&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Battleship_HMS_Exmouth_-_IWM_Q_75243.jpg) Exmouth during WWI
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Exmouth |
| Namesake | Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth |
| Builder | Laird Brothers, Birkenhead |
| Laid down | 10 August 1899 |
| Launched | 31 August 1901 |
| Completed | May 1903 |
| Commissioned | 2 June 1903 |
| Decommissioned | April 1919 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 15 January 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 432 ft (132 m) (loa) |
| Beam | 75 ft 6 in (23.01 m) |
| Draught | 25 ft 9 in (7.85 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Range | 6,070 nmi (11,240 km; 6,990 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 720 |
| Armament | |
| Armour | |
HMS Exmouth was a Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, Exmouth and her sister ships were capable of steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), making them the fastest battleships in the world. The Duncan-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and they were broadly similar to the London-class battleships, though of a slightly reduced displacement and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the Canopus-class battleship. Exmouth was laid down by Laird Brothers at Birkenhead in August 1899, launched in August 1901, and completed in May 1903.
Exmouth served as a flagship for various fleets including the Mediterranean Fleet, the Channel Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet from her commissioning in 1903 until the start of the First World War in 1914. Originally she was to join the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, but this squadron was temporarily disbanded and she joined the 3rd Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow. Exmouth participated in the Northern Patrol and was then moved to the newly reformed 6th Squadron in late 1914, where she bombarded the German-occupied port at Zeebrugge in late November.
In mid-1915, the ship was transferred to the Dardanelles campaign, where she supported operations ashore. She was thereafter moved to Greece and later to the East Indies Station starting in March 1917. She performed convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean between Colombo and Bombay before returning to the United Kingdom, calling at The Cape and Sierra Leone. She arrived at Devonport in August 1917, and paid off to provide crews for antisubmarine vessels. Exmouth remained in reserve at Devonport until April 1919, and was used as an accommodation ship beginning in January 1918. She was placed on the sale list in April 1919 and sold for scrapping to Forth Shipbreaking Company on 15 January 1920.