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The fourth Euryalus, was a Cressy Class armoured cruiser built by Vickers at Barrow, launched on 20 May 1901 and completed in 1902.
Initially in the Channel Fleet, in 1904 she became flagship of the Australian Squadron and then of the China Squadron. In 1906 she transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet as flagship of the 4th Cruiser Squadron. She was among the ships rendering assistance in the aftermath of the Messina earthquake of 28 December 1908 and was awarded a silver medal for this. On return to Britain in 1910, Euryalus joined the Home Fleet, moving in 1912 to the Third (Reserve) Fleet at Devonport. On mobilisation in August 1914, she entered the Grand Fleet. Her ship's company were mainly reservists and older than average for the fleet at that time. Euryalus was in the 7th Cruiser Squadron, commanded by Rear-Admiral H. H. Campbell, employed covering the landing of the British Expeditionary Force in France 7-16 August. Euryalus took a distant role in the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914, when four German ships were sunk in the first general action of the war. Euryalus then continued on the Dogger Bank patrol, leaving this to coal on 20 September 1914, and thus narrowly avoiding the fate of her sister ships Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy who were torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U9 on 22 September. In all 837 men were rescued but 1459 died, many of whom were reservists or cadets.
As a result of these losses, Euryalus and the remainder of her class were withdrawn from the North Sea and employed on the Western Channel patrol, commanded by Rear Admiral R E Wemyss, who transferred his flag to Euryalus. Early in 1915, however, Wemyss was sent to command Mudros, the Allied base for the Gallipoli operation. In April, Wemyss was put in charge of the main landings at Gallipoli and hoisted his flag in Euryalus, which had separately joined the force build-up.
At nightfall on 24 April 1915, three companies of the 1st Battalion XX of The Lancashire Fusiliers were transferred from their transports to Euryalus, one of the ships transporting the assault force to the beaches. The troops remember being received well on board by the sailors who gave up their bread ration for the soldiers.
(taken about 1910)
At 0400 in the morning of 25 April 1915, the soldiers clambered down into a flotilla of warship boats and merchant ship lifeboats, towed by Euryalus' steam cutters, and at 0550 the tows were slipped 1,500 yards from 'W' beach. The landing was achieved against appalling odds, with Euryalus sailors pulling the Battalion ashore in the boats and beaching them within point-blank range of the Turkish gunfire. Typical of the boat's crewmen was peacetime merchant seaman, Able Seaman Thomas Kibblewhite (pictured right), Royal Naval Reserve, aged 29, who was killed in this action. The Battalion casualties were 11 officers and 350 men whilst 63 of the 80 Euryalus ratings manning the boats were killed or wounded. During the assault the Lancashire Fusiliers won 6 VC's "before breakfast". Following the landing, Euryalus steamed close inshore for Wemyss to supervise all aspects of the operation. Despite the bravery of the allied troops, the subsequent lack of success ashore is well known, and eventually Wemyss organised and commanded the evacuation from Euryalus in mid-December. 80,000 men were withdrawn with just one casualty.
On 16 January 1916 Euryalus became the flagship of the new Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, who had been promoted as a result of his efforts at Gallipoli. Wemyss used Euryalus extensively in his diplomatic and naval campaign in the Middle East in 1916-17, supporting the Arab Revolt against the Turks, and exploiting the fact that the Arabs were impressed by the ship's four funnels as a sign of great power. In January 1917, in concert with Sherif Hussein and TE Lawrence attacking by land, Euryalus first bombarded the port of El Wejh behind Turkish lines on the Red Sea, before landing a brigade of Arab irregulars which she had transported from the south. Other amphibious operations and bombardments followed including the capture of Aqaba, and Hussein's son, Faisal, later King of Iraq, declared that Wemyss, rather than Lawrence, was “The father and mother of the revolt." Wemyss hauled down his flag in September 1917 to become First Sea Lord. When Admiral of the Fleet Lord Wester Wemyss (as he became) died in France in 1933, his coffin was brought home to Scotland draped in Euryalus' Gallipoli battle ensign.
Euryalus continued as flagship of the East Indies Fleet until 1919, when she returned to Britain to pay off. She was sold for scrap to Mr Sidney Castle on 24 September 1920.
Footnote 1: Captain E.W. Bush, the first Captain of the fifth Euryalus, was a midshipman in Bacchante, and in charge of a picket boat at the Gallipoli landings; he was awarded a D.S.C. at the age of 15 for his part in the operation.
Footnote 2: The landing at Gallipoli was commemorated on 11 July 1934, when Admiral Sir R Burmeister, who had been the captain of Euryalus at Gallipoli, presented the ship's bell to the first Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers at Colchester.
Since the action a strong affiliation has existed between the ship and the regiment, whenever there has been a Euryalus in commission. This affiliation is currently maintained by the HMS Euryalus Association and into which the Lancashire Fusiliers were amalgamated in 1968. The ship's motto "Omnia Audax" is that of the was adopted by Admiralty dispensation in the 1950s.| SHIP DETAILS: | ||
| The fourth Euryalus was an Cressy class armoured cruiser: | ||
| Launched: | Built by Vickers and launched at Barrow-in-Furness on 20 May 1901 | |
| Length: | 440ft | |
| Beam: | 69ft 6ins | |
| Depth of Hold: | 16ft 9ins | |
| Tonnage: | 12000 tons | |
| Draught: | 26ft | |
| Complement: | 760 | |
| Machinery: | Triple expansion with 4 cylinders Twin screw - 21318 IHP |
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| Max speed: | 22knots | |
| Armament: |
2 x 9.2ins (throwing a 380lb shell) 12 x 6 ins (throwing a 100lb shell) 12 x 12 ins pdr 2 x 18 ins torpedo tubes |
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| Armour: | Belt 6 ins Deck 3 ins |
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