page_title: HMS Ocean (1898)
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Ocean (1898)
caption_attribution_description: We have here a picture of the great battleship HMS Ocean, one of the newest and most powerful vessels in the Mediterranean Fleet (1901). Of 12950 tons displacement, steaming eighteen knots an hour, armoured over two-thirds of her length, carrying four twelve-inch guns, twelve quick-firing 100 pounders (six-inch), eighteen 12-pounders. And many smaller guns, the Ocean is one of the most powerful British battleships ever launched. Her consorts are the Canopus, Goliath, Glory. Albion, and Vengeance, all of which are practically identical with the Ocean in essential features.
context_page_description: The fourth HMS Ocean was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Ocean and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Ocean was laid down in December 1897, launched in July 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in February 1900.
  She entered service with the Mediterranean Fleet until January 1901, when she was transferred to the China Station. Ocean was recalled from China in 1905 for service with the Channel Fleet after a period spent in reserve. From 1908 to early 1910, she was again assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was assigned to the Home Fleet in 1910 and saw little activity until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.
context_section_description: The fourth HMS Ocean was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Ocean and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Ocean was laid down in December 1897, launched in July 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in February 1900.
  She entered service with the Mediterranean Fleet until January 1901, when she was transferred to the China Station. Ocean was recalled from China in 1905 for service with the Channel Fleet after a period spent in reserve. From 1908 to early 1910, she was again assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was assigned to the Home Fleet in 1910 and saw little activity until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. At the start of the conflict, she was assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron and was stationed in Ireland to support a cruiser squadron, but in October she was transferred to the East Indies Station to protect troopship convoys from India.
  In late 1914, Ocean participated in an attack on Basra before being transferred to Egypt to defend the Suez Canal. In February 1915, she was reassigned to the Dardanelles Campaign, and she took part in several attacks on the Ottoman fortifications defending the Dardanelles. On 18 March, she attempted to retrieve the battleship Irresistible after the latter had been badly damaged by a mine in Erenköy Bay, but had to abandon her salvage efforts due to heavy Turkish gunfire. She instead evacuated the surviving crew of Irresistible but struck a mine while making for the open sea. Badly damaged, her crew and the survivors of Irresistible were taken off by destroyers and Ocean left to sink in Morto Bay.
caption: HMS Ocean
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