 HMS Dominion
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Dominion |
| Namesake | The Dominion of Canada |
| Ordered | 1903 Estimates |
| Builder | Vickers, Barrow |
| Laid down | 23 May 1902 |
| Launched | 25 August 1903 |
| Completed | July 1905 |
| Commissioned | 15 August 1905 |
| Decommissioned | 2 May 1918 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 9 May 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 453 ft 9 in (138.3 m) (loa) |
| Beam | 75 ft (22.9 m) |
| Draught | 25 ft 8 in (7.82 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) |
| Complement | 777 |
| Armament |
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| Armour | |
HMS Dominion was a King Edward VII-class battleship of the Royal Navy. Like all ships of the class (apart from the lead ship of the class, HMS King Edward VII) she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely the Dominion of Canada. The ship was built by Vickers; she was laid down in May 1902, was launched in August 1903, and was completed in July 1905. Armed with a battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) and four 9.2 in (234 mm) guns, she and her sister ships marked a significant advance in offensive power compared to earlier British battleship designs that did not carry the 9.2 in guns.
Commissioned in August 1905, Dominion entered service with the Atlantic Fleet but she ran aground in August 1906 in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Repairs took nearly a year, and upon completion, she was assigned to the Home Fleet. Following a reorganisation of the fleet in 1912, she and her sister ships formed the 3rd Battle Squadron, part of the Home Fleet. That year, the squadron went to the Mediterranean Sea during the First Balkan War as part of an international blockade of Montenegro. In 1913, the ship returned to British waters.
When the First World War broke out, the 3rd Battle Squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet, with Dominion conducting operations as part of the Northern Patrol. Through 1914 and 1915, the ships frequently went to sea to search for German vessels, but Dominion saw no action during this period. By the end of the year, the Grand Fleet stopped operating with the older 3rd Battle Squadron ships, and in 1916, the squadron was detached to the Nore Command. The unit subsequently dissolved in March 1918. She was a depot ship for the raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend, and, decommissioned in May, ended the war as an accommodation ship. She was sold in 1921 and eventually scrapped in 1924.