HMS ''Exmouth'' was a
pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...
battleship of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, ''Exmouth'' and her
sister ships were capable of steaming at , making them the fastest battleships in the world. The ''Duncan''-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four
guns and they were broadly similar to the s, though of a slightly reduced
displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
* Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the . ''Exmouth'' was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
by
Laird Brothers
Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
at
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
in August 1899,
launched in August 1901, and completed in May 1903.
''Exmouth'' served as a
flagship for various fleets including the
Mediterranean Fleet, the
Channel Fleet and the
Atlantic Fleet from her commissioning in 1903 until the start of the First World War in 1914. Originally she was to join the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, but this squadron was temporarily disbanded and she joined the 3rd Battle Squadron at
Scapa Flow. ''Exmouth'' participated in the
Northern Patrol
The Northern Patrol, also known as Cruiser Force B and the Northern Patrol Force, was an operation of the British Royal Navy during the First World War and Second World War. The Patrol was part of the British "distant" blockade of Germany. Its ma ...
and was then moved to the newly reformed 6th Squadron in late 1914, where she bombarded the German-occupied port at
Zeebrugge
Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...
in late November.
In mid-1915, the ship was transferred to the
Dardanelles campaign, where she supported operations ashore. She was thereafter moved to Greece and later to the
East Indies Station
The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' was ...
starting in March 1917. She performed convoy escort duties in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
between
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
and
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
before returning to the United Kingdom, calling at
The Cape and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
. She arrived at
Devonport, England, Devonport in August 1917, and paid off to provide crews for
antisubmarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
vessels. ''Exmouth'' remained in reserve at Devonport until April 1919, and was used as an
accommodation ship
A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...
beginning in January 1918. She was placed on the sale list in April 1919 and sold for
scrapping
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
to
Forth Shipbreaking Company on 15 January 1920.
Design
![Duncan class diagrams Brasseys 1915](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Duncan_class_diagrams_Brasseys_1915.jpg)
The six ships of the were ordered in response to the Russian s that had been
launched in 1898. The Russian ships were fast second-class battleships, so
William Henry White
Sir William Henry White, (2 February 1845 – 27 February 1913) was a prolific British warship designer and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty.
Biography
White was born in Devonport, the son of Robert White, a currier, and his wife, Jane ...
, the British
Director of Naval Construction
The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer resp ...
, designed the ''Duncan'' class to match the purported top speed of the Russian vessels. To achieve the higher speed while keeping displacement from growing, White was forced to reduce the ships' armour protection significantly, effectively making the ships enlarged and improved versions of the s of 1896, rather than derivatives of the more powerful , , and series of first-class battleships. The ''Duncan''s proved to be disappointments in service, owing to their reduced defensive characteristics, though they were still markedly superior to the ''Peresvet''s they had been built to counter.
''Exmouth'' was
long overall
__NOTOC__
Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...
, with a
beam of and a
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of . The ''Duncan''-class battleships
displaced normally and up to
fully loaded. Her crew numbered 720 officers and
ratings. The ''Duncan''-class ships were powered by a pair of 4-cylinder
triple-expansion engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...
s that drove two
screws, with steam provided by twenty-four
Belleville boiler
There have been a vast number of designs of steam boiler, particularly towards the end of the 19th century when the technology was evolving rapidly. A great many of these took the names of their originators or primary manufacturers, rather than a m ...
s. The boilers were trunked into two
funnels located
amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th ...
. The ''Duncan''-class ships had a top speed of from . This made ''Exmouth'' and her sisters the fastest battleships in the world for several years. At a cruising speed of , the ship could steam for .
''Exmouth'' had a
main battery
A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
of four
40-
calibre
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...
guns mounted in twin-
gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s fore and aft. The ships also mounted a
secondary battery
A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or pri ...
of twelve
45-calibre guns mounted in
casemates, in addition to ten
12-pounder guns and six
3-pounder guns for defence against
torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s. As was customary for battleships of the period, she was also equipped with four
torpedo tubes submerged in the
hull.
''Exmouth'' had an
armoured belt
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating t ...
that was thick; the transverse
bulkhead on the aft end of the belt was thick. Her main battery turrets' sides were thick, atop
barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships.
In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...
s, and the casemate battery was protected with 6 in of
Krupp steel. Her
conning tower had 12-inch-thick sides. She was fitted with two armoured decks, thick, respectively.
Service history
Pre-World War I
![HMS Exmouth at Quebec Tercentenary 1908 LAC 3394175](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/HMS_Exmouth_at_Quebec_Tercentenary_1908_LAC_3394175.jpg)
HMS ''Exmouth'' was laid down by
Laird Brothers
Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
at
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
on 10 August 1899. She was floated out on 31 August 1901, when she was named by
Lady Alice Stanley, wife of
Lord Stanley
Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...
,
Financial Secretary to the War Office
The Financial Secretary to the War Office and for certain periods known as the Finance Member of the Army Council, was a junior ministerial office of the British government established in 1870. In May 1947 the office was unified with that of the ...
, who afterwards gave a speech. She arrived at the
Nore in May 1902, and was armed and completed for sea at
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...
.
After delays due to
labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
problems, she was completed in May 1903. ''Exmouth'' commissioned at Chatham Dockyard on 2 June 1903 for service in the
Mediterranean Fleet. She returned to the United Kingdom in May 1904, and on 18 May 1904 recommissioned as
Flagship,
Vice Admiral,
Home Fleet, serving as flagship of
Sir Arthur Wilson. When the Home Fleet was redesignated as the
Channel Fleet, she continued to serve as the fleet flagship. She transferred her flag in April 1907, was reduced to a nucleus crew, and entered the commissioned
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
to begin a refit at
Portsmouth Dockyard
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...
.
Her refit complete, she recommissioned on 25 May 1907 to serve as Flagship, Vice Admiral,
Atlantic Fleet. In July 1908, ''Exmouth'' visited Canada during the Quebec Tercentenary, in company with her
sister ships , , and . On 20 November 1908 she transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet to serve as flagship there, and underwent a refit at
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in 1908–1909. Under a fleet reorganization of 1 May 1912, the Mediterranean Fleet became the
4th Battle Squadron
The 4th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 4th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet (1912–14) and then the Grand Fleet after the outbreak of the First World War ...
, First Fleet, Home Fleet, and changed its base from Malta to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
. ''Exmouth'' became Flagship, Vice Admiral, Home Fleet, in July 1912. In December 1912, the battleship replaced ''Exmouth'' in the 4th Battle Squadron, and ''Exmouth'' began a refit at Malta. Upon completion of her refit, ''Exmouth'' recommissioned on 1 July 1913 at
Devonport Dockyard with a nucleus crew to serve in the commissioned reserve with the
6th Battle Squadron
The 6th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of Battleships serving in the Grand Fleet and existed from 1913 to 1917.
History First World War August 1914
In August 1914, the 6th Battle Squadron was based at Portl ...
, Second Fleet. She was assigned duties as a gunnery training ship at
Devonport, England, Devonport.
World War I
When World War I began in August 1914, plans originally called for ''Exmouth'' and the battleships , ''Albemarle'', , ''Duncan'', ''Russell'', and to combine in the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, where the squadron was to patrol the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
and cover the movement of the
British Expeditionary Force to France. However, plans also existed for the 6th Battle Squadron to be assigned to the
Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from the F ...
, and, when the war began, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet,
Admiral Sir
John Jellicoe
Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutlan ...
, requested that ''Exmouth'' and her four surviving sister ships of the ''Duncan'' class (''Albemarle'', ''Cornwallis'', ''Duncan'', and ''Russell'') be assigned to the
3rd Battle Squadron
The 3rd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships and other vessels, active from at least 1914 to 1945. The 3rd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. During the Firs ...
in the Grand Fleet for patrol duties to make up for the Grand Fleet's shortage of
cruisers. Accordingly, the 6th Battle Squadron was abolished temporarily, and ''Exmouth'' joined the 3rd Battle Squadron at
Scapa Flow on 8 August 1914. ''Exmouth'', ''Russel'', and ''Albemarle'' were the only ships in a condition to immediately join Jellicoe, so they left without the rest of the squadron on 5 August. They arrived in Scapa Flow on the night of 7–8 August. ''Exmouth'' worked with the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the
Northern Patrol
The Northern Patrol, also known as Cruiser Force B and the Northern Patrol Force, was an operation of the British Royal Navy during the First World War and Second World War. The Patrol was part of the British "distant" blockade of Germany. Its ma ...
.
In October, ''Exmouth'' went to Devonport for refit. When the Grand Fleet dreadnought battleship struck a
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
north of Ireland on 27 October, ''Exmouth'', which was moored in
Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...
, was sent to tow her to safety. By the time she arrived, however, ''Audacious'' had to be abandoned, and she shortly thereafter
capsize
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...
d and exploded. ''Exmouth'' and her four ''Duncan''-class sisters, as well as the battleships of the , temporarily were transferred to the Channel Fleet on 2 November 1914 to reinforce that fleet in the face of
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...
activity in the Channel Fleet's area. The following day, the German fleet
raided Yarmouth; at the time, ''Exmouth'' and the rest of the 3rd Squadron were dispersed on the Northern Patrol, and were thus unavailable during the German attack.
On 13 November 1914, the ''King Edward VII''-class ships returned to the Grand Fleet, but ''Exmouth'' and the other ''Duncan''s stayed in the Channel Fleet, where they reconstituted the 6th Battle Squadron on 14 November 1914. This squadron was given a mission of bombarding German
submarine bases on the coast of
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, and was based at
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, although it transferred to
Dover immediately on 14 November 1914. However, due a lack of
antisubmarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
defenses at Dover, particularly after the harbour's
anti-submarine boom was swept away in a
gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).[Zeebrugge
Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...]
, which was used by German submarines on passage from their base at
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population.
The area of the whole city a ...
, on 23 November 1914, The two ships left Portland on 21 November accompanied by eight
destroyers, a group of
trawlers Trawler may refer to:
Boats
* Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing
* Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes
** Trawlers of the Royal Navy
* Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built t ...
, and a pair of
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
s to observe the fall of shot, though the airships failed to arrive in time for the operation. ''Exmouth'' and ''Russell'' closed to of the port and shelled the harbour, the railroad station, and coastal defences. The two ships fired some 400 shells in total and observed several fires ashore; reports from Dutch observers indicated significant damage had been inflicted, but the attack achieved very little and discouraged the Royal Navy from continuing such bombardments. The 6th Battle Squadron returned to Dover in December 1914, then transferred to
Sheerness on 30 December 1914 to relieve the
5th Battle Squadron
The 5th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 5th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Second Fleet. During the First World War, the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet.
His ...
there in guarding against a German invasion of the United Kingdom.
Dardanelles campaign
Between January and May 1915, the 6th Battle Squadron was dispersed. ''Exmouth'' left the squadron when she transferred to the
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...
on 12 May 1915 for service in the Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, Dardanelles Campaign as Flagship, Rear Admiral, supporting squadron, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Nicholson. She steamed to the Mediterranean with the battleship ; the British hoped to take advantage of the experience both ships' crews had gained in bombarding coastal positions in Belgium. She was fitted with extra-heavy anti-torpedo nets for this service. After the torpedoing and sinking of battleships , , and , all within the space of two weeks in May 1915, she was the only battleship allowed to remain off the Gallipoli Peninsula beaches at Kephalo on the island of Imbros. This was a result of her heavy anti-torpedo nets, which were believed made it safer for her to remain on station than any of the other battleships.
On 4 June, ''Exmouth'', the battleship , and the protected cruiser went to Cape Helles to support an Allies of World War I, Allied attack on the Turkish-held heights at Achi Baba. Reports of enemy submarines in the area forced the ships to steam in circles to avoid being targeted, which reduced their accuracy. The ground forces were unable to break through the Ottoman lines, so the attack was called off. By July, the anchorage at Kephalo had received an anti-submarine boom, which improved the security of ''Exmouth''s station. She supported another Allied attack on the Ottoman positions at Achi Baba in August, which also failed.
Later operations
''Exmouth'' left the Dardanelles in November 1915 and transferred to the Aegean Sea to become Flagship, 3rd Detached Squadron, a force based at Salonika that had been organized to assist the French Navy in blockade, blockading the Aegean coast of Greece and Bulgaria and to reinforce the Suez Canal Patrol. On 28 November 1915, she took aboard personnel of the British Belgrade Naval Force as they were being evacuated from Serbia. From September to December 1916 she served in the Allied force supporting Allied demands against the government of Greece, which at the time was ruled by the pro-German Constantine I of Greece, Constantine I, who had decided to remain neutral at the outbreak of war. In August 1916, a pro-Allied group launched a coup against the monarchy in the ''Noemvriana'', which the Allies sought to support. ''Exmouth'' participated in the seizure of the Greek Navy, Greek fleet at Salamis Island, Salamis and landed Royal Marines at Athens, Greece, Athens on 1 December 1916. The British and French troops were defeated by the Greek Army and armed civilians and were forced to withdraw to their ships, after which the British and French fleet imposed a blockade of the royalist-controlled parts of the country.
''Exmouth'' transferred to the
East Indies Station
The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' was ...
in March 1917, where she performed convoy escort duties in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
between
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
and
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
. In June 1917, she ended this service to return to the United Kingdom, calling at Zanzibar,
The Cape and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
during the voyage. She arrived at Devonport in August 1917, and paid off to provide crews for antisubmarine vessels. ''Exmouth'' remained in reserve at Devonport until April 1919, and was used as an accommodation ship beginning in January 1918. ''Exmouth'' was placed on the sale list in April 1919 and sold for scrapping to
Forth Shipbreaking Company on 15 January 1920. Her hull was scrapped in the Netherlands.
Notes
References
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Exmouth (1901)
Duncan-class battleships
Ships built on the River Mersey
1901 ships
World War I battleships of the United Kingdom