Ships hit during WWI

HMS Britannia

NameHMS Britannia
TypeBattleship
GRT16,350 tons (one of the largest ships hit)
Country  British
Built1906
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
OperatorRoyal Navy
History1904-06 Mediterranean Fleet; Home Fleet 1906-12, taking part in King George V's Coronation Fleet Review in June 1911. Returning to the Mediterranean she took part in the Montenegrin Blockade in 1913. After a refit in the U.K. the same year Britannia joined the 3rd B.S. which became part of the Grand Fleet in August 1914. She undertook patrols in the North Sea based in Scapa Flow and from December 1914, Rosyth . Whilst on exercises on 24 January 1915 Britannia was struck by a 12pdr shell accidentally fired by Africa. It destroyed the sailing pinnace and killed a Marine. The next day the ship ran aground on Inchkeith Island and was stuck for three days. The patrols from Rosyth or Scapa Flow continued until April 1916 when she spent three months in the Channel. From here she went to the Mediterranean spending most of the time from November 1916 to February 1917 at Taranto. Then she transferred to the South Atlantic, escorting troop convoys between Sierra Leone and Simonstown between October 1917 and July 1918. After convoys to and from Dakar in August she sailed on her last convoy on 29 October which led directly to her loss.

U-boat attacks on Battleship Britannia


DateU-boatLoss typePositionLocationRouteCargoCasualties
19 Nov 1918UB 50 (Heinrich Kukat)SunkTorpedoed 11 miles NNW of Cape Spartel (W of Gibraltar)



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