HMS Marshal Soult

300px HMS Marshal Soult
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Marshal Soult
Namesake:	Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult
Builder:	Palmers, Jarrow
Launched:	24 August 1915
Commissioned:	August 1915
Fate:	Sold July 10 1946
General characteristics
Class & type:	Marshal Ney-class monitor
Displacement:	6,670 long tons (6,780 t) (standard) 6,900 long tons (7,000 t) (full load)
Length:	340 ft (100 m) (p.p.) 355 ft 7.2 in (108.387 m) (o/a)
Beam:	90 ft 3 in (27.51 m)
Draught:	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Installed power:	1,898 hp (1,415 kW) (trials) 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) (service)
Propulsion:	2 × Vickers diesel engines 2 × screws
Speed:	9 kn (10 mph; 17 km/h) (design) 6.6 kn (7.6 mph; 12.2 km/h) (trials) 6 kn (6.9 mph; 11 km/h) (service)
Capacity:	Diesel fuel: 235 short tons (213 t) (maximum)
Complement:	228
Armament:	As built: 2 × BL 15 in (380 mm)/42 cal Mk I guns 2 × QF 12-pounder (3 in (76 mm))/50 cal 18 cwt Mk I guns 1 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) anti-aircraft gun 1917: 2 × BL 15 in (380 mm)/42 cal Mk I guns 2 × QF 6 in (150 mm) MK I guns 2 × QF 12-pounder (3 in (76 mm))/50 cal 18 cwt Mk I guns 1 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) anti-aircraft gun 1918: 2 × BL 15 in (380 mm)/42 cal Mk I guns 8 × BL 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal Mk IX guns 2 × QF 3 in (76 mm) 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns 2 × 12-pounder (3 in (76 mm)) anti-aircraft guns
Armour:	Bulkheads: 4 in (10 cm) (fore and aft) Deck: 1 in (2.5 cm) (forecastle); 1.5–2 in (3.8–5.1 cm) (upper deck); 3 in (7.6 cm) (lower deck, bow); 1.5 in (3.8 cm) (lower deck, stern); 1–4 in (2.5–10.2 cm) (box citadel over magazine) Barbettes: 8 in (20 cm) Turrets: 4.5–13 in (11–33 cm) Conning tower: 6 in (150 mm); 1 in (25 mm) (navigator's position)

HMS Marshal Soult was a Royal Navy Marshal Ney-class monitor constructed in the opening years of the First World War. Laid down as M14, she was named for the French general of the Napoleonic Wars Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult. She served in both World Wars and was decommissioned in 1946.

Design

Designed for inshore operations along the sandbank strewn Belgian coastline, Marshal Soult was equipped with two massive 15-inch (380 mm) naval guns. Originally, these guns were to have been stripped from one of the battlecruisers Renown and Repulse after they were redesigned. However the guns were not ready, and guns intended for the battleship Ramillies were used instead. The diesel engines used by the ships were a constant source of technical difficulty, restricting their use.

Service

Marshal Soult performed numerous bombardment operations against German positions in Flanders, including during the First Ostend Raid in April 1918. In October 1918, she became a tender to the gunnery school HMS Excellent at Portsmouth and in March 1919 undertook a similar role at Devonport before paying off in March 1921. Recommissioned in 1924, she moved to Chatham in April 1926 as a training ship.

Her armament was removed in March 1940 and was later fitted to the new Roberts-class monitor Abercrombie, which was completed in 1943.

Fate

She served throughout the Second World War as a depot ship for trawlers at Portsmouth until being sold on 10 July 1946 and scrapped at Troon.

References

• Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
• Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5