HMS Iron Duke, Battleship, 1914

Iron Duke:
Super-Dreadnought;
Built: HM Dockyard Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK;
Laid and Launched: 1912; Commissioned: 1914; Sold for scrap: 1946;
25,401 Tons; Leingth: 622′ 9″ (189.8 m); Beam: 90′ (27.4 m); Draught: 29′ 6″ ft (9 m);
Power: 29,000 shp (22,000 kW); 4 x screw; 21.25 kn (24.5 mph; 39.4 km/h);
Range: 7,800 nmi (8,976 mi; 14,446 km) at 10 kn (11.5 mph; 18.5 km/h)
Complement: 995–1,022
Armament: 10 x 13.5″ (343 mm); 12 x 6″ (152mm); 2 x 3″ (76 mm) AA guns; 4 x 3 lb (1.4 kg); 4 x 21″ (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes;

HMS Iron Duke was a Super Dreadnought-Class Battleship ordered under the 1911 Programme and built by HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. The ship was laid down on 15th January 1912 and launched by the wife of the 4th Duke of Wellington on 12th October 1912 this being the second RN ship to carry the name. Build was completed on 9th March 1914. She served first as flagship of the Home Fleet before becoming Admiral Jellicoe’s flagship of the Grand Fleet at the start of WW I, including at the Battle of Jutland. There, she inflicted significant damage on the German battleship SMS König early in the main fleet action. After the armistice she became flagship, Mediterranean Fleet where she took part in Black Sea operations to support the White Russians. She remained on the Active List until 10th December 1931 when she was paid-off and de-militarised under the London Naval Treaty of 1930. B and Y turrets, the torpedo tubes and some of the armour plating were removed to render her unfit for combat. The ship was then deployed at Portsmouth as a Gunnery Firing Ship and after 1936 used as Boys Training ship. In August 1939 she attended the Review of the Reserve Fleet and took up her war station on 26th August for use as a Depot Ship at Scapa Flow. In October, she was badly damaged by German bombers and was run aground to avoid sinking. She continued to serve as an anti-aircraft platform for the duration of the war and was eventually refloated and broken up for scrap in the late 1940s. She was one of the last British battleships to be coal fired.