HMS Empress of India (1891)

HMS Empress of India was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy and part of the eight-ship Royal Sovereign class. She was laid down at Pembroke Dockyard on 9 July 1889 and launched by the Duchess of Connaught on 7 May 1891. Initially known as HMS Renown, her name was changed before completion at Chatham on 11 September 1893. She served as the flagship of the second-in-command of the Channel Fleet. She was sunk as a target ship on 4 November 1913 in Lyme Bay.

Technical characteristics
HMS Empress of India was ordered under the Naval Defence Act Programme of 1889. She was laid down at Pembroke Dockyard on 9 July 1889 and launched by the Duchess of Connaught on 7 May 1891. She was then transferred to Chatham, where she was completed in August 1893. Initially to be known as HMS Renown, her name was changed before her completion. Empress of India displaced 14,150 tons and was 380 ft long with a beam of 75 ft and a draught of 27 feet 6 inches. Engined by Humphrys and Tennant she produced 13000 hp and could make 18 kn. At full strength she carried a complement of 712. At the time of their completion, she and the other ships in her class were perhaps the best all-round battleships in the world. Their greater freeboard enhanced their sea going capabilities, enabling them to engage the enemy in rougher seas than previous designs, an important consideration in the North Sea and North Atlantic; however, they tended to develop a heavy roll in some conditions, and after HMS Resolution rolled badly in heavy seas in 1893, the class was nicknamed the "Rolling Ressies," a name which stuck even though the problem was quickly corrected by the fitting of bilge keels. The ships were also faster and better armoured than their predecessors and carried a potent secondary armament but these features inevitably increased their weight, with previous battleships seldom topping 10,000 tonnes. Her main armament consisted of four 13.5-inch (343-mm) guns in two barbettes with a secondary set of ten 6-inch (152-mm) guns. She also sported an array of smaller guns and seven 18-inch (457-mm) torpedo tubes. She had a partial belt of 18-inch- (457-mm-) thick steel.

Operational history
HMS Empress of India commissioned at Chatham on 11 September 1893 to relieve battleship HMS Anson as flagship of the second-in-command of the Channel Fleet. She participated in annual manoeuvres in the Irish Sea and English Channel as a unit of "Blue Fleet" from 2 August 1894 to 5 August 1894. In June 1895, she was among the ships representing the Royal Navy at the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal in Germany. That summer, she again took part in annual manoeuvres, held from 24 July 1895 to 30 August 1895. She was last commissioned in the Channel Fleet in December 1895 by Captain Angus MacLeod. On 7 June 1897, she ended her Channel Fleet service, paying off at Chatham.

On 8 June 1897, Empress of India recommissioned for Mediterranean Fleet service. Before departing, she took part in the Fleet Review for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria at Spithead on 26 June 1897.

Empress of India arrived at Malta to begin her Mediterranean service in August 1897. In August and September 1898, she was part of the International Squadron blockading Crete during the Greco-Turkish uprising there. On 24 December 1900, she recommissioned at Malta for further Mediterranean service, which ended when she was relieved by battleship HMS Implacable 3 October 1901, when she left Gibraltar homebound.

On 12 October 1901, Empress of India paid off at Devonport, but she recommissioned on 13 October 1901 to relieve battleship HMS Howe at Queenstown, Ireland, as both port guard ship and flagship of the Senior Naval Officer Coast of Ireland. She left this duty in early 1902 to undergo an extensive refit.

Empress of India was attached to the Home Squadron on 7 May 1902, in which she served as flagship in port and as flagship of the second-in-command when the squadron was at sea. She participated in the Coronation Fleet Review of King Edward VII in August 1902, at which she was the flagship of Admiral Pelham Aldrich. She served as flagship of "B Fleet" during combined manoeuvres of the Home Fleet, Mediterranean Fleet, and Channel Fleet off Portugal from 5 August 1903 to 9 August 1903, but her port engine broke down for 14 hours during the manoeuvres and the fleet had to leave her behind. Her sister ship HMS Royal Oak relieved her as flagship of the second-in-command of the Home Fleet on 1 June 1904, and she became a private ship. On 22 February 1905, battleship HMS Hannibal relieved her of her Home Fleet duties entirely, and she paid off on 23 February 1905.

That same day, Empress of India recommissioned in reserve at Devonport and relieved battleship HMS Barfleur as flagship of the new Fleet in Commission in Reserve at Home. In July 1905 she participated in Reserve Fleet manoeuvres. In September 1905, protected cruiser HMS Aeolus relieved her of her duties, but she recommissioned on 31 October 1905 with a new nucleus crew to resume her Reserve Fleet duties. She then underwent a refit that lasted into 1906.

Empress of India collided with submarine HMS A10 in Plymouth Sound on 30 April 1906.

When the Reserve Fleet was abolished in February 1907 and became the Home Fleet, Empress of India continued her service as flagship, but now for Rear Admiral, Devonport Division. On 25 May 1907 she was relieved as flagship by protected cruiser HMS Niobe. On 28 May 1907, Empress of India recommissioned as a special service vessel. She relieved her sister ship HMS Royal Oak as parent ship of the special service vessels in November 1911.

Hopelessly outclassed by the new dreadnoughts that began to appear in 1906, Empress of India was paid off in 1912. On 2 March 1912 she left Portsmouth under tow by armoured cruiser HMS Warrior en route the Motherbank, where she was to be laid up, but she collided with the German barque Winderhudder and had to return to Portsmouth for repairs. She finally arrived at the Motherbank in May 1912 and was laid up, awaiting disposal.

Sinking
On 4 November 1913, she was used as a target ship in firing trials in Lyme Bay that were primarily intended to give officers and men an idea of the effect of live shell against a real target. A secondary objective was to look at the problems caused by several ships firing at the same target at the same time: the first ship to engage the stationary Empress of India was the cruiser Liverpool, this was followed by three battleships Thunderer, Orion and King Edward VII, and finally four battleships Neptune, King George V, Thunderer, and Vanguard. By 16:45 "the Empress of India was blazing furiously and down by the stern, sinking at" 18:30. She had received 44 12-in and 13.5-in hits and "it is not surprising that an elderly ship sank", though the intention had been to repeat the firing at longer range.

When she sank, she landed upside-down on the seabed, and some salvage was soon carried out by a Jersey company which owned the rights to the vessel. The big hole in her side was made not by a shell, but by salvage divers blowing out a condenser." The wreck is accessible; and is an advanced dive for recreational divers.

Details of the firing are given in the table below.