Swiftsure Class Battleship - Ships

Ships

Swiftsure was commissioned on 21 June 1904 for service in the Home Fleet and the Channel Fleet until 1908. She collided with Triumph 3 June 1905 and suffered damage to her propellers, sternwalk and aft hull. The ship was refitted at Chatham Dockyard in June–July 1906. Swiftsure was briefly placed in reserve from 7 October 1908 to 6 April 1909 when she was recommissioned for service with the Mediterranean Fleet. The ship was reassigned to Home Fleet on 8 May 1912 until she was given a lengthy refit from September 1912 to March 1913. Swiftsure was recommissioned on 26 March and assigned as the flagship of the East Indies Station.

During World War I, the ship escorted Indian troops from Bombay to Aden from September–November 1914. She was then transferred to the Suez Canal Patrol on 1 December to help defend the Canal. From 27 January to 4 February 1915, the ship helped to defend the Canal during the First Suez Offensive by Ottoman forces. Swiftsure was then transferred to the Dardanelles on 28 February and saw action in the Dardanelles Campaign bombarding Ottoman fortifications. She was assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron for escort duties in the Atlantic in February 1916. On 11 April 1917, the ship arrived at Chatham where she was paid off and placed in reserve to provide crews for anti-submarine vessels. Swiftsure was refitted in mid-1917 and was used as an accommodation ship from February 1918. Later that year, the ship was disarmed and stripped in order to be used as a blockship during a proposed second raid on Ostend. The war ended, however, before this was carried out and she was briefly used as a target ship before she was listed for sale in March 1920. Swiftsure was sold for scrap on 18 June 1920 to the Stanlee Shipbreaking Company.

Much like Swiftsure, Triumph was commissioned on 21 June 1904 and was initially assigned to the Home Fleet, later the Channel Fleet, until 1909. On 17 September 1904 the ship was struck by SS Siren off Pembroke Dock and was only slightly damaged. The following year, she accidentally struck her sister ship and sustained damage to her bow. Triumph received a brief refit at Chatham Dockyard in October 1908 and was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 26 April 1909. The ship returned to the Home Fleet in May 1912. She was transferred to the China Station on 28 August 1913 and was placed in reserve at Hong Kong until mobilized in August 1914 at the beginning of World War I.

Triumph participated in the hunt for the East Asia Squadron and in the campaign against the German colony at Tsingtao, China until November when she began a refit at Hong Kong. The ship departed on 12 January 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She was torpedoed and sunk off Gaba Tepe by the German submarine U-21 while bombarding Ottoman fortifications in the Dardanelles on 25 May 1915.