HMS Duncan (1901)

HMS Duncan (1901)

HMS Duncan was the lead ship of the six-ship Duncan class of Royal Navy predreadnought battleships. Commissioned in 1903, she served with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1905, at which she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. Damaged in a collision with HMS Albion in late 1905, she was damaged again when she ran aground off Lundy Island. After a further stint with the Mediterranean Fleet, in 1913 she was assigned to the 6th Battle Squadron and based at Portsmouth, where she served as a gunnery training ship.

Duncan was being refitted when World War I broke out. When the refit was completed, she conducted operations as part of the Northern Patrol, and served with her sister ships in the Channel Fleet. She left the squadron in February 1915 for a further refit after which she was assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron on the Finisterre-Azores-Madeira Station. In late 1915, she returned once again to the Mediterranean, conducting operations in support of the Italian Navy and then against Greek royalists. From 1917, she spent the remainder of the war in England waters as a reserve ship and was decommissioned in 1919.