Career
Erin was ordered by the Ottoman Empire originally under the name of Reshad, but was renamed Reshadieh during construction. She was laid down at Vickers shipyard on 6 December 1911, launched on 3 September 1913 and completed in August 1914. She was taken over for the Royal Navy on 22 August 1914 and renamed Erin. It has been claimed that the seizing of Erin, and the Sultan Osman (renamed Agincourt), was instrumental in bringing the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, but this is disputed given that the Ottomans and Germans had concluded a secret alliance on 2 August. An attempt by the British to compensate the Ottomans for the loss of their battleships was ignored.
On 5 September 1914 she joined the Grand Fleet at its principal war base at Scapa Flow in Orkney. She was briefly part of the fourth battle squadron, being transferred to the second battle squadron in October 1914. On 31 May 1916 she was present at the Battle of Jutland. After the deployment of the battle fleet the second battle squadron formed the head of the line; its first division consisted of King George V (the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir T. H. Martyn Jerram), Ajax, Centurion and Erin, which was therefore the fourth ship in the line.
She remained with the Grand Fleet for the remainder of the war, seeing no further enemy action. In October 1919 she was placed in Reserve at the Nore. From December 1919 she was used at Chatham Dockyard as a turret drill ship. In July and August 1920 she underwent a refit at Devonport Dockyard. It had been intended that under the terms of the Washington treaty of 1921 she should be retained as a training ship, but a change of plan meant that this rôle was filled by Thunderer. In May 1922 she was placed on the disposal list, on 19 December 1922 she was sold to the shipbreaking firm of Cox and Danks, and in 1923 she was broken up at Queenborough.
Read more about this topic: HMS Erin (1913)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)
“Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.”
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)