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.
| Ship firing | Type of ship | Range | Firing order | Ammunition | Fired | Hits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | Cruiser | 4,750 yd (4,340 m) | First | 6 in HE shell | 16 | 7 | |
| 4 in HE shell | 66 | 22 | |||||
| Thunderer Orion |
Battleship | 9,800 yd (9,000 m) | Second | 13.5 in common shell | 40 | 17 | |
| King Edward VII | Battleship | 9,800 yd (9,000 m) | Second | 12 in common shell | 16 | 5 | |
| 9.2 in common shell | 18 | 7 | |||||
| 6 in common shell | 27 | 5 | |||||
| Neptune King George V Thunderer Vanguard |
Battleship | 8,000–10,000 yd (7,300–9,100 m) | Third | 13.5 in and 12 in common shell | 95 | 22 |
Read more about this topic: HMS Empress Of India (1891)
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