- Yes
- No
- Tech Tree
- Event/Gift
- Squadron
- Premium
- Indifferent
- I don’t want to see it added
HMS Ramillies
As Outfitted in 1945
HMS Ramillies at Greenrock, 1944. Of note are jammers installed aft of the main mast to jam incoming radio guided bombs.
Background
HMS Ramillies was the fifth ship of the Revenge-class of battleships. She was laid down on the 12st of November, 1913, launched on the 12th of June, 1916, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on the 1st of September, 1917. Her motto, “Fiel pero desdichado,” is Latin for “Faithful but unfortunate.”
As the last ship of her class, she was host to a new innovation; she was the first battleship to be fitted with a torpedo bulge. She would also be extensively modernized during the interwar years. By 1939, the start of WW2, she would be fitted with two HACS directors, an RDF suite, and the torpedo tubes would be removed. The torpedo bulges would be modernized and replaced by either better ones or internal protection by then, due to the developments in torpedoes, particularly in Japan. Indeed, it was these bulges that would save Ramillies when she was hit by a torpedo from a Japanese midget submarine in 1943.
Unlike her sisters, HMS Ramillies did not see action in WW1, due to the conservative strategies employed by both the British and German fleets by that time. She participated in actions in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Pacific Theaters of WW2. She was reduced to reserve on the 1st of January, 1945, and scrapped in 1949.
Service History
During construction of Ramillies, the decision was made to fit her with torpedo bulges, as a test, since she was the least-complete of her class.
During her launch, she struck the slipway and damaged her hull and rudders, and she had to be towed to Liverpool. After being repaired, she ran aground and once again had to be repaired. These accidents caused her to be completed far later than her sisters, entering service with the Grand Fleet in September, 1917.
Extensive sea trials were conducted to measure the effects of the then-experimental torpedo bulges, and when they were deemed to be satisfactory, the bulges were also installed on the rest of the Revenge-class ships.
Due to policy change regarding fleet action during 1917, Ramillies, would not see action in WW1, instead remaining a fleet-in-being. She and the Grand Fleet sortied once, on the 24th of April, 1918, to intercept the damaged SMS Moltke, but the two sides did not meet. Following the end of the war in November of 1918, Ramillies would assist in escorting the High Seas Fleet to internment in Scapa Flow.
In April, 1919, Ramillies and her sisters were transferred to the Atlantic Fleet, still as part of 1st Battle Squadron. In early 1920, the sisters were attached to the Mediterranean fleet, as part of Britain’s response to the Greco-Turkish War and the Russian Civil War.
On the 16th of March, 1920, Ramillies, and her sisters Revenge, Royal Oak, and Royal Sovereign, landed Royal Marines to assist in the Occupation of Constantinople. In early April, Ramillies and Revenge were sent to Georgia, as Bolshevik troops approached the country. In mid-June, the two would bombard Turkish Nationalist troops advancing on Ismid, with Ramillies expending 46 fifteen-inch shells and 657 six-inch shells. They also landed more Royal Marines to assist the defending British garrison, and sailors from Ramillies boarded the battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim to prepare her to be towed away from Ismid. Later, Ramillies and Revenge, joined by Royal Sovereign, provided cover fire for the landings in Eastern Thrace, during the Greek Summer Offensive.
The ships would return to the Atlantic Fleet in August. Ramillies and three of her sisters returned to the Mediterranean Fleet in September, 1922, during the crisis in Smyrna, culminating in the Great Fire of Smyrna and the end of the Greco-Turkish War. By November, the ships returned to the Atlantic Fleet.
In 1924, Ramillies underwent a minor refit, before being decommissioned for a major refit in 1926. During this refit, her bulge was extended above the waterline, and more 4-inch AA guns were added.
Following her refit, she would participate in various exercises. She would visit Jaffa, in Mandatory Palestine, during the 1929 riots. She then steamed to Alexandria in 1930, again in response to riots.
She was refitted once more in 1932, which lasted until 1934. During this refit, the HACS, a pair of octuple Pom-Pom mounts, and a quadruple mount Vickers .50 were added, and the aft torpedo tubes were removed. In July, 1935, Ramillies attended the fleet review to mark King George V’s silver jubilee. During a gale in the Strait of Dover, in August, Ramillies accidentally collied with a German steamship, lightly damaging her bow.
HMS Ramillies leading a convoy of cruisers, 1930s.
Beginning in 1936, she would be a training ship, attending the Coronation Review for King George VI in May, 1937. In July, 1938, the ship underwent another refit, adding replacing some AA guns with twin mounts, losing the torpedo tubes, and gaining a Radio Direction Finding center. In February, 1939, her refit would complete and she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was transferred back to the Home Fleet in July, attending a Fleet Review in August, before being sent to Alexandria, where she was at the start of the Second World War.
Upon the outbreak of war, Ramillies replaced the battleship HMS Malaya in the Mediterranean Fleet, but was then sent to Aden as part of the hunt for the cruiser KMS Admiral Graf Spee. She was then sent to New Zealand, stopping in Australia along the way, for convoy escort. She arrived in Wellington on the 31st of December, 1939, being the first battleship to visit New Zealand. Her captain was gifted with a Māori piupiu, or warrior skirt, as had been gifted to the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand in 1913. The piupiu was said to ward harm away from the ship, provided the piupiu was worn while the ship was in danger; and during the Battle of Jutland, New Zealand would become known as a “lucky ship,” with no casualties and only being hit once, which the sailors attributed to the captain wearing the piupiu.
Ramillies escorted the convoy carrying the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, joined by the Second Australian Imperial Force, back to Aden, before returning to Australia. As the Graf Spee had never entered the Indian Ocean, Ramillies was transferred back to the Mediterranean as tensions with Italy began to rise.
Following the Italian declaration of war on the 10th of June, the British fleet began operations against the Italians in the Mediterranean. In July, after the surrender of France, the captain of Ramillies convinced the captain of MN Lorraine to disarm, as Lorraine was docked in Alexandria Harbor at that time. On the 15th of August, Ramillies, along with Malaya, Warspite, and the heavy cruiser Kent, bombarded the port of Bardia, and the nearby Fort Capuzzo. In October, the ships escorted a convoy to Malta without incident. In early November, Ramillies was attacked by the submarine RN Pier Capponi, with no damage. Ramillies then escorted the carrier Illustrious during the November 11th Raid on Taranto, so successful that the battleship was reallocated to the North Atlantic Escort Force. She was present during the Battle of Cape Spartivento, but did not see action. She then returned with a convoy to Scotland, before proceeding to Devonport for repairs.
Following this, she returned to convoy escort duties. She was escorting convoy HX 106, which encountered the convoy raiders KMS Scharnhorst and KMS Gneisenau. The German battleships, under orders to avoid fights with any capital ships, did not attack the convoy upon realizing Ramillies was among the escorts. In May, she was detached from a different convoy to join the hunt for KMS Bismarck, but did not encounter the ship. She then returned to Liverpool for a lengthy refit.
In October, 1941, she was transferred to 3rd Battle Squadron, along with her surviving sisters. The squadron was to be based in Ceylon. With the start of the Pacific War in December, 1941, naval forces in the Indian Ocean were necessary to protect British India. By the end of March, 1942, the Eastern Fleet had been formed. Most of the Eastern Fleet’s ships were not frontline combatants anymore, and so despite being numerically superior, the fleet was judged as weaker than the Kido Butai. Only the modernized Warspite, also present, could operate with the two fleet carriers of the fleet; the four ships of the Revenge-class were too slow for this, and so they were to operate with the light carrier HMS Hermes. The fleet, split into two forces, attempted to counterattack the Japanese during the Indian Ocean Raid, but was unable to find the Japanese fleet and so did not engage. Following the raid, the Revenges were relocated to Mombasa, Kenya, where they were based through 1943.
In late April, 1942, Ramillies was selected to be part of the Invasion of Madagascar. On the 6th of May, the battleship ferried a party of 50 Royal Marines ashore, and the next day bombarded a shore battery. She remained off of Madagascar, and on the 30th of May, she was struck by a torpedo from a Japanese midget submarine, from the submarine IJN I-16 or IJN I-20. Ramillies was hit just forward of the ‘A’ turret, on the port side, blowing a hole in the hull and causing extensive flooding. Prompt counterflooding by the damage control teams prevented further listing, and main gun ammo was removed from the ship to save weight. Despite this damage, she was able to steam to Durban, South Africa, at a speed of 9-10kts, for repairs. She underwent temporary repairs in Durban before steaming to Devonport for more permanent fixes.
Ramillies was back in service by July, 1943, returning to the Eastern Fleet in July. By July, 1943, Ramillies was the only battleship on station with the Eastern Fleet. In December of 1943, she left the fleet to return to Britain in preparation for Operation Overlord. As part of the preparations, Ramillies would be the only Revenge-class ship equipped with the Type 650 jamming system.
In 1944, Ramillies was assigned to Bombardment Force D, along with Warspite, the monitor HMS Roberts, and several destroyers and cruisers. Bombardment Force D operated to the east of Sword Beach. The force joined the main fleet on the morning of June 6th. Warspite opened fire at 5:30, the first shots of D-Day, quickly followed by Ramillies, targeting a battery at Benerville-sur-Mer. Shortly afterwards, three German torpedo boats sortied from Le Harve, and despite enduring fire from a large portion of the fleet, launched 15 torpedoes towards Warspite and Ramillies, at long range. The torpedoes passed between the battleships and struck the Norwegian-manned destroyer HNoMS Svenner, which sank.
Ramillies would remain off of Normandy for the next week, and over the course of her time off of Normandy fired 1,006 shells from her main guns, necessitating the guns be replaced, and the ship returned to Portsmouth for repairs.
In July, 1944, she would sail to the Mediterranean to take part in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, joining the battleships USS Arkansas, USS Texas, USS Nevada, and the Free French battleship MN Lorraine. Bombardments were carried out between the 15th and 28th of August, primarily engaging forts in the area. On the 17th, aided by spotting aircraft from USS Quincy, Ramillies scored six direct hits on a fort on the island of Port-Cros. Ramillies would continue bombarding the area until the 28th, and was released from the area on the 29th of August.
On the 31st of January, 1945, Ramillies was reduced to reserve in Portsmouth. Following the German surrender in May, she would be partially disarmed, and reduced to a training ship. In 1947, she was placed on the disposal list and was sold for scrap in 1948.
One of Ramillies’s guns was preserved. It was mounted on the ship in 1916, and was not removed until 1941, whereupon it was placed into storage. It is now on display in front of the Imperial War Museum, along with a second gun from Roberts.
Specifications
1945
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Displacement | 35,390 tons (full load) |
| Length | 620ft 7in (189.2m) |
| Beam | 102ft 6in (31.1m) |
| Draft | 29ft 6in (9m) |
| Speed | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
| Complement | ~1,240 officers and enlisted |
| Sensors | |
|---|---|
| Type 273 | Sea Search/Air Warning |
| Type 279 | Air Warning/Ranging |
| Type 284B | Fire Control (Main Battery) |
| Type 285 | Fire Control (Secondary Battery) |
| Type 282 | Fire Control (AA Battery) |
| HACS Mk III | AA Fire Control |
| Type 650 | ECM/Radio Jamming |
| Gun | Turret/Mount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 8 × 15"(381mm)/42 BL Mk I | 4 × Mk I Twin | |
| 8 x 6"(152mm)/45 BL Mk XII | 8 x Single | Casemate guns, originally 14 |
| 12 (+ 2) × 4"(102mm)/45 QF Mk XVI | 4 × Mk XIX Twin, 4 (+ 2) x Single | + 2 comes from if the two fitted at commissioning were never removed, I cannot confirm if they were/weren’t |
| 24 x QF 2pdr (40/39mm) Pom-Pom Mk VIII | 2 x Mk V Octuple, 2 x Mk VII*P Quad | Octuple mountings abreast funnel, Quad mountings on top of ‘B’ and ‘X’ turrets |
| 43 × 20mm/70 Oerlikon Mk I/II | 10 x Mk V Twin, 23 x Mk II Single | Mounting locations unknown |
| 15" (381mm) Ammunition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designation | Mass | Bursting Charge | Muzzle Velocity | Notes | |
| APC Mk XXIIb (6crh) | 1,938lbs (879kg) | 48.5lbs (22kg) Shellite | 2,638f/s (804m/s) | Supercharged, with increased muzzle velocity, as Ramillies did not receive the upgraded turrets | |
| APC Mk XVIIb (6crh) | 1,938lbs (879kg) | 48.5lbs (22kg) Shellite | 2,458f/s (749m/s) | Unknown difference between Mk XVIIb (not supercharged) and Mk XXIIb | |
| APC Mk XIIIa (4crh) | 1,938lbs (879kg) | 48.5lbs (22kg) Shellite | 2,467f/s (752m/s) | ||
| CPC (4crh) | 1,920lbs (871kg) | 129.3lbs (58.6kg) TNT | 2,467f/s (752m/s) | ||
| HE Mk VIIIb (6crh) | 1,938lbs (879kg) | 130lbs (59kg) TNT | 2,458f/s (749m/s) |
| Armor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Belt | 13" (330mm) | |
| Deck | 1-4" (25-102mm) | |
| Turrets | 11-13" (279-330mm) | |
| Barbettes | 6-10" (152-254mm) | |
| Conning Tower | 3-11" (76-279mm) | |
| Bulkheads | 6" (152mm) |
Conclusion
I think that HMS Ramillies would be a good addition, alongside a modernized Queen Elizabeth-class ship. Her late-war AA fit means that she would be deadly to any planes that come close, and have the potential to hit enemy ships with supercharged shells; provided to the Revenge-class, as they were not fitted with the Mk I/N turrets. Although she is a sidegrade to Queen Elizabeth, I think Ramillies still nonetheless deserves a spot in the game, to be a good supporting ship to any Queen Elizabeth-class.
Sources
Wikipedia - HMS Ramillies (07)
Wikipedia - Revenge-class Battleship
Naval-Encyclopedia - Revenge-class Battleships
UBoat - HMS Ramillies
NavWeaps - BL 15-inch Mk I
Navweaps - BL 6-inch Mk XII
NavWeaps - QF 4-inch Mk XVI
NavWeaps - 2pdr QF Mk VIII
Navweaps - 20mm Oerlikon Mk I/II
Wikipedia - BL 15-inch Mk I
Wikipedia - List of WW2 British Naval Radar