{{Short description|1915 class of British warships}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=HMS Abercrombie July 1915 right broadside AWM G01083.jpeg |image_caption=The starboard profile of HMS ''Abercrombie'' off Gallipoli in July 1915 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/class overview |name=Abercrombie |builders= |operators={{navy|United Kingdom}} |class_before={{sclass|Humber|monitor|4}} |class_after={{sclass|Lord Clive|monitor|4}} |subclasses= |cost= |built_range= |in_service_range= |in_commission_range= |total_ships_building= |total_ships_planned= |total_ships_completed=4 |total_ships_canceled= |total_ships_active= |total_ships_laid_up= |total_ships_lost=1 |total_ships_scrapped=3 |total_ships_preserved= }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption=<ref name="conways06 p43">Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 43.</ref> |class= |type=Monitor |displacement={{convert|6150|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} |length={{convert|334|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} oa |beam={{convert|90|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} |height= |draught={{convert|10|ft|m|abbr=on}} |depth= |decks= |power={{convert|2310|ihp|kW|abbr=on}} |propulsion=*2 × vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines, *2 × boilers, *2 × screws (HMS ''Raglan'') |speed={{convert|6+1/2|kn|abbr=on}} (HMS ''Raglan'') |range= |boats= |capacity= |complement=198 |sensors= |armament=*2 × BL 14 inch gun Mk II 45 cal guns *2 × QF 12 pounder 18 cwt naval gun *1 × 3 pounder (47 mm) anti-aircraft gun *1 × 2-pounder Mark II anti-aircraft gun |armour=*Belt: {{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} *Deck {{convert|2|-|1|in|mm|abbr=on}} *Barbettes: {{convert|8|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} *Turrets: {{convert|10|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} |aircraft=1 × seaplane (designed but seldom carried) |aircraft_facilities= |notes= }} }}

The '''''Abercrombie'' class''' of monitors served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.

==History== [[File:Abercrombie class monitor 14-inch turret.jpg|left|thumb|The {{convert|14|in|mm|0|adj=on}} gun turret of an ''Abercrombie''-class monitor during World War I. It mounted two {{convert|14|in|mm|0|adj=on}} Mark II guns.]] The four ships in this class came about when the contracted supplier of the main armament for the Greek battleship {{Ship|Greek battleship|Salamis||2}} being built in Germany was unable to supply due to the British blockade. The company&nbsp;– Bethlehem Steel in the United States&nbsp;– instead offered to sell the four {{convert|14|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} twin gun turrets to the Royal Navy on 3 November 1914.<ref name="conways06 p43"/> The Royal Navy was using obsolete pre-dreadnought battleships for shore bombardment in support of the army in Belgium, and a design for a shallow-draught warship (known as "Monitors") suitable for shore-bombardment was quickly designed and built to use these turrets. The ships were laid down and launched within six months.<ref name="conways06 p43"/>

The ships carried a single main gun turret forward of a tripod mast, which was itself in front of a single funnel. A secondary armament of two 12-pounder (76&nbsp;mm) guns was fitted, with a single 3-pounder (47&nbsp;mm) anti-aircraft gun, with a 2-pounder pom-pom completing the ships armament.<ref name="conways06 p44">Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 44.</ref>

The monitors had a box-like hull, with very bluff bow and stern, and were fitted with anti-torpedo bulges. In order to speed construction, it was intended to use off-the shelf merchant ship engines, giving about {{convert|2000|ihp|kW}}, which were expected to drive the ships to {{convert|10|kn|lk=in}}. The rushed design, however, meant that the ships were much slower than expected – ''Raglan''{{'}}s engines gave {{convert|2310|ihp|kW}} but the ship could only reach {{convert|6+1/2|kn}}.<ref name="conways06 p43-4">Gardiner and Gray 1985, pp. 43–44.</ref>

During the planning and build, they were to be the ''Styx''-class named after four American figures; General Ulysses S. Grant, General Robert E. Lee, Admiral David Farragut and General Stonewall Jackson and they were launched under these names. Because the United States was still a neutral power at that time, using these names would have been undiplomatic and so they were renamed as simply ''M1'' through ''M4'' before completion, then receiving their final names.

The design included a seaplane for spotting the guns, but it was found that land-based aircraft were more effective; as monitors, they would never operate in the open sea, and storing the seaplane on top of the turret meant it had to be removed to avoid damage, even if not required before the guns could fire.

==Ships== {| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Ship ! Namesake ! Builders ! Launched !Commissioned ! Fate |- | {{HMS|Abercrombie|1914|2}} (Initially ''Farragut'', then M1, then ''General Abercrombie'') | James Abercrombie | Harland & Wolff, Belfast | 15 April 1915 |1 May 1915 | Paid off after the Armistice and sold for scrap to Thos. W Ward, Inverkeithing in 1927. |- | {{HMS|Havelock|1915|2}} (Initially General Grant, then M2) | Henry Havelock | Harland & Wolff, Belfast | 29 April 1915 | | Sold in 1921 for breaking up to Thos W Ward, Preston, broken up 1927 |- | {{HMS|Raglan|1915|2}} (Initially ''Robert E Lee'', then M3, then ''Lord Raglan'') | FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan | Harland and Wolff, Govan, | 29 April 1915 |May 1915 | Sunk during the Battle of Imbros in January 1918, by battlecruiser ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'' |- | {{HMS|Roberts|1915|2}} (initially ''Stonewall Jackson,'' then M4, then ''Lord Roberts'' | Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts | Swan Hunter, Wallsend, | 15 April 1915 |21 May 1915 | Used as a static drillship after the First World War, scrapped in 1936 |}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== {{Commons category}} * {{cite book <!-- {{sfn|Bacon |1919|loc=vol. x, p. x}} --> |last=Bacon |first=Reginald |author-link=Reginald Bacon |title=The Dover Patrol 1915–1917 |year=1919 |others=(2 vols.) |publisher=George H. Doran Co. |location=New York}}&nbsp;[https://archive.org/stream/doverpatrol01bacogoog#page/n6/mode/2up Vol. 1] • [https://archive.org/stream/doverpatrol00bacogoog#page/n10/mode/2up Vol. 2] *{{cite book |last1=Buxton |first1=Ian |title=Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |year=2008 |orig-year=1978 |edition=2nd Revised |isbn=978-1-84415-719-8 }} *{{cite book |last1=Crossley |first1=Jim |title=Monitors of the Royal Navy; How the Fleet Brought the Great Guns to Bear |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Pen & Sword |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-78383-004-6 }} *Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914–1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), {{ISBN|0-7110-0380-7}} *{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Steve R |title=Securing the Narrow Sea: The Dover Patrol 1914–1918 |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-84832-251-6 }} * {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory|publisher= Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84832-100-7 |author-link=Norman Friedman}} *Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), {{ISBN|0-85177-245-5}} *{{cite book |year=1969 |orig-year=First published 1919 |editor1-last=Parkes |editor1-first=Oscar |editor2-last=Prendergast |editor2-first=Maurice |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1919 |edition =reprint |location=New York |publisher=Arco Publishing Co |isbn=978-0-71534-716-4 |oclc=1902851 }}

{{Abercrombie class monitor}} {{WWI British ships}}

Category:Monitor classes Category:Abercrombie-class monitors