1941 HMS R 0 B E RTS The Royal Navys World War II-vintage monitors were amongst themost curious ships in the fleet of the day, designed for but one purpose - the bombardment of shore targets with their l5in (381mm) guns.
COASTAL MONITORS
The British navy embraced the idea of coastal monitors as early as the 1860s, when the Cerberus and Magdala were constructed for the defence of Melbourne and Bombay, respectively. By the time of World War I, it had swallowed the notion whole, and commissioned no less than 30 during that conflict, some for service in rivers and estuaries, others designed for coastal operations; they kept up a continuous four year bombardment of German fortifications on the coast of Belgium, for example. By 1939, almost all had been broken up save for two ships of the Marshall Soult class and three smaller units, which saw WWII service as training and guard ships, and Erebus and Terror, which saw combat. Those two were joined during the war by two new ships, Roberts and Abercrombie. No other navy employed monitors after the end of WWI.
OUR BOBS
Named after the British Commander-in-Chief in South Africa during the Boer War, HMS Roberts was constructed by John Brown on the Clyde. Laid down at the end of April, 1940, she was launched on 1 February, 1941 and completed nine months later. She was not broken up until 1965. Her main battery - a pair of l5in (381 mm) guns mounted forward - came from the Marshall Soult, which was stripped for the purpose. Mounted high above the forecastle deck atop a barbette of 8in-thick armour plate, the turret mounting allowed the guns to elevate to thirty degrees, which gave them a range of 30,000 yards (14.8nm; 27.4Km). She had a secondary armament of eight X 4in QF AA guns and 16 X 2pdr pom-poms which later were supplemented by eight X 40mm Bofors and 20 X 20mm Oerlikons.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Coastal monitor
Machinery: 2-shaft Parsons geared turbines giving a total of 4800shp
Dimensions (overall) Length 113.8m (373.3ft); beam 27.4m (89.75ft)
Displacement: 7975t standard; 9150t deep load
Draught: 4.1m (13.5ft) deep load
