page_title: HMS Hibernia (1905)
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Hibernia (1905) / Service history / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: THE AIR-RAID ON GERMAN WAR-SHIPS OFF CUXHAVEN: BRITISH SEA-PLANES, SISTERS TO THOSE WHICH TOOK PART IN THE BRILLIANT EXPLOIT. Note: All three images show a Short S.27 generic type, aircraft number S.38; the third image shows it being hoisted onto HMS Hibernia at Weymouth, May 1912.
context_page_description: HMS Hibernia was a King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship of Britain's Royal Navy. Like all ships of the class she was named after an important part of the British Empire, namely Ireland. The ship was built by Devonport Dockyard; she was laid down in January 1904, was launched in June 1905, and was completed in December 1906. Armed with a battery of four 12-inch and four 9.2 in guns, she and her sister ships marked a significant advance in offensive power compared to earlier British battleship designs that did not carry the 9.2 in guns.
  Commissioned in early 1907, Hibernia served as the flagship of the Rear Admirals of firstly the Atlantic Fleet and then the Channel Fleet. When the latter fleet was reorganised to the Home Fleet, she was based at the Nore. In 1912, Hibernia hosted trials in naval aviation with the temporary addition of a runway to her foredeck, and the first launch of an aircraft from a vessel underway was achieved from her in early May. Later in 1912, after her experiment with aviation was completed, she and her sister ships formed the 3rd Battle Squadron.
context_section_description: HMS Hibernia was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 6 January 1904, launched on 17 June 1905, and completed in December 1906. She was the last of the eight King Edward VII-class battleships to be completed. Hibernia was commissioned on 2 January 1907 at Devonport Dockyard for service as flagship of the Rear-Admiral, Atlantic Fleet. She transferred to the Channel Fleet for service as Flagship, Rear-Admiral on 27 February 1907. During this period, William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, served as her executive officer. In January 1909 she became Flagship, Vice-Admiral commanding. Under a fleet reorganisation on 24 March, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division, Home Fleet, and Hibernia became a Home Fleet unit in that division. On 14 July 1910 she was rammed by the barque Loch Trool just after the latter had collided with the battleship Britannia, but Hibernia suffered no noteworthy damage. In January 1912, she was relieved in the Second Division by battleship Orion and was reduced to a nucleus crew in the Third Division at the Nore.
  In January 1912, aviation experiments began at Sheerness aboard the battleship Africa, during which the first British launch of an aeroplane – the Short Improved S.27 biplane "S.38" (or "RNAS No. 2") flown by Commander Charles Samson – from a ship took place. Africa transferred her flying-off equipment, including a runway constructed over her foredeck above her forward 12-inch turret and stretching from her bridge to her bows, to Hibernia in May, and Hibernia hosted further experiments. Among these was the first launch of an aeroplane from a warship underway; Commander Samson, again flying "S.38," became the first man to do so. Sources differ on whether the date of the flight was 2 May, 4 May, or 9 May.
  Samson took off from Hibernia while the ship steamed at 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) at the Royal Fleet Review in Weymouth Bay, England. During the fleet review, King George V witnessed a number of flights at Portland over a period of four days. Hibernia then transferred her aviation equipment to battleship London. Based on the experiments, the Royal Navy concluded that aircraft were useful aboard ship for spotting and other purposes, but that interference with the firing of guns caused by the runway built over the foredeck and the danger and impracticality of recovering seaplanes that alighted in the water in anything but calm weather more than offset the desirability of having aeroplanes aboard. However, shipboard naval aviation had begun in the Royal Navy, and would become a major part of fleet operations by 1917.
  Under a fleet reorganisation in May, Hibernia and all seven of her sisters (Africa, Britannia, Commonwealth, Dominion, Hindustan, King Edward VII, and Zealandia) were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, which was part of the First Fleet, Home Fleet. Hibernia returned to full commission on 14 May for service as Second Flagship, Rear-Admiral, of the squadron. The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean in November because of the First Balkan War (October 1912 – May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in 1913 and rejoined the Home Fleet on 27 June.
caption: Collage depicting Commander Charles Samson's Short Improved S.27 aircraft being towed to and then hoisted aboard Hibernia
exif: {}