HMS Lord Nelson (1906)

HMS Lord Nelson was a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1906 and completed in 1908. She was the Royal Navy's last pre-dreadnought. The ship was flagship of the Channel Fleet when World War I began in 1914. Lord Nelson was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She remained there, becoming flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was later redesignated the Aegean Squadron. After the Ottoman surrender in 1918 the ship moved to the Black Sea where she remained as flagship before returning to the United Kingdom in May 1919. Lord Nelson was placed into reserve upon her arrival and sold for scrap in June 1920.

Construction and description
HMS Lord Nelson was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 18 May 1905 and launched on 4 September 1906. Her completion was greatly delayed by the diversion of her 12-inch (305 mm) guns and turrets to expedite completion of HMS Dreadnought (1906), and she was not fully completed until October 1908. Although she was not the last pre-dreadnought laid down for the Royal Navy, she was the last one commissioned.

Lord Nelson displaced 17820 LT at deep load as built, with a length of 443 ft, a beam of 79 ft, and a draft of 26 ft. She was powered by two four-cylinder inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines, which developed a total of 16750 ihp and gave a maximum speed of 18 kn.

She was armed with four 12-inch guns arranged in two twin gun turrets, one turret each fore and aft. Her secondary armament consisted of ten 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns, eight in twin gun turrets on each corner of the superstructure, and a single gun turret between them. For defence against torpedo boats, Lord Nelson carried twenty-four QF 12-pounder 18 cwt guns and two 3-pounder guns. She also mounted five submerged 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes for which 23 torpedoes were stowed aboard.

Pre-World War I
HMS Lord Nelson was first commissioned in reserve on 1 December 1908 at Chatham Dockyard, being attached to the Nore Division of the Home Fleet with a nucleus crew. She first went into full commission on 5 January 1909 to relieve the battleship HMS Magnificent as flagship of the Nore Division, Home Fleet, and in April 1909 became part of the First Division, Home Fleet. She was transferred in January 1911 to the Second Division of the Home Fleet, and in May 1912 to the 2nd Battle Squadron. She was temporarily attached in September 1913 to the 4th Battle Squadron. In April 1914, she relieved the battleship HMS Queen as Flagship, Vice Admiral, Channel Fleet.

World War I
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Lord Nelson became flagship of the Channel Fleet and was based at Portland. With other ships, she covered the safe transport of the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Sir John French, to France. On 14 November 1914, she transferred to Sheerness to guard the English coast against the possibility of a German invasion. The ship returned to Portland Harbour on 30 December 1914 and patrolled the English Channel until February 1915.

Dardanelles campaign, 1915-1916
In February 1915, Lord Nelson was ordered to the Dardanelles to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She departed Portland on 18 February 1915 and joined the British Dardanelles Squadron at Mudros on 26 February 1915. She took part in the bombardment of the inner forts and supported the initial landings in early March 1915. The Ottoman Turkish forts engaged her heavily on 7 March 1915 and hit her several times, including by a stone cannon ball which landed on the deck and was kept as a souvenir by the Flag Officer, Arthur Baker, at Longcross Church; she suffered damage to her superstructure and rigging and was holed by one hit below the waterline which flooded two coal bunkers. After repairs at Malta, the ship returned to take part in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March 1915. Later she bombarded Ottoman field batteries on 6 May 1915 prior to the Second Battle of Krithia.

Lord Nelson relieved the battleship Queen Elizabeth as flagship of the British Dardanelles Squadron on 12 May 1915, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Rosslyn Erskine-Wemyss. On 20 June 1915, she bombarded docks and shipping at Gallipoli, aided by the spotting of a kite balloon, and inflicted significant damage. Lord Kitchener made his headquarters aboard her in November 1915 and, on 22 December 1915, Lord Nelson hoisted the flag of Vice Admiral John de Roebeck when he succeeded Wemyss.

Mediterranean operations, 1916-1918
With the end of the Dardanelles Campaign in January 1916, during which Lord Nelson had suffered no casualties, British naval forces in the area were reorganized and Lord Nelson became flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was redesignated the Aegean Squadron in August 1917; under either name, the squadron was dispersed throughout the area to protect Allied-held islands, support the British Army at Salonika, and guard against any attempted breakout from the Dardanelles by the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau. Lord Nelson spent the remainder of the war based at Salonika and Mudros, alternating between the two bases with her sister ship HMS Agamemnon (1906); the ship was based mostly at Salonika, with Agamemnon at Mudros.

According to naval historian Ian Buxton, the most important role of the Royal Navy was to blockade the Dardanelles and thus guard the Eastern Mediterranean against a breakout by Goeben. On 12 January 1918, Rear-Admiral Arthur Hayes-Sadler hoisted his flag aboard Lord Nelson at Mudros as the new commander of the Aegean Squadron. Needing transportation to Salonika for a conference with the British Army commander there, and finding his personal yacht unavailable, Hayes-Sadler opted to have Lord Nelson take him there, and thus she was not present when Goeben and Breslau finally made their breakout attempt on 20 January 1918. The ship could not get back to the Dardanelles in time to participate in the resulting Battle of Imbros or intercept Goeben before she gained shelter in the Dardanelles. Lord Nelson was given a short refit at Malta in October 1918.

Post-World War I
Lord Nelson was part of the British squadron that went to Constantinople in November 1918 following the armistice with the Ottoman Empire, after which she served as flagship in the Black Sea. In April 1919, she conveyed Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Peter of Russia from the Black Sea to Genoa.

Lord Nelson returned to the United Kingdom in May 1919 and was placed in reserve until August, when she was placed on the sale list. On 4 June 1920, she was sold to Stanlee Shipbreaking Company of Dover. She was resold to Slough Trading Company on 8 November 1920, then again to German scrappers. She was towed to Germany for scrapping in January 1922.