Temeraire was named after the French 74-gun
ship of the line Téméraire that had been captured in 1759, and was the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was ordered on 30 October 1906 and was
laid down at
HM Dockyard, Devonport on 1 January 1907. She was
launched on 24 August 1907 and completed in May 1909.
Temeraire was
commissioned on 15 May 1909 and assigned to the 1st
Division of the Home Fleet under the command of
Captain Alexander Duff. She participated in combined fleet manoeuvres in June–July and was then reviewed by King
Edward VII and
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia during
Cowes Week on 31 July. Captain
Arthur Christian relieved Duff on 25 October.
Temeraire was refitted in 1911 at Devonport and then took part in the
Coronation Fleet Review for King
George V at Spithead on 24 June 1911. to safeguard the fleet from a possible
German surprise attack. In August, following the outbreak of the
First World War, the Home Fleet was reorganised as the
Grand Fleet, and placed under the command of Admiral
John Jellicoe. Most of it was briefly based (22 October to 3 November) at
Lough Swilly, Ireland, while the defences at Scapa were strengthened. On the evening of 22 November, the Grand Fleet conducted a fruitless sweep in the southern half of the
North Sea;
Temeraire stood with the main body in support of
Vice-Admiral David Beatty's
1st Battlecruiser Squadron. The fleet was back in port in Scapa Flow by 27 November. On 16 December, the Grand Fleet
sortied during the German
raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, but failed to make contact with the
High Seas Fleet.
Temeraire and the 4th BS conducted target practice north of the
Hebrides on 24 December and then rendezvoused with the rest of the Grand Fleet for another sweep of the North Sea on 25–27 December. Jellicoe's ships, including
Temeraire, conducted gunnery drills on 10–13 January 1915 west of
Orkney and
Shetland. On the evening of 23 January, the bulk of the Grand Fleet sailed in support of Beatty's battlecruisers, but they were too far away to participate in the ensuing
Battle of Dogger Bank the following day. On 8 February, Captain
Allen Hunt relieved Alexander-Sinclair. The Grand Fleet swept the central North Sea on 17–19 May and 29–31 May without encountering any German vessels.
Temeraire was refitted at Devonport in mid-1915 and rejoined the 4th BS in August. The fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February 1916; Jellicoe had intended to use the
Harwich Force of
cruisers and
destroyers to sweep the
Heligoland Bight, but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea. As a result, the operation was confined to the northern end of the sea. Hunt was relieved in his turn by Captain
Edwin Underhill on 3 March.
Battle of Jutland In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the High Seas Fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, 6
pre-dreadnoughts, and supporting ships, departed the
Jade Bight early on the morning of 31 May. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear Admiral
Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers. The Royal Navy's
Room 40 had
intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. In response the Admiralty ordered the Grand Fleet, totalling some 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers, to sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet. On 31 May,
Temeraire was the fifteenth ship from the head of the
battle line after deployment. claiming two or three hits. At 19:17, the ship fired seven salvos at the battlecruiser , but did not make any hits. About ten minutes later,
Temeraire engaged several German destroyer
flotillas with three salvos from her main armament without result. This was the last time that the ship fired her guns during the battle. She received no damage and fired a total of 72 twelve-inch shells (all
high explosive) and 50 shells from her four-inch guns during the battle.
Subsequent activity The Grand Fleet sortied on 18 August to ambush the High Seas Fleet while it advanced into the southern North Sea, but a series of miscommunications and mistakes prevented Jellicoe from intercepting the German fleet before it returned to port. Two light cruisers were sunk by German
U-boats during the operation, prompting Jellicoe to decide to not risk the major units of the fleet south of 55° 30' North due to the prevalence of German submarines and
mines. The
Admiralty concurred and stipulated that the Grand Fleet would not sortie unless the German fleet was attempting an invasion of Britain or there was a strong possibility it could be forced into an engagement under suitable conditions. The Grand Fleet sortied on the afternoon of 23 April 1918 after radio transmissions revealed that the High Seas Fleet was at sea after a failed attempt to intercept the regular British convoy to Norway. The Germans were too far ahead of the British, and no shots were fired. In October,
Temeraire and her
sister ship, , were transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, commanded by
Vice-Admiral Sir
Somerset Gough-Calthorpe. They were part of the squadron that entered the
Ottoman capital,
Constantinople, on 13 November, following the
Armistice of Mudros. A month later, Gough-Calthorpe tasked
Temeraire to provide a crew for the , which had been turned over to the Allies by the Germans after the
Armistice of 11 November. On 13 February 1919, Captain Francis Caulfeild relieved Underhill. Upon her arrival at Devonport on 23 April,
Temeraire was reduced to reserve as she was thoroughly obsolete in comparison to the latest dreadnoughts. Five months later, to the day, she recommissioned as a cadet training ship and began her first training cruise to the Mediterranean on 8 October. Upon her arrival at
Portsmouth on 11 April 1921, the ship was relieved of her duty and she sailed for
Rosyth, Scotland, four days later to be listed for disposal. She was sold to the
Stanlee Shipbreaking & Salvage Co. for scrap in late 1921 and was towed to
Dover for demolition in February 1922. ==Notes==