HMS Goliath (1898)

HMS Goliath (1898)

HMS Goliath was one of the six Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Royal Navy in the late 19th century. Commissioned in 1900, she served in the Far East on the China Station until 1905, at which time she joined the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1906, she was attached to the Channel Fleet. Having been mothballed prior to the outbreak of the First World War, she was returned to full commission.

Goliath took part in operations against German East Africa, participating in the blockade of the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River. From March 1915, she was part of the Dardanelles Campaign, and remained in support of the landings at Gallipoli in April. On 13 May 1915 Goliath was sunk in Morto Bay off Cape Helles by two torpedoes from the Turkish torpedo boat destroyer Muavenet-i Milliye, which was manned by a combined German and Turkish crew, taking 570 of the 700-strong crew to the bottom including her commanding officer, Captain Thomas Lawrie Shelford.