Lord Clive-class monitor

<h2 id="design">Design</h2>
The slow progress of the war led to the need for more shore bombardment ships and various schemes for using spare heavy guns were considered. Heavier guns such as 13.5-inch and 15-inch weapons had no available mountings so the main armament consisted of a single twin 12-inch (305 mm) gun turret taken from decommissioned <a href="/facts/Majestic-class_battleship/1smR2MIQ">Majestic-class</a> <a href="/facts/Pre-dreadnought/64thJkqU">pre-dreadnought</a> battleships.
The ships were ordered after the <a href="/facts/Abercrombie-class_monitor/ez2JvmFW">Abercrombie class</a> had begun building and the hull form was a near repeat of that design. Extra quick-firing artillery for protection from <a href="/facts/Destroyer/bkYL7bI8">destroyers</a> and <a href="/facts/Torpedo_boat/lPtPPLD2">torpedo boats</a> was also fitted in most ships and consisted of up to four six-inch guns.

<h2 id="ships">Ships</h2>
Construction data<table><tbody><tr><th scope="col">Ship</th><th scope="col">Namesake</th><th scope="col">Builder</th><th scope="col"><a href="/facts/Ceremonial_ship_launching/kFSJFllx">Launched</a></th><th scope="col">Service / Fate</th></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_Lord_Clive_(1915)/XIF3yeV7">Lord Clive</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Clive_of_India/lWIWPNjY">Clive of India</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Harland_%2526_Wolff/9qtDYQ1c">Harland & Wolff</a>, Belfast</td><td>June 1915</td><td>Served in the Dover monitor squadron and as a gunnery trials ship after the war. Broken up in 1927.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_General_Craufurd_(1915)/TFDTIe5A">General Craufurd</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Robert_Craufurd/8gbSWo6u">Robert Craufurd</a></td><td>Harland and Wolff, Belfast</td><td>July 1915</td><td>Served with the Dover Monitor squadron. Broken up in 1921.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_Earl_of_Peterborough_(1915)/0cgnKsI6">Earl of Peterborough</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Charles_Mordaunt%2c_3rd_Earl_of_Peterborough/0kabMeCp">Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough</a></td><td>Harland and Wolff, Belfast</td><td>August 1915</td><td>Served in the Mediterranean during World War I. Broken up in 1921.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_Sir_Thomas_Picton_(1915)/oc7HQ8Gg">Sir Thomas Picton</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Thomas_Picton/gk9tEukj">Thomas Picton</a></td><td>Harland and Wolff, Belfast</td><td>1915</td><td>Served in the Mediterranean. Broken up in 1921.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_Prince_Eugene_(1915)/VERVEXk9">Prince Eugene</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Prince_Eugene_of_Savoy/P5mvmynS">Prince Eugene of Savoy</a></td><td>Harland and Wolff, <a href="/facts/Govan/y9SeFxW3">Govan</a></td><td>September 1915</td><td>Served in the Dover Monitor Squadron. Broken up in 1921.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_Prince_Rupert_(1915)/uVup3Kbl">Prince Rupert</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Prince_Rupert_of_the_Rhine/M5SIcQPs">Prince Rupert of the Rhine</a></td><td>William Hamilton & Co, Port Glasgow</td><td>May 1915</td><td>Served in the Dover Monitor Squadron. Broken up in 1923.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_Sir_John_Moore_(1915)/Kyvjq3dk">Sir John Moore</a></td><td><a href="/facts/John_Moore_(British_Army_officer)/2omGhs4m">Sir John Moore</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Scotts_Shipbuilding_and_Engineering_Company/e8gFECyd">Scotts</a>, Greenock</td><td>May 1915</td><td rowspan="2">Served in the Dover Monitor squadron. Broken up in 1921.</td></tr><tr><td scope="row"><a href="/facts/HMS_General_Wolfe_(1915)/M47GQav3">General Wolfe</a></td><td><a href="/facts/James_Wolfe/2tFxgqYf">James Wolfe</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Palmers_Shipbuilding_and_Iron_Company/x6hv8qV5">Palmers</a>, <a href="/facts/Newcastle_upon_Tyne/vfHwdn5F">Newcastle</a></td><td>September 1915</td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2 id="18-inch-conversions">18-inch conversions</h2>

Three of the ships, HMS General Wolfe, Lord Clive and Prince Eugene, were to be converted to take the <a href="/facts/British_ordnance_terms/5d2VQDan">BL</a> <a href="/facts/BL_18_inch_Mk_I_naval_gun/7CSwecCd">18-inch guns</a> that had originally been allocated to <a href="/facts/HMS_Furious_(47)/F0Bg1f0W">HMS Furious</a>.
The guns were mounted aft, permanently arranged to fire over the starboard beam. The mounting consisted of two massive side girders parallel to the <a href="/facts/Gun_barrel/bPyBmQek">barrel</a>, between which the gun was slung. At the forward end was a support about which the gun could train in a limited arc, with a hydraulic cylinder providing ten degrees of traverse each side of the mounting center line. The gun was loaded at the fixed angle of 10 degrees, but firing was only allowed between 22 degrees and 45 degrees of elevation, to distribute the large firing forces evenly between the forward and after supports. The mounting was covered by a large non-traversing half-inch steel plate shield fixed to the deck.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a>
The enormous rounds and charges were transported to the gunhouse on a light railway fixed to the main deck. Work was completed on Lord Clive and General Wolfe but the end of <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> intervened before Prince Eugene was finished. Both of the converted ships saw action. The original 12-inch turret was left in place on them to maintain stability.
General Wolfe fired on a railway bridge at Snaeskerke, four miles (6 km) south of <a href="/facts/Ostend/uj37lppN">Ostend</a>, <a href="/facts/Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Belgium</a>, on 28 September 1918. The range of 36,000 yards (33 km) made this the greatest range at which a Royal Navy vessel has ever engaged an enemy target using guns. Lord Clive fired a mere four rounds with the replacement gun at enemy targets.
The guns used were as follows:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>

<ul><li>The gun from the rear turret of Furious was to have been fitted to Prince Eugene;</li>
<li>The gun intended for the forward turret of Furious was fitted to General Wolfe;</li>
<li>The gun fitted to Lord Clive was a spare.</li></ul>
<h2 id="citations">Citations</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lord Clive class monitor.

<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Reginald_Bacon/GMxM3Xfr">Bacon, Reginald</a> (1919). The Dover Patrol 1915–1917. (2 vols.). New York: George H. Doran Co. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/doverpatrol01bacogoog#page/n6/mode/2up">Vol. 1</a> • <a href="https://archive.org/stream/doverpatrol00bacogoog#page/n10/mode/2up">Vol. 2</a></li>
<li>Buxton, Ian (2008) [1978]. Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 (2nd Revised ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-84415-719-8.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/J._J._Colledge/8VECpWmW">Colledge, J. J.</a>; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. <a href="/facts/Ships_of_the_Royal_Navy/JkAbzhHw">Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy</a> (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-86176-281-8.</li>
<li>Crossley, Jim (2013). Monitors of the Royal Navy; How the Fleet Brought the Great Guns to Bear. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-78383-004-6.</li>
<li>Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914–1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-7110-0380-7</li>
<li>Dunn, Steve R. (2017). Securing the Narrow Sea: The Dover Patrol 1914–1918. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-84832-251-6.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Norman_Friedman/xXIfSk4w">Friedman, Norman</a> (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-84832-100-7.</li>
<li>Parkes, Oscar; Prendergast, Maurice, eds. (1969) [1919]. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012202881">Jane's Fighting Ships 1919</a>. New York: Arco Publishing Co. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-71534-716-4. <a href="/facts/OCLC_(identifier)/Yqad8waq">OCLC</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1902851">1902851</a>. Retrieved 23 December 2019. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Antony_Preston/8VpnUvMP">Preston, Antony</a> (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-85177-245-5.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Buxton, pp. 75, 226–227 <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"Britain:18"/40 (45.7 cm) Mark I". navweaps.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012. <a href="http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_18-40_mk1.htm" target="_blank">http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_18-40_mk1.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Lord Clive-class monitor open-in-new

Lord Clive-class monitor