HMS Agamemnon ( 1906 ) HMS " Agamemnon " was one of two pre - dreadnought battleship s launched in 1906 and completed in 1908 . She was the Royal Navy ' s second - to - last pre - dreadnought battleship to be built , followed by her sister ship , . She was assigned to the Channel Fleet when World War I began in 1914 . The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea with " Lord Nelson " in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign . She made a number of bombardments against Turkish fortifications and in support of British troops . " Agamemnon " remained in the Mediterranean after the conclusion of that campaign to prevent the German battlecruiser and light cruiser from breaking out into the Mediterranean . " Agamemnon " shot down the German Zeppelin " LZ85 " during a bombing mission over Salonica in 1916 . On 30 October 1918 , the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on board the ship while she was anchored at Lemnos in the northern Aegean Sea . She was converted to a radio - controlled target ship following her return to the United Kingdom in March 1919 and began service in 1921 . " Agamemnon " was replaced by at the end of 1926 and sold for scrap in January 1927 , the last pre - dreadnought in service with the Royal Navy . Construction and description . HMS " Agamemnon " was ordered in 1904 and was the first warship built by the William Beardmore and Company ' s Dalmuir Naval Construction Works . She was laid down on 15 May 1905 and launched on 23 June 1906 before the dockyards themselves were finished . Her completion was greatly delayed by labour troubles and by the diversion of the 12 - inch ( 305 mm ) guns intended for her to expedite completion of HMS " Dreadnought " , and she was not finally completed until June 1908 , six months before her sister " Lord Nelson " . " Agamemnon " displaced at deep load as built , with a length of , a beam of and a draft of . She was powered by two inverted vertical triple expansion four - cylinder steam engines , which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The ship was armed with four BL 12 - inch Mk X guns arranged in two twin gun turret s , one each fore and aft . Her secondary armament consisted of ten BL 9 . 2 - inch Mk XI guns , in twin gun turrets on each corner of the superstructure , and a single gun turret between them , plus 24 QF 12 - pounder 18 cwt guns . She also mounted five submerged 17 . 7 - inch ( 457 mm ) torpedo tubes for which 23 torpedoes were stowed aboard . " Agamemnon " had an armour belt at her waterline that was thick , as were the faces and sides of her gun turrets . Service . HMS " Agamemnon " commissioned on 25 June 1908 at Chatham Dockyard for service in the Nore Division of the Home Fleet . On 11 February 1911 , she grazed an uncharted rock in the harbour at Ferrol , Spain and damaged her bottom . She was temporarily attached in September 1913 to the 4th Battle Squadron . After the First World War began in August 1914 , " Agamemnon " was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron in the Channel Fleet and was based at Portland . With other ships , she covered the safe transport of the British Expeditionary Force , under the command of Sir John French , to France . On 14 November 1914 she transferred to Sheerness to guard the English coast against the possibility of a German invasion . She returned to Portland on 30 December 1914 and was employed in the defence of the southern ports of England and patrols of the English Channel until February 1915 . Dardanelles campaign , 1915 – 1916 . In February 1915 , " Agamemnon " was ordered to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign . She departed Portland on 9 February 1915 , and joined the British Dardanelles Squadron at Mudros on 19 February 1915 . That was the second day of the opening bombardment of the Ottoman Turkish forts guarding the entrance to the Dardanelles and the ship immediately joined the attack . She also took part in the subsequent bombardment of the inner forts later in February . " Agamemnon " was hit by seven 240 - millimetre ( 9 . 4 - inch ) shells in ten minutes on 25 February 1915 and was holed above the waterline , suffering three dead . She supported the small amphibious landings of 4 March 1915 and participated in another bombardment on 6 March 1915 . She came under heavy fire from Fort Hamidieh on 7 March 1915 , taking eight hits from large - calibre shells ; one of them , allegedly a 14 - inch ( 356 mm ) round , blew a large hole in her quarterdeck and wrecked the wardroom and the gunroom . She also took several hits by light shells that day , and , although she suffered damage to her superstructure , her fighting and steaming capabilities were not seriously impaired . The ship also participated in the main attack on the Dardanelles forts on 18 March 1915 . This time a 6 - inch ( 152 mm ) howitzer battery opened fire on " Agamemnon " and hit her 12 times in 25 minutes ; five of them hit her armour and did no damage , but the seven that hit outside her armour protection did considerable structural damage and temporarily put one of her 12 - inch ( 305 - mm ) guns out of action . On 25 April 1915 , " Agamemnon " supported the main landings as part of the 5th Squadron , and after that she patrolled to protect Allied minesweeping and netlaying vessels operating in the Dardanelles . In action against Ottoman field batteries , she took two hits between 28 April 1915 and 30 April 1915 , and she provided fire support for Allied troops during a Turkish counterattack on 1 May 1915 . " Agamemnon " bombarded Ottoman artillery batteries on 6 May 1915 prior to the Second Battle of Krithia . " Agamemnon " was withdrawn to Malta in May to undergo a refit and returned to the Dardanelles in June . On 2 December 1915 , the ship joined the protected cruiser and monitor in bombarding the Kavak bridge , destroying several spans of it and interdicting Ottoman communications to the Gallipoli Peninsula . Mediterranean operations , 1916 – 1918 . With the end of the Dardanelles Campaign in January 1916 , British naval forces in the area were reorganized , and " Agamemnon " became part of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron , which was re - designated the Aegean Squadron in August 1917 . Under both names , the squadron was dispersed throughout the area to protect Allied - held islands , support the British Army at Salonika , and guard against any attempted breakout from the Dardanelles by the German " Goeben " and " Breslau " . " Agamemnon " spent the remainder of the war based at Salonika and Mudros , alternating between the two bases with her sister " Lord Nelson " ; " Agamemnon " was based mostly at Mudros , " Lord Nelson " mostly at Salonika . While carrying out these duties , " Agamemnon " damaged the German Zeppelin " LZ85 " on 5 May 1917 at Salonika with a shell from a 12 - pounder and forced it to crash - land . Of all the responsibilities given the two ships , the most important was to guard the Eastern Mediterranean against a breakout by " Goeben " . When " Goeben " and " Breslau " finally made their breakout attempt on 20 January 1918 , " Lord Nelson " was away at Salonika and " Agamemnon " could not get steam up to depart Mudros in time to participate in the resulting Battle of Imbros ; after both German ships struck mines , " Breslau " sank and " Goeben " returned to the Dardanelles before " Agamemnon " could arrive on the scene . " Agamemnon " underwent a refit at Malta in 1918 . On 30 October 1918 the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on board " Agamemnon " while she was anchored at Lemnos in the northern Aegean Sea . Post - World War I service . " Agamemnon " was part of the British squadron that went to Constantinople in November 1918 following the armistice . She returned to the United Kingdom in March 1919 , where she paid off at Chatham Dockyard and went into reserve on 20 March 1919 . In September 1918 , the Commander - in - Chief , Grand Fleet , Admiral David Beatty , called for a large target to be provided which would allow realistic gunnery practice for the battleships of the Grand Fleet , which had seen little action since the Battle of Jutland in 1916 . Tests against armour plate in 1919 demonstrated that firing 15 - inch ( 381 mm ) guns at any pre - dreadnought would sink her quickly , but the use of a pre - dreadnought for target practice and tests by guns of 6 - inch calibre or smaller seemed practical . At first the pre - dreadnought was suggested for target duties , but ultimately " Agamemnon " became available and was selected instead . She was modified at Chatham Dockyard for use as a target ship between 6 December 1920 and 8 April 1921 . The ship was rewired for radio control and stripped ; the 12 - inch turrets remained aboard , but all of her guns and their equipment were removed , as were her torpedo equipment , flying deck , sea cabins , main derrick and boat equipment , lower conning tower , masts and yards , most of her crew amenities , and other unnecessary equipment . Unnecessary hatches , coamings , scuttles , and lifts were removed and plated over , and she was ballast ed differently than she had been as a battleship . It was not intended to sink her , so she was assigned a crew of 153 to maintain and operate her when she was not under fire . " Agamemnon " s first target service took place before her modifications were completed . On 19 March 1921 , she was exposed to a cloud of poisonous gas to determine the effect of gas on a battleship . It was found that gas could penetrate the ship via her various openings , but the ship had not been sealed against gas before the trial and no accurate results applicable to a commissioned battleship could be obtained . On 21 September , she was subjected to machine - gun fire by strafing aircraft . These trials showed that such strafing could harass a battleship , but could not impair her fighting or steaming capabilities , and helped to determine protection for bridge personnel . " Agamemnon " also was used to test the vulnerability of battleships to 6 - inch ( 152 - mm ) , 5 . 5 - inch ( 140 - mm ) , and 4 . 7 - inch ( 120 - mm ) rounds fired at her by ships such as the battlecruisers and while she maneuvered under radio control . These tests showed that ships protected as well as " Agamemnon " , such as the later dreadnoughts , would suffer damage to their upper works if struck by such shells , but would not have their steaming or fighting capability seriously impaired even by numerous smaller - caliber hits . " Agamemnon " was relieved as target ship by the dreadnought in December 1926 . By then the last British pre - dreadnought battleship in existence , she was sold to J Cashmore of Newport , South Wales on 24 January 1927 for scrap , and departed Portsmouth Dockyard on 1 March 1927 to be broken up at Newport .