HMS Raglan was a First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Abercrombie-class

Abercrombie class monitor

The Abercrombie class of monitors served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.-History:The four ships in this class came about when the contracted supplier of the main armament for the Greek battleship being built in Germany was unable to supply due to the British blockade...

 monitor.

Design

On 3 November 1914, Charles M. Schwab

Charles M. Schwab

Charles Michael Schwab was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world....

 of Bethlehem Steel

Bethlehem Steel

The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...

 offered Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

, then First Lord of the Admiralty, the use of eight 14 inches (355.6 mm)/45 cal BL MK II guns

14"/45 caliber gun

The 14"/45 caliber gun, known initially as the Mark 1, 2, 3, and 5, and later as the Mark 8, 9, 10, and 12, were the first 14-inch guns to be employed with the United States Navy. They were installed aboard the United States Navy's New York, Nevada, and Pennsylvania-class battleships as the primary...

 in twin gun turret

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

s, originally destined for the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

 . These turrets could not be delivered to the German builders, due to the British blockade. The Royal Navy immediately designed a class of monitors, designed for shore bombardment, to use the turrets.

Construction

Raglan was laid down at the Harland and Wolff

Harland and Wolff

Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....

 Ltd shipyard at Govan

Govan

Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

 on 1 December 1914. The ship was named Robert E Lee in honour of the US General Robert E Lee, however as the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 was still neutral, the ship was hurriedly renamed HMS M3 on 31 May 1915. She was then named HMS Lord Raglan on 20 June 1915 and again renamed HMS Raglan on 23 June 1915.

Career

Raglan sailed for the Dardanelles

Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign

The naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign of the First World War were mainly carried out by the Royal Navy with substantial support from the French and minor contributions from Russia and Australia. The Dardanelles Campaign began as a purely naval operation...

 in June 1915. She remained in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at Imbros

Imbros

Imbros or Imroz, officially referred to as Gökçeada since July 29, 1970 , is an island in the Aegean Sea and the largest island of Turkey, part of Çanakkale Province. It is located at the entrance of Saros Bay and is also the westernmost point of Turkey...

. On 20 January 1918, while the battleships and were absent, Raglan and other members of the Detached Squadron of the Aegean Squadron were attacked by the Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

 Yavuz Sultan Selim (formerly German battlecruiser ), the light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 Midilli (formerly German light cruiser ) and four destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s. Raglan was sunk with the loss of 127 lives. The monitor was also sunk in the same battle. Midilli and Yavuz Sultan Selim ran into a minefield; Midilli sank and Yavuz Sultan Selim was badly damaged.