Empress in 1918
|
|
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name: | SS Empress |
Owner: | South East and Chatham Railway |
Builder: | William Denny and Brothers Dumbarton |
Laid down: | 1906 |
Launched: | 13 April 1907 |
Completed: | 1907 |
Fate: | Leased to Royal Navy, August 1914 |
United Kingdom | |
Name: | HMS Empress |
Acquired: | 11 August 1914 |
Commissioned: | 25 August 1914 |
Out of service: | November 1919 |
Fate: | Returned to owners, November 1919 |
United Kingdom | |
Name: | SS Empress |
Owner: | South East and Chatham Railway/Southern Railway |
Acquired: | November 1919 |
Fate: | Sold, 1923 |
France | |
Name: | SS Empress |
Owner: | Société Anoynyme de Gérance et d'Armament |
Acquired: | 1923 |
Fate: | Scrapped, 1933 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Seaplane carrier |
Tonnage: | 1,694 gross register tons (GRT) |
Displacement: | 2,540 long tons (2,580 t) |
Length: | 323 ft (98.5 m) |
Beam: | 41 ft (12.5 m) |
Draught: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
Installed power: |
|
Propulsion: |
|
Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range: | 1,355 nmi (2,509 km; 1,559 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement: | about 200 |
Armament: |
|
Aircraft carried: | 3–4 × seaplanes |
HMS Empress was a seaplane carrier of the Royal Navy (RN) that served during World War I. Converted from the Cross-Channel packet ship Empress, the ship's aircraft conducted aerial reconnaissance, observation and bombing missions in the North Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. During the last year of the war, she conducted anti-submarine patrols in the Mediterranean. Empress was returned to her owners in 1919 and was then sold to a French company in 1923. She was scrapped in 1933.
Empress had an overall length of 323 feet (98.5 m), a beam of 41 feet (12.5 m), and a draught of 15 feet (4.6 m). She displaced 2,540 long tons (2,580 t) and was rated at 1,694 gross register tons (GRT). Each of the ship's three sets of direct-drive steam turbines drove one propeller shaft. The ship's six boilers generated enough steam to produce 8,800 shaft horsepower (6,600 kW) from the turbines. The ship had a designed speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), but she made a speed of 22.26 knots (41.23 km/h; 25.62 mph) during her sea trials with 8,872 shaft horsepower (6,616 kW).Empress carried 425 tonnes (418 long tons) of coal, enough to give her a range of 1,355 nautical miles (2,509 km; 1,559 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).