Pre-First World War HMS
Ocean was laid down at
Devonport Dockyard on 15 December 1897, and was the first large armoured ship built at
Devonport. She was launched on 5 July 1898, when she was christened by
Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne in the presence of the
Lords of the Admiralty. Completed in early 1900,
Ocean was commissioned at Devonport on 20 February 1900 by Captain
Assheton Curzon-Howe for service with the
Mediterranean Fleet. After a commissioning trial, she left Devonport on 13 March, and arrived at
Gibraltar four days later, where she relieved . She served in the Mediterranean Fleet until January 1901, when she was transferred to the
China Station in response to the
Boxer Uprising. Captain Richard William White was appointed in command in late August 1901. The following year she was reported to visit
Port Lazaref (on the Korean peninsula) in October 1902, but she suffered damage in a
typhoon, and then underwent a refit that lasted into 1903. When the United Kingdom and Japan ratified a treaty of alliance in 1905, the
Royal Navy reduced its China Station presence and recalled all battleships from the station. As a result,
Ocean and battleship left Hong Kong in company on 7 June 1905 and called at Singapore, where they rendezvoused with
Oceans sister ships and . The four battleships departed Singapore on 20 June 1905 and steamed home together, arriving at
Plymouth on 2 August 1905.
Ocean went into reserve at
Chatham Dockyard.
Ocean returned to full commission on 2 January 1906 to serve in the
Channel Fleet, undergoing refits at Chatham from January–March 1907 and from April–June 1908. On 2 June 1908,
Ocean recommissioned for duty in the Mediterranean Fleet, undergoing a refit at
Malta in 1908–1909, during which she received fire control equipment.
Ocean transferred to the 4th Division of the new
Home Fleet on 16 February 1910. She underwent refits at Chatham in 1910 and 1911–1912. In 1913–1914, she was stationed at
Pembroke Dock, Wales, as part of the 3rd Fleet.
First World War When the
First World War broke out,
Ocean was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron, Channel Fleet, which she joined on 14 August 1914. She was detached to
Queenstown, Ireland on 21 August to serve as
guard ship there and to support a
cruiser squadron operating in that area. In September 1914, she was ordered to relieve her sister ship
Albion on the
Cape Verde-
Canary Islands Station, but while en route was diverted, first to
Madiera and then to the
Azores. The threat of the German
East Asia Squadron and the independent cruiser , both of which were still at large, forced the Admiralty to redirect
Ocean again, to the
East Indies Station, to support cruisers on
convoy duty in the Middle East. She was joined by the
protected cruiser . From October–December 1914, she served as
flagship of the squadron in the
Persian Gulf supporting operations against
Basra. During this period, she escorted an Indian troop convoy to
Bahrain in mid-October; the convoy had departed India on 16 October, and
Ocean met the convoy at sea three days later to take over escort duties. After the convoy arrived on 3 November,
Ocean began making preparations for the attack on Basra. Numerous small craft were armed to enter the
Shatt al-Arab, the river leading to Basra. The first objective was to silence the old fortress at
Al-Faw. On 5 November, Britain declared war on the
Ottoman Empire, and the next morning,
Ocean began the bombardment of Al-Faw. A landing party of 600 men, some of whom came from
Oceans detachment of
Royal Marines, stormed the fortress and captured it, having encountered no resistance. By December 1914, the ground forces
Ocean supported had advanced to
Al-Qurnah, at the juncture of the
Euphrates and
Tigris, allowing the Admiralty to recall
Ocean for other purposes. She was accordingly stationed at
Suez, Egypt, to assist in the defence of the
Suez Canal, arriving there on 29 December. She anchored in the mouth of the southern end of the canal on 29 December and remained in that area until mid-January 1915, when she proceeded northward up the canal. On 3–4 February, she and the
armed merchant cruiser Himalaya supported ground troops against an Ottoman attack on the canal in the vicinity of El Kubri. Later on the 3rd, after the Ottoman attack at El Kubri had been defeated,
Ocean was sent to
Deversoir to provide artillery support to the garrison there, but Ottoman attacks were insignificant. By the following day, the Ottoman assault had broken down completely.
Dardanelles campaign and loss Ocean transferred to the
Dardanelles in late February 1915 to participate in the
Dardanelles campaign. On 28 February, she took part in an attempt to suppress the Ottoman defences in the Dardanelles led by Admiral
John de Robeck; the battleships
Albion and led the operation, and were tasked with neutralizing the repaired fortress at
Dardanus, while
Ocean and supported them by engaging batteries of mobile field guns that had proved to be troublesome in previous attempts to neutralise the Ottoman defences.
Ocean initially attempted to locate guns that had been active in the vicinity of
Sedd el Bahr, before moving on with
Majestic and coming under fire from several Ottoman batteries, including
howitzers around
Erenköy. The British battleships eventually silenced the guns, but only temporarily; as soon as the ships moved on to other targets, the guns opened fire again. In the meantime,
Albion and
Triumph had approached Dardanus but they came under heavy fire from Ottoman guns on the European side of the straits, including the fortress at Erenköy, and were forced to circle to avoid taking hits. Unable to engage Dardanus under these conditions, the ships instead opened fire on the guns at Erenköy, which initially seemed to be effective, as the Ottoman fire slackened.
Ocean and
Majestic approached in an attempt to attack Dardanus, but they too came under renewed, furious fire from Erenköy, and de Robeck again ordered a withdrawal. The only success came after the four battleships withdrew from the straits and a landing party from
Triumph went ashore and disabled several light guns. The inability of the British and French fleets to neutralize the mobile field guns convinced the Allied command that the only way forward would be to make a major amphibious assault to clear the guns by land. She supported the landings at Sedd el Bahr on 4 March. These consisted of two
companies of Marines, each landing at their beach.
Ocean was tasked with supporting the northern company that landed at Sedd el Bahr. The southern group, tasked with capturing the coastal town of
Kumkale, came under heavy fire as soon as they went ashore. The northern group encountered similar resistance, but
Oceans gunners, more experienced from their operations of Basra the previous year, proved to be more effective than the other ships. Nevertheless, both companies were forced to withdraw, in large part because they were too small to break through the Ottoman defences. Another bombardment followed on 6 March;
Ocean and the battleship were tasked with covering the powerful
superdreadnought battleship while she engaged the Ottoman artillery batteries. After a day's bombardment, the British sent in
minesweepers to try to clear the minefields blocking the strait, and
Ocean,
Majestic, and several
destroyers were tasked with protecting them. Despite the heavy bombardment, the Ottoman defenses were largely intact, and even concerted firing from
Ocean and other ships could not suppress the guns or their search lights. Early on 7 March, the British were forced to withdraw. On 18 March, the Anglo-French fleet mounted a major attack on the Ottoman defences;
Ocean joined ten British battleships and one
battlecruiser and four French battleships for the operation. The plan called for the battleships to enter the narrows and suppress the fortresses while minesweepers cleared paths in the Ottoman minefields. At the same time, transport ships outside the straits would conduct a
demonstration to convince the Ottomans they were going to land troops; the Entente commanders hoped this would tie down the Ottoman mobile guns. The British ships initially succeeded in inflicting heavy damage on the fortresses, but the battleship and then the battlecruiser began taking serious damage from the coastal batteries. The French battleships also began to take damage, and the battleship
Bouvet struck a mine and exploded. Later in the day, was disabled by a mine in
Erenköy Bay. Once it became apparent that the ship could not be saved, all of her surviving crew was taken off by destroyers except for her commanding officer and some volunteers trying to keep her afloat.
Ocean was sent in to tow her out, but she ran aground during the attempt, and, after freeing herself, found it impossible to take
Irresistible under tow because of the shallow water,
Irresistibles increasing
list, and heavy enemy fire.
Ocean then took off the remaining members of
Irresistibles crew and left the abandoned battleship to her fate;
Irresistible sank unobserved by Allied forces, at around 19:30. While retiring with
Irresistibles survivors aboard,
Ocean herself was hit by an artillery shell fired by
Seyit Çabuk, an Ottoman Army gunner, and struck a drifting mine at around 19:00. Her starboard coal bunkers and passageways flooded, her steering jammed hard to
port, and she took on a list of 15° to
starboard. She came under fire from shore and began taking hits, which flooded her starboard engine room and prevented steering repairs. The destroyers , , and came alongside and took off her crew (and the survivors from
Irresistible) at around 19:30. She then drifted into
Morto Bay, still under fire, and sank there unobserved by Allied forces at about 22:30. When destroyer
Jed entered the bay later that evening to sink
Ocean and
Irresistible with
torpedoes so that they could not be captured by Ottoman forces, the two battleships were nowhere to be found. ==Notes==