HMS Lord Nelson (1906)
HMS Lord Nelson was one of the Royal Navy’s last pre-dreadnought battleships. Built by Palmers at Jarrow, she was launched in September 1906 and completed in 1908. Together with her sister ship, HMS Agamemnon, she formed the Lord Nelson class.
Her armament combined four 12-inch guns in two twin turrets with ten 9.2-inch guns, giving her a formidable weight of fire. Heavy armour provided substantial protection, while reciprocating steam engines produced a speed of approximately eighteen knots. However, HMS Dreadnought, completed in 1906, introduced a uniform heavy battery and turbine propulsion, leaving Lord Nelson outdated before she entered service. Her mixed heavy armament also complicated the observation of shell splashes during gunnery.
Despite this disadvantage, Lord Nelson remained useful. Before the First World War, she served with the Home Fleet. At the outbreak of war in 1914, she became flagship of the Channel Fleet and helped protect the movement of British troops to France.
In 1915, she joined the Dardanelles campaign, bombarding Ottoman fortifications during the Allied attempt to force the straits. Although struck by enemy shells, she survived the campaign without casualties. She subsequently served as a flagship in the eastern Mediterranean, supporting Allied operations and guarding against Ottoman naval activity.
After the war, Lord Nelson returned to Britain and entered reserve before being scrapped in 1920.
