The ''Humber''-class monitors were three large gunboats under construction for the

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious war ...

in Britain in 1913. Designed for service on the Amazon River, the ships were of shallow draft and heavy armament and were ideally suited to inshore, riverine and coastal work but unsuitable for service at sea, where their weight and light draft reduced their speed from a projected twelve knots to under four. The class comprised , and . All three were taken over by 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 ...

shortly before the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and were commissioned as small monitors. All three saw extensive service during the war and were sold in 1919.

Construction

The three ''Humber''-class monitors were originally ordered for the Brazilian Navy as the ''Javary''-class gunboats intended for inshore work on the River Amazon and its tributaries. Ordered from the

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness, the three ships were launched by 1913 and were undergoing sea trials when the Brazilian government informed Vickers that they would not be able to pay for the warships. Vickers attempted to find a foreign buyer for the boats and the British government stepped in to purchase the gunboats on 4 August 1914 for £155,000 each in order to prevent them being bought by a neutral navy and then sold on to Germany.

War service

The ships were stationed at Dover for service in 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 ...

, attached to the Dover Monitor Squadron. During the

Battle of the Frontiers The Battle of the Frontiers (, , ) comprised battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. The battles resolved the military strategies of the French Chief of ...

and subsequent operations in 1914, the ''Humber''-class monitors were all employed in bombarding German batteries and positions, under the command of

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Horace Hood. ''Severn'' and ''Mersey''s guns soon wore out, and they were each re-armed with a single 6-inch Mk VII gun stripped from the wreck of , a battleship which had been wrecked on the Isle of

Lundy Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently chang ...

in 1906. ''Humber'' retained her twin gun turret throughout the war, with guns being replaced by refurbished guns removed from the other two ships as needed. During early 1915 ''Mersey'' and ''Severn'' were dispatched to German East Africa, where the German cruiser was hidden in the Rufiji Delta. Only the long-range guns of the shallow-draft monitors could reach the hidden cruiser, and although the journey to East Africa took nearly six months under tow from

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 ...

, the monitors were ultimately successful in destroying the German ship, their shells directed by two seaplane observers. For the remainder of the war, all three ships participated in further attacks on German-held territory, ''Humber'' (which had been sent 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 (; ...

in 1915) in the Mediterranean and ''Mersey'' and ''Severn'' in German East Africa, where they operated against German positions in the colony. In 1918, ''Mersey'' and ''Severn'' were transferred to the Mediterranean as well.

''Humber''-class monitors

* (ex-''Javary''); commissioned 1914, served in Dover Monitor Squadron, then in Mediterranean. Battle Honors: Belgian Coast 1914, Dardanelles 1915. Sold 17 September 1921 to F. Rijsdijk for use as a crane lighter. * (ex-''Madeira''); commissioned 1914, served in Dover Monitor Squadron and off the Rufiji Delta, ending war in the Mediterranean. Battle Honors: Belgian Coast 1914, Action v. SMS ''Königsberg'' 11 July 1915. Sold 9 May 1921 to

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, steel, engineering and cement business, which began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture of machinery. I ...

, broken up 1923. * (ex-''Solimoes''); commissioned 1914, served in Dover Monitor Squadron and off the Rufiji Delta, ending war in Mediterranean. Battle Honors: Belgian Coast 1914, Action v. SMS ''Königsberg'' 11 July 1915. Sold 9 May 1921 to

, broken up 1923.http://www.naval-history.net/WWINavyBritishShips-Dittmar2.htm

References

Citations

References

* &nbs
Vol. 1
�
Vol. 2
* * *Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), * * *Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), *

External links

{{WWI British ships Monitor classes Riverine warfare Ship classes of the Royal Navy