute to restore her buoyancy. The first attempt to lift her began on 2 December 1925 and was successful in breaking the suction holding her to the bottom in combination with the rising tide. Slowly she was moved, taking advantage of the tides, until on 16 March 1926 she was moved to a deep gully next to the western pier of the submarine harbour, close by the shore. The total cost was considerably more than originally estimated, but still far less than that quoted by the salvage companies, at no more than £12,000. There she remains, buried by landfill underneath the current car ferry terminal. Her bell was salvaged and is on display at the Harbour Board offices.
Monitor (warship)
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
s in service with the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. and her sister ship were originally built as coastal defence ship
Coastal defence ship
Coastal defence ships were warships built for the purpose of coastal defence, mostly during the period from 1860 to 1920. They were small, often cruiser-sized warships that sacrificed speed and range for armour and armament...
s for the Norwegian Navy, as HNoMS Nidaros and HNoMS Bjørgvin respectively. Gorgon commissioned first, in June 1918 and bombarded German positions and other targets in Occupied Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. She fired the last shots of the war by the Royal Navy into Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
on 15 October 1918. She was offered for sale after the war, but was used as a target ship when there were no takers. She was sold for scrap in 1928. Glatton was destroyed by a magazine
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
explosion only days after she was completed in September 1918 while in Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
Harbour. She remained a hazard to shipping until the wreck was partially salvaged and the remains moved out of the way during 1925–26.
Background
The Norwegians ordered two coast defence vessels in January 1913 from the British shipbuilder Armstrong WhitworthArmstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
for delivery in twenty-four months to supplement the older and classes of coastal defence ships. Their dimensions were limited to a length overall of 290 feet (88.4 m) and a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 55 feet (16.8 m) to fit in the drydock at Horten
Horten
is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the villages of Borre, Åsgårdstrand, Skoppum, and Nykirke....
. Armstrong's design was for a ship with a designed displacement of 4807 LT with an armament of two 50-calibre 240 millimetres (9.4 in) Armstrong guns mounted in single turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s fore and aft. Four 50-calibre 150 millimetres (5.9 in) guns were also mounted in single turrets; two of which were superfiring
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...
over the main turrets and the others were on each side of the superstructure. Anti-torpedo boat defense would be provided by six 100 millimetres (3.9 in) guns mounted in the superstructure. Two submerged 450 millimetres (17.7 in) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s were also to be mounted. The armour belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
protected most of the waterline and was 7 inches (17.8 cm) thick, but tapered towards the ends. The protective deck
Deck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
was 1–3.5 in (2.5–8.9 ) thick and ran the full length of the ship.
Purchase and adaptation
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in August 1914, both ships were under construction at Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick
Elswick, Tyne and Wear
Elswick is a ward of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in the western part of the city, bordering the river Tyne. One of the earliest references to the coal mining industry of the north east occurs in 1330, when it was recorded that the Prior of Tynemouth let a colliery, called Heygrove, at...
, Nidaros had already been launched and Bjørgvin was launched only days after the start of the war. However, when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out, the Royal Navy requisitioned most warships under construction in Britain for foreign powers and refunded the two thirds of the £370,000 purchase price for each ship already paid by the Norwegians. The two ships were renamed as Glatton and Gorgon, after earlier breastwork monitor
Breastwork monitor
A breastwork monitor was one of a number of ships designed by Sir Edward Reed, the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy between 1863 and 1870....
s of 1871. Their completion was greatly delayed by the changes made by the British, which included modifying the boilers to use both oil and coal and conversion of twelve double-bottom tanks to carry the oil. This work began on 9 January 1915, but was suspended the following May, although it was estimated that only another ten to twelve months of work remained, to allow for faster progress to be made on the large light cruisers and that were building in Armstrong's Naval Yard downriver.
General characteristics
In September 1917 work was resumed to a new design that added a large anti-torpedo bulgeAnti-torpedo bulge
The anti-torpedo bulge is a form of passive defence against naval torpedoes that featured in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars.-Theory and form:...
along about 75% of the hull's length. The Gorgons displaced 5700 long tons (5,791.5 MT) at deep load as built, almost 1000 long tons (1,016.1 MT) more than originally designed. They had a length of 310 feet (94 m), a beam of 73 in 7 in (22.43 m) at maximum, although her main hull only had a beam of 55 feet (16.8 m) and a draught of 16 in 4 in (4.98 m).
Propulsion
They were powered by two vertical triple expansion steam engineSteam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s, which developed 4000 ihp from four Yarrow
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium or yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo, or "little feather", for the shape of the leaves. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herbal militaris, for its use in...
watertube boilers that gave a maximum speed of 12 knots (6.5 m/s). Addition of the bulges cost 2 knots (1.1 m/s) in speed, but prevented the extra weight resulting from all of these changes from deepening her draft. They carried 364 long tons (369.8 MT) of coal and 171 long tons (173.7 MT) of fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
which gave them a range of 2700 nautical miles (5,000.4 km) at 11 knots (6 m/s).
Armament
No changes were made to the layout of the main and secondary armament as designed for the Norwegians. But the guns specified by the Norwegians could not use standard British ammunition and had to be relined to do so. The 240-mm guns were known as the BL 9.2 inches (23.4 cm) Mk XII gun after modification. The turrets were modified to give a maximum elevation of 40° and be depressed to −5°. They fired a 391 pounds (177.4 kg), 8 crh shell at a muzzle velocityMuzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 3060 ft/s (932.7 m/s) to a distance of 39000 yards (35,661.6 m) using a supercharge. These guns were the longest-ranged guns, other than the BL 18 inch Mk I naval guns mounted in the s and that could range 40500 yards (37,033.2 m), used by the Royal Navy during the war. They had a rate of fire of two rounds per minute. The ships carried 130 shells per gun.
Other than the modifications to the guns to use British ammunition no changes were made to the 6 inches (15.2 cm) secondary armament. The guns had a maximum depression of 5° and a maximum elevation of 20°. They fired 100 pounds (45.4 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2874 ft/s (876 m/s) which gave a maximum range of 16020 yards (14,648.7 m). They could fire three rounds per minute. Each gun was provided with 100 high explosive shells and 100 Common-pointed, capped shells. The magazine for the two side guns was shared between them, with a shell room directly under each turret. The boiler room was directly in front of the magazine and the engine room behind it.
The 100-mm guns and the torpedo tubes planned by the Norwegians were both omitted, and a large tripod mast was fitted behind the single funnel to carry the directors for both the 6-inch and 9.2-inch guns. One QF 3 inch 20 cwt
QF 3 inch 20 cwt
The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II...
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
gun was mounted on each centreline 6-inch turret. This had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. It fired a 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2500 ft/s (762 m/s) at a rate of fire of 12–14 rounds per minute. They had a maximum effective ceiling of 23500 ft (7,162.8 m). They also carried four 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun
QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss
The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun introduced in 1886 to defend against new small fast vessels such as torpedo boats, and later submarines...
s with 300 rounds per gun and two or four 2-pounder guns with 1,000 rounds per gun on high-angle mounts.
Armour
The addition of the anti-torpedo bulges were the only changes made to the protection scheme of the Gorgons. The armour used throughout was Krupp cemented armourKrupp cemented armour
Krupp Cemented Armour is a further evolved variant of Krupp Armour, developed during the early years of the 20th Century. The process is largely the same with slight changes in the alloy composition: in % of total – carbon 0.35, nickel 3.90, chromium 2.00, manganese .35, silicon .07, phosphorus...
unless otherwise noted. The waterline armour belt was seven inches thick between the fore and aft turrets, but tapered to 4 inches (10.2 cm) towards the bow and 3 inches (7.6 cm) towards the stern. Above it was a strake of four inch armour that covered the area between the turrets up to the upper deck that increased to six inches abreast the wing barbettes. The high-tensile steel deck was only one inch thick amidships on the flat, but increased to two inches as it curved down to meet the main armour belt. Forward of 'A' turret it increased to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) as it sloped downwards to the bow. Aft of 'Y' turret it also increased to two inches, then three inches over the steering gear and 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) as it curved down towards the stern before meeting a 5 inches (12.7 cm) bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
at the rear of the ship. The main gun barbette
Barbette
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...
s and turret faces were all 8 inches (20.3 cm) thick, but the turret sides were 6 inches in thickness with three inch Krupp non-cemented armour (KNC) roofs. The secondary gun turrets and barbettes were also six inches thick with two inch roofs. The conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
was eight inches thick with a three inch KNC roof.
Construction
Both ships were built by Armstrong Whitworth at ElswickElswick, Tyne and Wear
Elswick is a ward of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in the western part of the city, bordering the river Tyne. One of the earliest references to the coal mining industry of the north east occurs in 1330, when it was recorded that the Prior of Tynemouth let a colliery, called Heygrove, at...
. was laid down first, on 26 May 1913, but was not launched until 8 August 1914. She commissioned after her sister on 31 August 1918, but was not formally completed, after finishing her trials, until 9 September. was laid down on 11 June 1913, but was launched before her sister, on 9 June 1914, and commissioned first as well, on 1 May 1918, although she did not complete her trials until 4 June.
The total costs, including all alterations, were £513,242 for Glatton and £777,197 for Gorgon, although there was no obvious reason for the disparity unless some of Glatton's costs had been charged against Gorgon as the lead ship of the class. A truer cost would be about £645,000 for each. This was almost double the original cost and made them more expensive than any of the other monitors.
Gorgon
Gorgon was the first to go into action as she bombarded German artillery positions in BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
at the end of July 1918. She bombarded the Snaeskerk bridge on 28 and 29 September, but produced a single near-miss. She fired at German artillery batteries again on 14 October, but had to retreat hurriedly when she was straddled by heavy German return fire and she was hit by splinters from near-misses. The next day she bombarded another bridge; the last rounds fired by a Royal Navy warship at targets in Occupied Belgium.
She was sent to Portsmouth after the end of the war where she was made available to investigate the cause of her sister ship Glattons magazine explosion. She was paid off on 31 August 1919 and joined the Reserve Fleet in September. She was offered back to the Norwegians, but they rejected her as unsuitable to their requirements, especially since she was now too broad for their dock at Horten
Horten
is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the villages of Borre, Åsgårdstrand, Skoppum, and Nykirke....
. Several attempts were made to sell her, but she was disarmed in 1922 and used as a target ship to evaluate the effects of bombs bursting underwater near a ship and the effects of six-inch gunfire. She was finally sold for scrap on 26 August 1928 and broken up at the former naval dockyard at Pembroke
Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...
.
Glatton
After completion Glatton sailed for DoverDover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
on 11 September 1918 to prepare for the offensive planned for later that month. On the evening of 16 September Glattons midships 6-inch magazine had a low-order explosion that ignited the cordite
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance...
stored there. Flames shot through the roof of 'Q' turret, starboard midside, and started to spread aft. The forward magazines were flooded, but the rear magazines were unable to be flooded as the flames blocked access to the controls. The presence of the ammunition ship Gransha only 150 yards (137.2 m) away risked a massive explosion that would devastate Dover if Glattons rear magazine exploded and set off Granshas ammunition. Vice-Admiral Keyes ordered the destroyer to torpedo Glatton in an attempt to flood the magazine before it detonated. Cossacks torpedoes were not powerful enough and Glatton remained afloat, still burning. Keyes then ordered the destroyer to fire on Glatton with her 21 inches (53.3 cm) torpedoes. They were aimed at the hole blown in Glatton's starboard side by Cossacks second torpedo and caused Glatton to capsize until her masts and superstructure rested on the harbor bottom, dousing the fire. Casualties were heavy, 60 men were killed outright and 124 were injured of whom 19 later died of their burns.
A Court of Enquiry held immediately afterwards found that the explosion had occurred in the midships 6-inch magazine situated between the boiler and engine rooms. The cause was less easy to establish, but the Court noted that the stokers were in the habit of piling the red-hot clinker and ashes from the boilers against the bulkhead directly adjoining the magazine. The magazine was well insulated with 5 inches (12.7 cm) of cork, covered by wood planking ¾ (1.9 cm) thick and provided with special cooling equipment so it was not likely that the cordite had spontaneously combusted. Gorgons magazine was emptied and examined. The red lead paint on the bulkhead was blistered beneath the lagging and tests at the National Physical Laboratory demonstrated that it had been subject to temperatures of at least 400 °F (204.4 °C). Recorded temperatures inside the magazine did not exceed 83 °F (28.3 °C) and a test of red-hot ashes was inconclusive. Other tests did reveal that the cork could give off flammable fumes under high heat and pressurized air.
As a precaution, Gorgons cork lagging was stripped out and replaced by silicate wool which revealed the real cause. Part of the cork was missing and folded newspapers were found in the empty space. Furthermore a number of rivets were entirely missing which meant that ½-inch (12.7 mm) holes were present which could have dropped hot ashes onto the newspapers. The forced draught pressure in the boiler room would have supplied air through the rivet holes which would have caused the cork to give off flammable gases and eventually ignite the cordite charges.
Glatton remained in Dover Harbour, an obstruction to shipping, with her hull visible at low tide as the Harbour Board could not afford the £45,000 quoted on average by salvage companies. Work finally began in May 1925 as some 12000 long tons (12,192.6 MT) of silt were removed from underneath Glatton and her mainmast and superstructure were blasted away. All the holes on her topside had to be sealed and air pumped into each compartment at a rate of 70000 cubic feet (1,982 m³) per minute to restore her buoyancy. The first attempt to lift her began on 2 December 1925 and was successful in breaking the suction holding her to the bottom in combination with the rising tide. Slowly she was moved, taking advantage of the tides, until on 16 March 1926 she was moved to a deep gully next to the western pier of the submarine harbour, close by the shore. The total cost was considerably more than originally estimated, but still far less than that quoted by the salvage companies, at no more than £12,000. There she remains, buried by landfill underneath the current car ferry terminal. Her bell was salvaged and is on display at the Harbour Board offices.