Career
Laid down:	1913-11-12
Launched:	1916-09-12
Commissioned:	1917-09-01
Fate:	Scrapped 1949
General Characteristics
Displacement:	28,000 tons standard 31,200 tons max
Length:	624 ft (190 m)
Beam:	88 ft (27 m), later expanded to 102 ft (31.1 m)
Draught:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Armament:	Eight 15 inch (380 mm) guns in twin turrets Fourteen 6 inch (200 mm) guns in single casemates Two 3 inch (80 mm) guns in single mountings Four 47 mm guns in single mountings Four 21 inch (530 mm) submerged torpedo tubes
Propulsion:	Steam turbines, eighteen boilers, four shafts, 40,000 hp (30 MW)
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h)
Complement:	997–1,146

HMS Ramillies (pennant number 07) was a Revenge-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after the Battle of Ramillies.

Construction and Launch

Ramillies was built by William Beardmore and Company at Dailmuir in Scotland. She was launched on 1916-09-12 and commissioned on 1917-09-01 , too too late to see active service in World War I.

World War Two

Unlike the ships of the Queen Elizabeth class, the Revenge had no extensive modernization between the wars and so was semi-obsolete when World War II broke out. At times Ramillies could make little more than 18 knots.

Nonetheless, she gave useful service, doing everything from convoy escort to shore bombardment. Ramillies illustrated the value of an old capital ship for its deterrent value, making technically superior enemy ships decide not to attack for fear of sustaining damage.

In the early part of the war Ramillies served in various places, including a stint in the Indian Ocean, when HRH Prince Philip was a crew member. After the entrance of Italy, Ramillies served in the Mediterranean, participating in convoy duty and bombarding the Italian occupied port of Bardia in Libya on 18 August 1940.

Battle of Cape Spartivento

The Ramillies and the old battlecruiser HMS Renown along with accompanying cruisers and destroyers formed a Royal Navy escort for a Malta bound convoy on 27 November, 1940 when a strong Italian Naval force approached. It was centered around the new and powerful battleship Vittorio Veneto and the modernized battleship Giulio Cesare. This was a dangerous situation for the British. Certainly if the Ramillies had not been present, the Italians would have secured a major victory. As it was the old battlewagon had the opportunity to fire off only one salvo before the speed of the battle took the action away from her. Certainly her presence deterred the Italians from pressing home their attack. The engagement was called the Battle of Cape Spartivento.

The North Atlantic and Bismarck

The Ramillies was on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic Ocean, when on 8 February, 1941 the two new German battlecruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisnau , appeared over the horizon. The presence of Ramillies was sufficient to deter an attack. It would have been touch and go should they have decided to press home, as they were much faster and outgunned the old ship. But they were under orders from Hitler not to attack capital ships and risk damage.

Ramillies was on convoy duty when the new German battleship Bismarck broke out into the North Atlantic after sinking HMS Hood, Britain's largest warship. Ramillies was southwest of Bismarck, and if Bismarck had continued its raid, Ramillies was all that the Royal Navy had to stop it from ravaging the sealanes off North America. It was a good thing that the old ship was not put to this test.

Indian Ocean

In May 1942 Ramillies was sent to the Indian Ocean to cover the Allied invasion of Madagascar. On 1942-05-29 , a reconnaissance plane from the Japanese submarine I-10 spotted Ramillies at anchor in Diego Suarez harbour. Ramillies changed berth after the plane was seen. However, the Japanese submarines I-16 and I-20 launched two midget submarines, one of which, commanded by Lieutenant Saburo Akieda, managed to penetrate the harbour and to fire its two torpedoes. The first torpedo severely damaged Ramillies at about 20:25; the second sank the oil tanker British Loyalty at 21:20. Lieutenant Akieda came under depth charge attack from the corvettes Genista and Thyme but managed to beach his submarine and flee inland with Petty Officer Masami Takemoto. Both were killed in a firefight with Royal Marines three days later.

Ramillies was reported sunk by the Japanese, but in fact was merely severely damaged. She was towed to Durban for temporary repairs, then in August 1942 she returned to Plymouth under her own steam and was back in service in June 1943.

D Day and the South of France

On 6 June 1944 Ramillies provided fire support for the Normandy Landings. She bagan by opening fire on a German 6" battery on the coast, knocking out four of the six guns in the first 80 minutes and keeping the attention of the rest, allowing landing craft to proceed unmolested. By evening she accounted for the other two guns.

During the course of the first day she repelled an attack by two German destroyers which fired five torpedos at her, all missing. She also drove off a pack of E boats with her secondary 6" and 4" inch guns. That evening she returned to Portsmouth and reammunitioned the next day. She was back off Normandy on 8 June, 1944 and knocked out another 6" battery.

On 9 June Ramillies, directed by forward observation posts, fired on German tanks, guns, infantry concentrations and motor vehicles with great success, breaking up German units before they could launch counterattacks. She also beat off an attack by German motor torpedo boats .

On 10 June,she hit enemy railway marshalling yards near Caen, many miles inland.

On 11 June, 1944, Ramillies hit a concentration of 200 enemy tanks, inflicting great damage. That night she bombarded more railway marshalling yards.

Finis

She was sold in 1946 and scrapped in 1949.

See HMS Ramillies for details of other ships by this name.