TSS Manxman (1904) - First World War : HMS Manxman

First World War : HMS Manxman

Manxman was converted for her wartime role at Chatham Dockyard. The conversion included two aircraft hangars and a flying-off deck. She was commissioned as HMS Manxman on 17 April 1916. Her operating aircraft included Sopwith Baby, Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Camel and Short Type 184.

She served with the Grand Fleet until October, 1917, and was then transferred to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Manxman lacked the speed of her fellow seaplane carriers Ben-my-Chree (III) and Viking, and she had lost her place in the entourage of the Grand Fleet because her conversion had made her just too slow. The C-in-C of the Fleet, Admiral Sir David Beatty, wrote a letter from HMS Iron Duke on January 11, 1917, in which he said that the Manxman was unfit for service with the Battle Cruiser Fleet "owing to her lack of speed". - these last six words were added in his own handwriting.

However, Manxman made one contribution to aviation history. She had introduced the Sopwith Pup single-seat fighter, and this aircraft could take off from her launching platform in only 20 feet in a 20-knot wind. The mathematics were in the fighter's favour; its wing loading was only five pounds per square foot and its power loading 16.4 pounds per horsepower; thus producing a significant power-to-weight ratio. This small machine had a Le Rhone engine of 80 hp, giving it a speed of 112 mph at sea level and 103 mph at 9,000 feet. Floatation bags were used to enable it to land alongside the Manxman, and it was then hoisted aboard.

At the war's end she arrived at Plymouth on the same day as the Viking. H.M.S. Manxman was paid off in May 1919, and released from requisition on Christmas Eve of that year.