HMS Colossus was the lead ship of her class of two dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy at the end of the first decade of the 20th century. She spent her whole career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets, often serving as a flagship. Aside from participating in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive action of 19 August, her service during World War I generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. Colossus was the only dreadnought from the main body of the Grand Fleet to be hit during the Battle of Jutland, although she suffered only minor damage. The ship was deemed obsolete after the war and was reduced to reserve and then became a training ship. Colossus was hulked in 1923 and sold for scrap in 1928.
Design and description The design of the Colossus class was derived from that of the earlier with redistributed armour and more powerful torpedoes. Colossus had an overall length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . She displaced at normal load and at deep load. In 1911 her crew numbered 751 officers and ratings.Burt, p. 121
Colossus was powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam from eighteen Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines were rated at and were intended to give the ship a maximum speed of .Parkes, p. 519 During her full-power, eight-hour sea trials on 30 March 1911, she reached a top speed of from in a moderate storm. The Colossus-class ships carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range of at a cruising speed of .Burt, pp. 121, 124
Armament and armour The Colossus class was equipped with ten breech-loading (BL) Mark XI guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, three along the centreline and the remaining two as wing turrets. The centreline turrets were designated 'A', 'X' and 'Y', from front to rear, and the port and starboard wing turrets were 'P' and 'Q' respectively. Their secondary armament consisted of sixteen BL Mark VII guns. Ten of these were mounted in the forward superstructure and six in the aft superstructure in single mounts. Four 3-pounder () saluting guns were also carried. The ships were equipped with three 21-inch (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and another in the stern, for which 18 torpedoes were provided.
They had a waterline belt of Krupp cemented armour that was thick between the fore and aftmost barbettes that did not cover the full length of the ships. Above this was a strake of armour. The forward oblique 4-inch bulkheads connected the forward barbette to the side armour. Similarly, the aft bulkhead connected them to the rearmost barbette, although it was 8 inches thick. The three centreline barbettes were protected by armour thick above the main deck and thinned to 4 inches below it. The wing barbettes were similar except that they had 11 inches of armour on their outer faces. The gun turrets had 11-inch faces and sides with roofs.
The three armoured decks ranged in thickness from with the greater thicknesses outside the central armoured citadel. The front and sides of the conning tower were protected by 11-inch plates, although the rear and roof were 8 inches and 3 inches thick respectively. The torpedo control tower aft had 3-inch sides and a 2-inch roof. In an effort to reduce weight, the Colossus-class ships reverted to the inadequate underwater protection scheme of and their anti-torpedo bulkheads only protected the shell rooms and magazines, although they had a maximum thickness of 3 inches.
Modifications Sometime in 1912, the compass platform was extended forward to accommodate a rangefinder.Friedman, p. 115 After the start of the war in August 1914, a pair of 3-inch anti-aircraft (AA) guns were added.Burt, pp. 126–27 A fire-control director was installed on a platform below the spotting top before December 1915.Brooks, p. 168; Burt, p. 128 Approximately of additional deck armour was added after the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. Around the same time, four 4-inch guns were removed from the aft superstructure. By April 1917, Colossus was equipped with single 4-inch and 3-inch AA guns and the forward group of 4-inch guns had been enclosed in casemates. The stern torpedo tube was removed in 1917–1918 and a high-angle rangefinder was fitted on the spotting top in 1918. The AA guns were removed in 1919–1920 and some 4-inch guns were removed during her September–October 1921 refit. In addition, some machinery was removed during the refit to render her non-combat worthy in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty.Burt, pp. 127–28
Construction and career Colossus, named after the Colossus of Rhodes,Silverstone, p. 223 was the fifth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy (RN).Colledge, p. 74 The ship was ordered on 1 June 1909Burt, p. 128 and laid down at Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering at their shipyard in Greenock on 8 July. She was launched on 9 April 1910 and completed in July 1911Preston, p. 26 at the cost of £1,672,102, including her armament. The ship began trials on 28 February that lasted until July. Colossus commissioned at Devonport on 8 August and was assigned to the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet. This was redesignated as the 2nd Battle Squadron (BS) on 1 May 1912. The ship participated in the Parliamentary Naval Review on 9 July at Spithead and became the temporary flagship of the squadron while her sister ship, , was being refitted in November–December. During this time, she conducted gunnery practice off Portland at a range of , the longest shoot performed by any ship of the RN before the start of the war.Jellico, note on p. 38 Shortly afterwards, Colossus was transferred to the 1st BS. She visited Cherbourg, France, with part of the fleet in March 1913.
World War I
Between 17 and 20 July 1914, Colossus took part in a test mobilisation and fleet review as part of the British response to the July Crisis. Arriving in Portland on 25 July, she was ordered to proceed with the rest of the Home Fleet to Scapa Flow four days laterBurt, p. 130 to safeguard the fleet from a possible surprise attack by the Imperial German Navy.Massie, p. 19 While at Portland, two engineers were killed in an accident whilst coaling on 28 July. In August 1914, following the outbreak of World War I, the Home Fleet was reorganised as the Grand Fleet, and placed under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe.Preston, p. 32 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 1914, the Grand Fleet conducted a fruitless sweep in the southern half of the North Sea; Colossus 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.Jellicoe, pp. 163–65 The 1st BS cruised north-west of the Shetland Islands and conducted gunnery practice on 8–12 December. Four days later, the Grand Fleet sortied during the German raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, but failed to make contact with the High Seas Fleet. Colossus and the rest of the Grand Fleet conducted another sweep of the North Sea on 25–27 December.Jellicoe, pp. 172, 179, 183–84
Jellicoe's ships, including Colossus, 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 Colossus and the rest of the fleet did not participate in the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank the following day. On 7–10 March, the Grand Fleet conducted a sweep in the northern North Sea, during which it conducted training manoeuvres. Another such cruise took place on 16–19 March. On 11 April, the Grand Fleet conducted a patrol in the central North Sea and returned to port on 14 April; another patrol in the area took place on 17–19 April, followed by gunnery drills off Shetland on 20–21 April.Jellicoe, pp. 190, 194–96, 206, 211–12
The Grand Fleet conducted sweeps into the central North Sea on 17–19 May and 29–31 May without encountering any German vessels. During 11–14 June, the fleet conducted gunnery practice and battle exercises west of ShetlandJellicoe, pp. 217–19, 221–22 and more training off Shetland beginning on 11 July. On 2–5 September, the fleet went on another cruise in the northern end of the North Sea and conducted gunnery drills. Throughout the rest of the month, the Grand Fleet conducted numerous training exercises. The ship, together with the majority of the Grand Fleet, conducted another sweep into the North Sea from 13 to 15 October. Almost three weeks later, Colossus participated in another fleet training operation west of Orkney during 2–5 November.Jellicoe, pp. 228, 243, 246, 250, 253 Later that month, the ship became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Ernest Gaunt, commander of the 5th Division of the 1st BS.
The fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February 1916; Jellicoe had intended to use the Harwich Force 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. Another sweep began on 6 March, but had to be abandoned the following day as the weather grew too severe for the escorting destroyers. On the night of 25 March, Colossus and the rest of the fleet sailed from Scapa Flow to support Beatty's battlecruisers and other light forces raiding the German Zeppelin base at Tondern. By the time the Grand Fleet approached the area on 26 March, the British and German forces had already disengaged and a strong gale threatened the light craft, so the fleet was ordered to return to base. On 21 April, the Grand Fleet conducted a demonstration off Horns Reef to distract the Germans while the Imperial Russian Navy relaid its defensive minefields in the Baltic Sea.Jellicoe, pp. 271, 275, 279–80, 284, 286 The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and refuelled before proceeding south in response to intelligence reports that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft, but only arrived in the area after the Germans had withdrawn. On 2–4 May, the fleet conducted another demonstration off Horns Reef to keep German attention focused on the North Sea.Jellicoe, pp. 286–90
Battle of Jutland
In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the High Seas Fleet, composed of sixteen dreadnoughts, six 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.Tarrant, pp. 54–55, 57–58