Blockship
Ablockshipis ashipdeliberately sunk to prevent ariver,channel,orcanalfrom being used as awaterway.It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case ofHMSHoodatPortland Harbourin 1914; or it may be brought by enemy raiders and used to prevent the waterway from being used by the defending forces, as in the case of the three oldcruisersHMSThetis,IphigeniaandIntrepidscuttledduring theZeebrugge raidin 1918 to prevent the port from being used by theGermannavy.
An early use was in 1667, during the DutchRaid on the Medwayand their attempts to do likewise in the Thames during theSecond Anglo-Dutch War,when a number of warships and merchant ships commandeered by theRoyal Navywere sunk in those rivers to attempt to stop the attacking forces.
An even earlier use are the six 11th centurySkuldelev shipsinRoskilde Fjord,sunk to protectRoskildefrom northernVikings.They are now on display in theViking Ship Museum.[1][2][3]
The above is the principal and enduring meaning of 'block ship', but in the mid-19th century the term blockships was applied to two groups of mobile sea batteries developed by the Royal Commission on Coast Defence. The first batch of four was obtained from around 1845 by converting old sailing 74-gun two-deckers, all of themVengeur-classships of the line,into floatingbatteries,equipped with a steam/screw propulsion system. Also called "steam guardships",[4]these conversions involved cutting down to a single deck, withballastremoved, and ajury riginstalled with a medium 450-horsepower(340 kW) engine for speeds of 5.8–8.9knots(10.7–16.5 km/h; 6.7–10.2 mph). These ships, converted in 1846, wereBlenheim,Ajax,HogueandEdinburgh.Although these ships were intended for coast defence some of them were used offensively, notably in theBaltic Campaign of 1854and 1855, where they were an integral part of the British fleet. A second batch of five were similarly obtained from around 1855 by converting other elderly 74-gun ships; these wereRussell,Cornwallis,Hawke,PembrokeandHastings.
The most recent known use of blockships in warfare was during theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.On 6 March 2014, theRussian Navytowed and scuttled the decommissioned cruiserOchakovat the entrance toDonuzlav Bayin westernCrimea,to prevent remaining Ukrainian navy vessels from leaving port.[5]Less than 24 hours later, on 7 March, another blockship, the formerBlack Sea Fleetrescue/diving support vesselBM-416was scuttled nearOchakov.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^"Roskilde 6".rgzm.de.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-10-04.
- ^Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole (2002).The Skuldelev Ships I.The Viking Ship Museum and the National Museum of Denmark. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-04-06.Retrieved2012-04-10.
- ^"Ancient History: Viking dig reports".BBC.Archivedfrom the original on 2003-06-18.Retrieved27 October2021.
- ^'a steam guard, or "block" ship' -The Times,23 September 1846, describingAjax.
- ^"Russia sinks ship to block Ukrainian Navy ships".Naval News.6 March 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-03-06.Retrieved27 October2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Brown, D.K. (1983).A Century of Naval Construction: The History of Royal Corps of Naval Constructors 1883-1983.London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN0-85177-282-X.
- Jumonville, P. C. (2012). "Question 6/47: Use of Blockships".Warship International.XLIX(1): 38–44.ISSN0043-0374.
- Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004).The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889.Chatham Publishing.ISBN1-86176-032-9.
- Savitz, S. (2021). "The Suez Grounding Was an Accident, but the Next Blocked Chokepoint Might Not Be," DefenseOne,https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/03/suez-grounding-was-accident-next-blocked-chokepoint-might-not-be/173011/.
- Savitz, S. (2021). "Blockship Tactics to Trap Enemy Fleets," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, Vol. 147/12/1426,https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2021/december/blockship-tactics-trap-enemy-fleets.
- Sondhaus, L. (2001).Naval warfare, 1815–1914.Warfare and history series. London: Routledge,ISBN0-415-21477-7
- Winfield, Rif (2009).British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.Seaforth Publishing.ISBN978-1-84832-040-6.
External links
[edit]
Media related toBlock shipsat Wikimedia Commons
