H.M.S. Canopus (1899)
Canopus, name ship of the class, under way in Victorian colours in 1904. Canopus and her sisters were designed for colonial duty and were less heavily armed and protected than their front-line sisters intended for home waters. They were equipped with high-performance Belleville boilers, an early water-tube design which was high-maintenance. Boiler trouble was to cost Canopus her greatest shot at fame, making her unable to keep up with the squadron of Adm. Christopher Cradock to which she had been assigned; designed for 18.5 kts, she was barely capable of 12 when ordered south from the West Indies to join Cradock at his Falkland Islands base. To intercept a 5-cruiser German squadron arriving from the China station, Cradock rounded the Horn after protesting his orders to the Admiralty. His squadron consisted of 2 elderly cruisers and 3 hastily converted merchant vessels manned by green crews and reservists. The German China squadron was the gunnery champion of the German fleet -- crack ships led by the powerful armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with eight 8.2-inch guns apiece. Canopus' four 12-inch guns could have been decisive in Cradock's encounter with Adm. Maximilian von Spee off Coronel, Chile on Nov. 1, 1914 -- but Canopus was tossing uselessly in rough seas 250 miles astern of the action while the Germans achieved a complete victory, blowing up Cradock's flagship, the Good Hope, with all hands and sinking the Monmouth (again with all hands) while the supporting ships fled. But Canopus' role was not completed yet. Rounding the Horn again, she put in at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic off Argentina.
There Admiral Fisher ordered her grounded in the outer harbour with her guns pointing seawards and topmasts struck to disguise her profile. The night before von Spee arrived to raid the islands, a powerful British squadron dispatched to chase him hove into port and immediately began refueling. This squadron included the dreadnought battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible, with eight 12-inch guns apiece, outclassing von Spee's firepower (sixteen 8-inch guns and twelve 5.9-inch guns total, plus numerous 5- and 6-inch on the smaller cruisers) by an overwhelming margin. When the Germans showed up early in the morning of December 8, 1914, Canopus got off the first shells at them, scoring one hit on the Gneisenau and thus guaranteeing a modest footnote in history, though it was the battlecruisers, with their 27-knot speed and unanswerable heavy guns, that chased the Germans down and sank them one by one. This was arguably the battlecruisers' finest hour.
In a fanciful book illustration published during the War, Canopus is seen heroically charging into the fray with battle flags flying. The only accurate elements in this patriotic tableau are the close spit of land and the distance to the German squadron. For the reality of the situation, rely rather on the photo above, taken at the scene at the time.
Specifications for the Canopus:
Dimensions: 421' x 74.5' x 26'2" Displacement: 13,141 tons. Armament: (4) 12"/35 Mk VIII, 2x2; (12) 6" QF in single casemates; (12) 12-pdr; (6) 3-pdr. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type. 6"/2" belt; turrets: 8" face, 2" roof; deck: 2"/1"; conning tower: 12"; barbette: 12"/10"/6". Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons of coal std, 2,300 tons maximum. Propulsion: 20 coal-fired Belleville boilers; (2) 3-cyl inverted vertical triple expansion engines developing 13,500 HP (15,400 IHP), shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 18.5 kts. Crew: 750 to 780.
A beautiful elevation rendering of HMS Canopus in her war paint, c. 1914, courtesy of the Digital Navy.com website, recommended browsing!
