Class overview
NameRoberts
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byErebus class
In commission1 April 1941
Completed2
Scrapped2
General characteristics [1]
Typemonitor
Displacement
  • Roberts:
  • 7,973 tons (Standard)
  • 9,150 tons (Full load)
  • Abercrombie:
  • 8,536 tons (Standard)
  • 9,717 tons (Full load)
Length373 ft (114 m)
Beam89 ft (27 m)
Draught
  • Roberts: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
  • Abercrombie: 14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
Propulsion2 shaft, Parsons steam turbines, 2 boilers, 4,800 hp
Speed12.5 knots (14.4 mph)
Complement442 - 460
Armament
Armour
  • Turret: 13 inch
  • Barbette: 8 inch
  • Belt: 4-5 inches
NotesShips in class include: HMS Roberts (F40), HMS Abercrombie (F109)

The Roberts class of monitors of the Royal Navy consisted of two heavily gunned vessels built during the Second World War. They were the Roberts, completed in 1941, and Abercrombie, completed in 1943.

Features of the class, apart from two 15-inch guns in a twin mounting (taken from two First World War era Marshal Ney class monitors), were shallow draught for operating inshore, broad beam to give stability (and also resistance to torpedoes and mines) and a high observation platform to observe fall of shot.

Ships

Ship Builder Namesake Laid down Launched Commissioned Fate
Roberts John Brown, Clydebank Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts 30 April 1940 1 February 1941 27 October 1941 Broken up at Inverkeithing, 1965
Abercrombie Vickers-Armstrongs, Wallsend Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby 26 April 1941 31 March 1942 5 May 1943 Broken up at Barrow-in-Furness, 1955
One of Roberts' guns (formerly in HMS Resolution) is mounted outside the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, South London, together with one from the battleship Ramillies. Roberts herself was sold for scrapping shortly after the war, but hired back by the Royal Navy as an accommodation ship at Devonport until 1965.
  • HMS Abercrombie: She used a 15-inch gun turret originally built as a spare for HMS Furious. She was damaged by contact mines on several occasions while supporting the invasion of Italy, but was repaired. On completion of repairs, Abercrombie was sent for service in the Pacific, although the war ended before her arrival. She was used as a gunnery training and accommodation ship at Chatham after the war.

References

  1. ↑ Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.

Bibliography

  • Buxton, Ian (2008) [1978]. Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 (2nd Revised ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-719-8.
  • Crossley, Jim (2013). Monitors of the Royal Navy; How the Fleet Brought the Great Guns to Bear. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword. ISBN 978-1-78383-004-6.
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