HMS Ben-my-Chree
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HMS Ben-my-Chree was a passenger ferry built in 1908 by Vickers for the England - Isle of Man route. The name means Girl of My Heart in Manx.
She was chartered by the Royal Navy on January 1, 1915 and converted to a seaplane carrier by Cammell Laird in Liverpool, England. 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. The ship was commissioned on March 23, 1915.
After a period based at Harwich, England, she was transferred in May 1915 to the Dardanelles where one of her Short 184 seaplanes (piloted by Flight Commander Charles Edmonds) made the first ever aerial torpedo attack on August 12, 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 E-14 and beached. This was followed by a successful attack on August 19 against a 5000 ton ship by Edmonds and Flight Lieutenant George Dacre.
Ben-my-Chree subsequently operated off Egypt and Aden.
She was sunk on January 11, 1917 by shore-based Turkish artillery fire whilst at anchor at Castellorizo, in the Dodecanese Islands. The hulk was salvaged for scrap in 1921.
General Characteristics
- Displacement: 3880 tons
- Length: 375 ft (114 m)
- Beam: 46 ft (14.0 m)
- Draft: 18 ft (5.5 m)
- Complement: 250
- Armament: Two 4 inch (102 mm) guns, one 6 pound (3 kg) antiaircraft gun, Up to four seaplanes
- Armour: None
- Propulsion: steam turbine, triple screw, 14 000 hp (10 MW)
- Speed: 24.5 knots (45 km/h) maximum
External link
- History of the ship, written in 1923 (http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/mf1923/p07.htm)
- Gallipoli: The Air War (http://www.iwm.org.uk/online/gallipoli/pdf_files/GallipoliAirWar.pdf)