The Royal Navy in the Forth

The Firth of Forth was first defended by the Royal Navy in 1881 and by 1903 was a heavily defended anchorage. Much of the defence was provided by shore based guns at sites along both sides of the Forth, but there were also guardships such as HMS Iron Duke and HMS Anson.

According to the inscription, this postcard shows HMS Iron Duke below the Forth Bridge. She was an “Ironclad”, launched in 1870 and served as guardship in1890, just before she was decommissioned.

HMS Anson was launched in 1886 and served as guardship in 1902.

This photograph was taken on the 20th of November 1902. It shows HMS Anson leading the Kaiser’s yacht SMY Hohenzollern II and the German cruiser Nymphe astern. The Kaiser had been staying with Lord Roseberry while visiting Scotland.

The Forth Bridge can be seen behind this impressive (and very old) ship of the line. Originally named HMS Impregnable, she was launched in 1808 and was said to be a near copy of Nelson’s Victory. She saw action at the bombardment of Algiers in 1816, suffering severe damage. Placed on the reserve list, she was renamed HMS Kent. In 1891 she was renamed HMS Caledonia and transferred to Queensferry where she spent the next 15 years as a boys training ship. She was finally broken up in 1906.

In 1903 the government decided to build a new naval base in Scotland to protect against the growing threat from Germany. The site chosen was Rosyth. Work began in 1909 and the base was still unfinished when war broke out in 1914. This postcard shows an artist’s impression of the base from 1903. Rosyth Castle can be seen in the bay to the east of the dockyard. It is still there, but is swallowed up by the base.

In 1906 the First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher famously ordered the scrapping of most of the obsolete ships of the Royal Navy and ordered a totally new class of battleships. This postcard shows HMS Dreadnought in 1908. Her revolutionary design with 10 twelve inch guns, steam turbines giving her a top speed of 21 knots and heavy armour made her the most powerful battle ship in the world. Her commissioning in 1906 sparked off an arms race between Britain and Germany in the years before WWI.

This ship does not look like a warship. From 1914 to 1922 she was SS Bismarck and was the largest ship in the world until 1935. Handed over to Britain in 1922 as part of war reparations she was renamed RMS Majestic and sailed under that name until 1936. She was renamed HMS Caledonia in 1937 and entered service as a training ship at Rosyth. This postcard shows her steaming under the Forth Bridge in April 1937. Not long after the outbreak of war in 1939 she caught fire and burnt out.