HMS Conqueror (1911) - Service History

Service History

Conqueror was commissioned in November 1912 and was the last of the four Orion-class to be completed; together they formed the Second division of the 2nd Battle Squadron with the Home Fleet. In 1914 the 2nd Battle Squadron joined the Home Fleet, on 27 December 1914 she was rammed by the Monarch, which caused serious damage to both ships. Conqueror was given temporary repairs at both Scapa Flow and Invergordon before being fully repaired at Devonport. On completion of these repairs she rejoined the 2nd Battle squadron and the home fleet in March 1915.

At Jutland on 31 May 1916 all four of the Orions were present under the leadership of Rear Admiral Arthur Leveson flying his flag in Orion, her CO was Captain O. Backhouse, followed by: Monarch – Captain G.H. Borret, Conqueror - Captain H.H.D. Tothill and Thunderer- Captain J.A. Fergusson. It is thought that Conqueror had engine problems during the battle and was having trouble maintaining 20 knots as a signal from Admiral Jellicoe at 1717 instructed Thunderer to overtake the Conqueror if she could not maintain speed. Conqueror first came to action at 1831 when she sighted a König class battleship at 12,000 yards and fired three salvoes of 13.5”. No hits were claimed and the target rapidly disappeared in the smoke and mist. A few minutes later and the disabled German light cruiser Wiesbaden appeared; this ship had been disabled by the battle-cruiser Invincible and was then fired at by a large number of British battleships as they passed and she appeared to them out of the mist; the number of hits she took before sinking and who actually hit her was impossible to tell by the sheer number of ships which fired at her. At 1912 the Conqueror engaged the German destroyers of the 3rd. 6th. and 9th flotilla’s which were attacking with torpedoes to distract the Grand fleet and allow the German High seas fleet to escape to the south, There was also an attempt to rescue the crew of the sinking Weisbaden; Conqueror engaged with 13.5” Common percussion capped shells but again claimed no hits. This was the last action by Conqueror as the main German fleet was now fleeing south and contact was not regained. In total, Conqueror fired 57 rounds, of which 16 were armour-piercing Capped and 41 were high explosive. The Conqueror suffered no damage or casualties. Post war she was placed in lay-up and decommissioned in 1921; under the 1922 Washington naval treaties she was sold for scrap in 1922.