HMS Victoria (1887)

HMS Victoria was one of two Victoria class battleships of the Royal Navy. On 22 June 1893 she collided with HMS Camperdown near Tripoli, Lebanon during manoeuvres and quickly sank taking 358 crew with her, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. One of the survivors was her second-in-command, John Jellicoe, later British commander at the Battle of Jutland.

She was originally to have been named Renown, but the name was changed before launching to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee (i.e. 50 years since becoming monarch) which occurred the year that the ship was launched.

She was the first battleship to be propelled by triple expansion steam engines and also the first Royal Navy ship to be equipped with a steam turbine, which was used to power a dynamo.

The collision

The British Mediterranean Fleet was one of the most powerful in the world at the time. The Royal Navy saw the Mediterranean as a vital sea route between the United Kingdom and India, and under constant threat from the navies of France and Italy and concentrated an impressive force in it. The bulk of the fleet, eleven ironclads (eight battleships and three large cruisers), were on their annual summer exercises off Tripoli in Syria (now part of Lebanon) on 22 June 1893.

Tryon was a strict disciplinarian who believed that the best way of keeping his crews taut and efficient was by continuous fleet evolutions, which before the invention of wireless were signalled by flags, and had gained a fine reputation as a daring and highly proficient handler of his ships. A taciturn and difficult man for his subordinate officers to deal with, he deliberately avoided making his intentions known to them to train them to be adept in handling unpredictable situations.

Tryon lead one column of six ships, which formed the first division of his fleet, in his flagship Victoria travelling at 8 knots (15 km/h). His deputy, Rear-Admiral Albert Markham was in the lead ship of the second division of five ships, the 10,600 ton Camperdown. Markham's normal divisional flagship, Trafalgar was being refitted. Unusually for Tryon, he had discussed his plans for anchoring the fleet with some of his officers. The fleet were to turn inwards in succession by 180 degreess, thus closing to 400 yards (370 m) and reversing their direction of travel. After travelling a few miles in this formation the whole fleet would slow and simultaneously turn 90 degrees to port and drop their anchors for the night. The officers had observed that 1,200 yards (1100 m) was much too close and suggested that the columns should start at least 1,600 yards (1500 m) apart. Even this would leave insufficient margin for safety. Tryon had agreed to 1,600 yards (1500 m) but had later signalled for the columns to close to 1,200 yards (1100 m). Two of his officers gingerly queried whether the order was correct, and he brusquely confirmed that it was.

He ordered speed to be increased to 8.8 knotss (16 km/h) and at about 15:00 ordered a signal to be flown from Victoria to have the ships in each column turn in succession by 180 degrees inwards towards the other column so that the fleet would reverse its course. However the normal "tactical" turning circle of the ships had a radius of around 800 yards (730 m) each (and a minimum of 600 yards (550 m), although standing orders required "tactical rudder" to be used in fleet manoeuvres), so if they were less than 1,600 yards (1500 m) apart then a collision was likely.

Although some of his officers knew what Tryon was planning they did not raise an objection. Markham, at the head of the other column, was confused by the dangerous order and delayed raising the flag signal indicating that he had understood it. This precipitated another flag signal from Tryon which translated as "What are you waiting for?". Stung by this public rebuke from his commander, Markham immediately ordered his column to start turning. Various officers on the two flagships confirmed later that they had either assumed or hoped that Tryon would order some new manoeuvre at the last minute.

However the columns continued to turn towards each other and only moments before the collision did the captains of the two ships appreciate that this was not going to happen and even then waited for permission to take the action which might have prevented the collision. Captain Maurice Bourke of the Victoria asked Tryon three times for permission to order the enginess astern and only acted once he had received that permission. At the last moment Tryon shouted across to Markham "Go astern, go astern".

By the time that both captains had ordered the engines on their respective ships reversed it was too late and Camperdown's ram struck the starboard side of Victoria about 12 feet (4 m) below the waterline and penetrated nine feet (3 m) into it. Reversing the engines only had the effect of causing the ram to be withdrawn to let in more seawater before all of the watertight doors on Victoria had been closed.

With 100 square feet (9 m²) open to the sea, the forecastle deck was underwater in four minutes and five minutes later the gun ports in the large forward turret reached sea level and water started to pour through them. She capsized just thirteen minutes after the collision and sunk a few minutes later.

Camperdown herself was in serious condition with her ram nearly wrenched off and hundreds of tons of water flooded into her bows but survived, and her crew had to construct a coffer dam across the main deck to stop the flooding. The following ships had more time to take evasive action, and avoided colliding with each other in turn.

357 crew were rescued and 358 died. Tryon himself stayed on the bridge as the ship sunk and was heard to murmur "It's all my fault". It has been hypothesised that he had confused turning his ships through 90 degrees with turning them through 180 degrees when he considered how much sea room was needed. The former manoeuvre was much more common and required considerably less room.

The aftermath

The news of the accident caused a sensation and appalled the British public at a time when the Royal Navy occupied a prime position in the national consciousness.

A court-martial of the captain of Victoria, Maurice Bourke, was held on HMS Hibernia at Malta. It was established that the ship would have been in no danger had her watertight doors been closed in time.
Bourke was found blameless since the collision was due to Admiral Tryon's explicit order but carried an implied criticism of Vice-Admiral Markham by saying that "it would be fatal to the best interests of the Service to say that he was to blame for carrying out the directions of the Commander-in-Chief present in person".

There is a memorial to the crew killed in the disaster in Victoria Park, Portsmouth. It was originally erected in the town's main square, but at the request of survivors was moved to the park in 1903 where it would be better protected.

The wreck was discovered in September 2004 in 140 metres of water. Probably uniquely for a shipwreck, she stands vertically with her bow and three quarters of her length buried in the mud and her stern pointing directly upwards towards the surface. The unusual attitude of this wreck is thought to have been due to the heavy single turret forward containing the main armament coupled with the still-turning propellers driving the wreck downwards.

The 1949 comedy movie Kind Hearts and Coronets featured a satire of the accident, in which Alec Guinness plays a pompous and stupid Admiral D'Ascoyne who stands saluting on the bridge whilst his ship sinks beneath his feet. [1]

See HMS Victoria for other ships of this name.

External links

• The loss of the Victoria
• Victoria memorial in Portsmouth
• Lebanon Daily Star article on the discovery of the wreck

  References

• Andrew Gordon, The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command, John Murray.
• David Brown, Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship development 1860-1905, Chatham Publishing.
• Richard Hough, Admirals in Collision, Viking Press