HMS Black Prince (1904)

HMS ''Black Prince'' was a armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the early 1900s. She was stationed in the Mediterranean when the First World War began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser and light cruiser . After the German ships reached Ottoman waters, the ship was sent to the Red Sea in mid-August to protect troop convoys arriving from India and to search for German merchant ships. After capturing two ships, ''Black Prince'' was transferred to the Grand Fleet in December 1914. She was sunk on 1 June 1916 during the Battle of Jutland with the loss of all hands.

Design and description

Two armoured cruisers of a new design, ''Duke of Edinburgh'' and ''Black Prince'', the latter named for Edward, the Black Prince, were ordered for the Royal Navy as part of the 1902–03 Naval Estimates. They were the first ships to be designed for the Royal Navy under the supervision of the new Director of Naval Construction, Sir Philip Watts. The new design was significantly larger than the previous and -class cruisers, mounting a heavier main armament of six guns in single turrets.Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 71.Brown 2003, p. 161.

''Black Prince'' displaced as built and fully loaded. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, driving two shafts, which produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The engines were powered by 20 Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers and six cylindrical boilers. The ship carried a maximum of of coal and an additional of fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for at a speed of . The ship's complement was 789 officers and ratings.Parkes 1990, p. 442.

Her main armament consisted of six BL 9.2-inch Mk X guns in single turrets, two on the centreline and two on each beam, giving a broadside of four 9.2 in guns. Her secondary armament of ten BL 6-inch Mark XI guns was arranged in single casemates. They were mounted amidships on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather. Twenty Vickers QF 3-pounders were fitted, six on turret roofs and fourteen in the superstructure. The ship also mounted three submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes.

Construction and career

''Black Prince'' was laid down on 3 June 1903 at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company's shipyard at Blackwall, London. She was launched on 8 November 1904 and completed on 17 March 1906. When completed, ''Black Prince'' served with the 2nd Squadron until 1907, the 1st Cruiser Squadron from 1907 to 1908, the 5th Cruiser Squadron (as part of the Atlantic Fleet) from 1908 to 1912 and the Third from 1912 to 1913.Preston 1985, p. 13.

At the beginning of the First World War, ''Black Prince'' was one of the four armoured cruisers serving in the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet, commanded by Rear-Admiral Ernest Charles Thomas Troubridge. She participated in the pursuit of ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau''. Following the escape of the two German ships to neutral Turkey, ''Black Prince'' and ''Duke of Edinburgh'' were sent into the Red Sea to search for German merchant ships, with ''Black Prince'' capturing the German ocean liners ''Südmark'' and ''Istria''. On 6 November, she was ordered to Gibraltar to join a squadron of French and British ships to search for German warships still at sea off the African coast. This was cancelled on 19 November after the location of the German East Asia Squadron was revealed by survivors of the Battle of Coronel. ''Black Prince'' joined the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot.

''Black Prince'' was modified in March 1916 as a result of lessons learned at the Battle of Coronel, with the 6-inch guns removed from their casemates and replaced by six 6-inch guns mounted individually behind shields between the beam 9.2-inch turrets.Brown 2003, pp. 161–162.

Loss

The ship participated in the Battle of Jutland, where she was sunk with the loss of her entire crew. The circumstances under which she sank were mysterious for some years after. As the British had lost contact and did not see the ship destroyed, they were unsure as to whether a submarine or surface ship was responsible for sinking ''Black Prince''. During the battle, the 1st Cruiser Squadron was deployed as part of a screening force several miles ahead of the main force of the Grand Fleet,Campbell 1998, p. 36. but ''Black Prince'' lost contact with the rest of the Squadron as it came into contact with German forces, at about 17:42.Campbell 1998, p. 122. Soon after, two other members of the 1st Cruiser Squadron, and , were heavily engaged by German battleships and battlecruisers, with ''Defence'' blowing up and ''Warrior'' receiving heavy damage, which later caused her to sink.Campbell 1998, pp. 152–153.

There were no positive sightings of ''Black Prince'' by the British fleet after that, although a wireless signal from her was received at 20:45, reporting a submarine sighting. During the night of 31 May–1 June, the British destroyer , badly damaged after colliding with the German battleship , sighted what appeared to be a German battlecruiser, with two widely spaced funnels, described as being "...a mass of fire from foremast to mainmast, on deck and between decks. Flames were issuing out of her from every corner." The mystery ship exploded at about midnight. It was later thought that the burning ship may have been ''Black Prince'', with the two midships funnels having collapsed or been shot away.Fawcett and Hooper 1921, pp. 180–181.

Recent historians, however, hold to the German account of the ship's sinking. ''Black Prince'' briefly engaged the German battleship at about 23:35 GMT, scoring two hits with 6-inch shells.Campbell 1998, pp. 286–287. Separated from the rest of the British fleet, ''Black Prince'' approached the German lines shortly after midnight. She turned away from the German battleships, but it was too late. The German battleship fixed ''Black Prince'' in her searchlights and opened fire. Up to five other German ships, including the battleships , , and , joined in the bombardment, with return fire from ''Black Prince'' being ineffective. Most of the German ships were between of ''Black Prince''Campbell 1998, p. 290. — effectively point-blank range for contemporary naval gunnery. The ship was hit by at least twelve heavy shells and several smaller ones,Campbell 1998, p. 303. sinking within 15 minutes. There were no survivors from her crew of 857.Campbell 1998, p. 338.

The wrecksite is designated as a ''protected place'' under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Popular culture

In the first episode of Series 4 of the SBS-TV (Australia) series '' Who Do You Think You Are?'', Australian writer-actor-comedian Shaun Micallef discovered that his great-grandfather Giovanni (John) Micallef, a steward on ''Black Prince'', was among those killed.SBS-TV - ''Who Do You Think You Are'' (Series 4)
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Footnotes

References

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External links

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Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS ''Black Prince'' crew list

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Prince (1904)
Duke of Edinburgh-class cruisers
Ships built in Leamouth
World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom
Maritime incidents in 1916
Ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland
Protected Wrecks of the United Kingdom
1904 ships
Warships lost in combat with all hands
Edward the Black Prince