Today's classic warship, HMS Resolution
"R" class battleship
Displacement. 29,150 t.
Lenght. 614'6"
Beam. 102'6"
Draft. 28'6"
Speed. 21 k.
Complement. 1146
Armament. 8 15"; 12 6"; 8 4"; various smaller AA.
HMS Resolution was laid down at the Palmers dockyard in Jarrow-on-tyne in November 1913, completed in January 1916 and was one of five "R" class battleships, the other's being Royal Oak, Royal Sovereign, Ramillies and Revenge.
She and her sister ships made up the Grand fleet's first battle squadron and were used for blockade duties in the later part of WWI . In November 1917 she supported Naval forces at action at Heligoland Bight.
After WWI in 1920 she transferred to Mediterranean fleet. In April 1929 Resolution sailed to Gallipoli after trouble flared up between the Greeks & Turks
In 1923 Resolution returned to England for refit and on 10th January 1924 while on the way back to the Mediterranean fleet, Resolution collided and sank British Submarine L24 off of Portland Bill with the lost of 43 crew. A look out on Resolution reported a disturbance on the surface ahead and at 11:13 a slight bump was felt. Resolution's chain was found to be fractured at the very bottom and was taken as evidence of a collision. It was believed L24 was unaware of Resolutions position having carried out a mock attack on another ship and surfaced directly in front of her.
In 1936 Resolution transferred to Home Fleet. During December 1939 her first roll in WWII was transporting British gold reserves to Canada and Canadian troops to Britain between the 10th and 29th December. In April 1940 she joined HMS Revenge as part of the force guarding the English channel.
In May 1940 she was sent up to Norway after the German invasion. She was deployed north of Narvik and supported the landing of French foreign legion troops at Herjangsfjord. Resolution was hit by an 250lb armor piercing bomb dropped by a JU88 while anchored off of Tjeldsundet which penetrated three decks between X and Y turrets, exploding on the Royal marine band's mess deck, killing two and injuring twenty seven. Temporary repairs were made by the crew and she remained in Norway until June 1940 when troops were evacuated.
After repairs in the UK she joined Force H at Gibraltar along with HMS Hood, and Ark Royal. On July 3rd 1940 Force H was involved in operation "Catapult" the attack on vichy French ships at Mers el kibir, in French North Africa. The French were given four options. (1) put to sea and join the British fleet. (2) sail to a French West Indian port and demilitarize. (3) Sail with a reduced crew to any British port. (4) Scuttle all ships.
Negotiations lasted most of the day, and the French fleet refused to sail out, so at 17.54, Resolution, along with HMS Hood and HMS Valiant, opened fire firing a total of 144 shells into the harbour hitting and capsizing the french battleship Bretagne with the loss of 1,012 lives. Also hit were the destroyer Mogador, and battleships Provence, and Dunkerque. The battleship Strasbourg steamed out of harbour with out releasing her moorings, ripping them from the quay and managed to escape.
On July 8th 1940 Resolution was part of a failed attempt to attack an Italian airfield at Cagliari, Sardinia. This was abandoned after they were spotted by enemy aircraft and Resolution received minor splinter damage from bombs dropped by Italian SM79 bombers.
On July 31st and August 1st 1940 she joined two cruisers and two destroyers in operation "Hurry" to provide cover for the delivery of hurricane fighters to Malta, and help in attacking Cagliari.
During September 13th-25th 1940 Resolution took part in operation "Menace", along with Ark Royal and Barham, landing British and free French troops thus occupying the French West African port of Dakar.
The force arrived off of Dakar on the 23rd, Resolution, and HMS Barham were deployed to attack the french ships including the battleship Richelieu at anchor in the port. On the 24th the attack begun, the force failed to land any troops and both Barham and Resolution failed to hit the shore batteries. Resolution took four hits off of the french shore batteries and had to retire. On the 25th she returned to continue fire and was hit by a torpedo fired by the French submarine Beveziers. She was hit on the port side in the boiler room, took a 12 1/2 degree list to port, and received extensive damage. Her speed kept dropping so finally she had to be towed by HMS Barham to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to have temporary repairs.
In March 1941, Resolution sailed to Philadelphia USA, to have major repairs carried out and was there till October 1941. Many of the crew were transferred to a US Coast Guard cutter which was renamed HMS Lulworth, given under the "lend lease" agreement, between Roosevelt & Churchill.
In October 1941 HMS Warspite arrived in America to have repairs carried out and many of her crew transferred to Resolution. Resolution sailed to Plymouth where she continued her refit in dry dock at Devonport under a camouflage net. This included extra deck armour and new radar system.
On 24th November 1941 Resolution left Plymouth for Scapa flow on the and endured a force 9 gale all the way, had working up exercises over Christmas. Whilst at Scapa flow the aircraft carrier Victorious dragged her anchor in another gale and almost collided with her, Victorious was sent out to sea to ride out the storm.
In January 1942 Resolution left Scapa flow and headed south west to meet up with a convoy of troop ships and escorted them to Cape town, with the intention of sailing to Singapore to join eastern battle squadron. She joined the 3rd Battle squadron in Columbo as flagship, along with her three remaining sister ships, Ramillies, Royal Sovereign and Revenge. (Royal Oak having been sunk by a German submarine at Scapa flow in October 1939), also Warspite, and the four carriers Illustrious, Formidable, Indomitable, and Hermes, and the cruisers Cornwall & Dorsetshire.
Admiral Sommerville, C-in-C of Eastern fleet received news on the 29th March that a Japanese fleet was planing to attack Columbo. Sommerville knew that the fleet was no match for the Japanese fleet in a daylight battle due to the fleets light anti-aircraft cover, so plans were drawn up for them to intercept at night. After night exercises the fleet set out to find the Japanese, but the fleet ran low on fuel and returned to the Maldives on the 2nd of April. After refueling Adm Sommerville was ordered not to engage the Japanese, so the British and Japanese fleets played cat and mouse around Ceylon, Sommerville always keeping out of Japanese aircraft range. On the 11th the Japanese fleet withdrew as they are low on fuel.
On the 5th of May 1943 Resolution took part in operation "Ironclad", the landing at Diego Suarez (North Madagascar). This was to occupy the Vichy French Base. After operation "Ironclad" She stayed in the Indian ocean on Convoy duties.
In October 1943, she escorted a convoy of 30,000 troops of the Australian 9th Division from the Middle East, back to Australia, this convoy included the liner Queen Mary.
In November 1943 Resolution returned to Britain and was reduced to reserve status, at Southampton and used as a training ship for new ratings. Transfered to Devonport in June 1944 and used as training for stokers, her main armament was removed to provide spares for HMS Ramillies and Warspite, who were involved in operation Neptune (Navy cover of D-day). Paid up and put on the disposal list in February 1948, she was sold to the British Iron & Steel Co Ltd. She was broken up at Faslane in Scotland on 13th of May 1948.