Everything about Hms Ben-my-chree totally explained
HMS Ben-my-Chree (
manx: "Girl of My Heart") was a
Royal Navy seaplane carrier of the
First World War. She had been built as a fast passenger
ferry for the
Isle of Man Steam Packet, the third to bear her name, in 1908 by
Vickers for the
England–
Isle of Man route
As built, she'd a capacity of 2,500 passengers in two classes but she was chartered by the Royal Navy on
1 January 1915 and converted to a seaplane carrier by
Cammell Laird in
Birkenhead. A hangar occupied much of the aft part of the ship with cranes at the back for lifting the
seaplanes from the sea. A flying-off deck covered most of the forward part, and a workshop for aircraft maintenance was also added.
She was originally based at
Harwich,
England, under the command of
Commander Cecil L'Estrange Malone, where on
3 May she took part in an abortive air raid on
Norddeich using a
Sopwith Schneider to be launched from a trolley on the fore deck. The raid was abandoned because of thick
fog and the ships returned to harbour the following day. On
6 May she was accidentally rammed by the
destroyer HMS Lennox in thick fog, although damage was slight. Another attempt at raiding Nordeich was made on
11 May but was again abandoned because of several mishaps. During this raid
Ben-my-Chree attempted to launch her Schneider seaplane to attack an
airship, but the engine failed to start.
At the end of May 1915 she sailed for the
Dardanelles, where her aircraft were mainly involved
spotting for naval artillery. However one of her
Short 184 seaplanes (piloted by
Flight Commander Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds) made the first ever aerial torpedo attack on
12 August 1915. Although the 14 inch (356 mm) diameter
torpedo hit the
Turkish ship and exploded, the vessel had been previously torpedoed by the British
submarine HMS E14 and beached. This was followed by a successful attack on
19 August against a 5,000 ton ship by Edmonds and
Flight Lieutenant George Dacre.
Following the abandonment of the Gallipoli Campaign, she was transferred to
Port Said in
Egypt.
SS Uganda collided with her on
11 February 1916 and caused serious damage to
Ben-my-Chrees bows, which were temporarily repaired. Permanent repairs in dry dock took from
13 March until
26 April. Commander
Charles Samson replaced L'Estrange Malone as captain of the ship on
14 May 1916. A few days later, Lieutenant
William Wedgwood Benn, later
Secretary of State for India (1929-1931), joined the ship as an observer.
Over the next few months, she operated from Port Said and
Aden provided artillery spotting aircraft for the bombardment of
El Arish, reconnaissance around
Jaffa and
Ramleh and bombing raids.
She was sunk on
11 January 1917 by shore-based Turkish artillery fire whilst at anchor at
Castellorizo, in the
Dodecanese Islands. The hull was salvaged for scrap in 1921.
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