Iron Duke Class

As a young boy I had a favorite Airfix battleship, the mighty HMS Iron Duke. Others may have loved the Warspite and Hood, but even fifty years on, Iron Duke is for me, still the number one dreadnought. My plastic model may have badly glued together, poorly painted and  would never float in the bath. But she was my first true love in the world of Dreadnought's.

The Iron Duke's were a class comprised of four 'super-dreadnought' battleships, built for the Royal Navy in the years just before the Great War. The class was launched between October 1912 and November 1913, and was the third class of Royal Navy's 'super-dreadnoughts'. Most dictionaries define a 'super-dreadnoughts' as a battleship with "bigger" guns than HMS Dreadnought. But that's too simplistic for us I feel. 'Super dreadnoughts' are not easy to define but whatever your personal opinion, there is no clear definition of this warships category. Whatever your choice, the four Iron Dukes were  very much the cutting  edge of their day.

The 1911 naval budget provided funds for four new dreadnoughts of an 'improved King George V' (KGV) class. The Director of Naval Construction, Phillip Watts, submitted five designs to the Admiralty, all featuring a main armoured belt of 12 inches  and running for 360 feet of the hull. The designs followed the lines of the KGV, retaining the same ten 13.5 inch guns mounted into five twin gun turrets, along the centreline. But the Iron Dukes had an improved armour configuration and a more powerful secondary armament of 6-inch weapons instead of the 4-inch mounted on the KGV's. A retrograde step was seen in the proposals which included a reverse in the mast and funnel arrangement as with the earlier Orion class of 1909.  During the final design stages the disadvantages were noticed and the idea was dropped. Of the five designs 'M1V' was the one approved and funds were duly allocated for four of the class without much issue, as war with Germany seeming very likely and sooner rather than later.

The four Iron Duke's had an overall length that was 622 feet 9 inches (189.9 metres), with a beam of 90 ft (27.4 m) and a draught of 29 ft (8.8 m). The four ships displaced 25,000 long tons (25,400 tonnes), which was approximately 2,000 tons (2,032 tonnes) heavier than the KGVs, the difference being due primarily to the increase in calibre of the secondary guns.

The ships power source was  four Parsons turbines and the steam was supplied for these  by eighteen Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The engines were rated at 29,000 shaft horsepower and supplied a maximum speed of 21.5 knots through four shafts. Iron Duke and her sisters had bunkerage capacity of 3,200 long tons (3,300 t) of coal and 1,030 long tons (1,050 t) of oil. This combination produce a maximum range of 7,780 nautical miles (14,410 km) at a cruising speed of 10 knots. If fully bunkered the thiner fore section of the main armoured belt was submerged  necessitating a careful calculation and adjustment to the ships trim.

The machinery for the class was manufactured by Lairds of Birkenhead, and had virtually the same layout as that of the preceding KGV being divided into three engine rooms. The inboard shafts lead to the centre engine room while the outer shafts ran through to the port and starboard wing engine rooms. The inboard shafts were  powered by the high pressure ahead and astern turbines with these turbines having an extra stage for cruising, which was separated from the main turbine by a bypass valve. The outer shafts were driven by the ahead and astern low pressure turbines, while for cruising the outboard turbines would be shut down, and the ship made use of the inboard shafts only. The eighteen Babcock and Wilcox boilers were in three groups of six, although coal fired, oil spraying equipment was fitted for the quicker raising of steam.

The Royal Navy had learnt from the poor performance of the high velocity 12" C50 gun fitted to the previous St Vincent, Neptune and Colossus classes, that a higher velocity was not the answer to greater range and hitting power. The answer it seemed lay in a heavier shell. The 13.5" gun which had reappeared in the Royal Navy after a number of years absence was first fitted in the Orion class, proving to be an excellent weapon. It had a good range, excellent accuracy and hitting power, it also had a good safety margin which allowed it to fire a heavier shell. But the increase from the Orion's 1260lb shell to a 1410 lbs shell did not increase the range. Even with a propellant charge of four quarter charges equalling almost 106 lbs of MD450 (rod based) cordite, the gun still had a maximum range of just under 24,000 yards (13.63 miles/21.94 Km). The barrel construction was of a liner in an inner tube which was wire wound with miles of flat wire. Over this was shrunk a steel jacket, but there were problems with wire winding and the barrel was prone to drooping. Its often quoted that the German solid guns were better made. But solid guns did take longer to produce and much more machining was required in their production. Also  the wire wound gun were much quicker in manufacture. With a such a large numbers of weapons required for an arms race, speed of manufacture was of the utmost importance and the Royal Navy was never to experience the supply problems for replacement barrels that the German navy did.

The Iron Duke's main calibre weapon was of ten 13.5 inch (34.3 cm) Mk V(H) guns [1] mounted in five twin  turrets, all on the centreline. "A" and "B" turrets were located in a superfiring pair forward, "Q" turret was amidships directly aft the two funnels, and "X" and  "Y" turrets were a second superfiring pair aft of the rear superstructure. The gun housings were Mk II turrets, weighing 600 tons (610 tonnes) and had an elevation range of −5° to +20°. Despite this range the dials on the gun-sights at the time of their construction were graduated up to 15 degrees. Following Jutland some super-elevating cams and prisms were to be fitted to allow the full elevation of the guns to be finally brought into use.  The forward and aft gun turrets could train 150° in either beam from the centreline, but "Q" turret had a much more limited range. It could only engage targets on an arc from between 30° to 150° from the centerline on either beam of the ship. "Q" turret  was the only one with restricted firing arcs, although "B" and "X" were restricted from firing directly over "A" & "Y" due to the real possibility that their muzzle blasts would enter the lower turrets sighting hoods, which were located on the forward ends of the turret roofs. Due to this "B" & "Y" guns were restricted from firing right ahead or astern to 30° either side.

The gun crews could on a good day, achieve a rate of fire of between 1.5 and 2 rounds per minute. The Mk V "Heavy" gun fired a variety of shells, (including high explosive and armour-piercing rounds), all of which weighed 1,400 lb (635 kg). The guns were loaded with MD45 propellant charges, stored in silk bags, that weighed 297 lb (135 kg). Their muzzle velocity was 2,491 fps (759 meters per second) and at the maximum elevation of 20°, the guns had a range of 23,740 yards (21,710 m). But at the full effective elevation of 15°, the range was obviously shorter, at approximately 20,000 yard (18,290 m). Over a range of 10,000 yards (9,144 m) a shell from the 13.5" gun could penetrate up to 12.5 in (318 mm) of Krupp cemented steel armour, the type used on their  opponents dreadnoughts. The ships contained five main magazines and an associated shell room, each serving it's own gun. There were 112 rounds for each gun, meaning each magazine would hold 896 106lb quarter charges of cordite making a total of 474,880 lbs of explosive, with a total of 1,120 shells weighing 1,568,000 lbs or 700 tons. The 13.5" had a  barrel life of 400 rounds for the lighter shell, but that was reduced in service to 220 rounds, which was still good.

The secondary battery was comprised of twelve 6-inch (15.2 cm) Mk VII guns mounted into casemates in the hull around the forward superstructure. The larger calibre was chosen over  the 4-inch (10.2 cm) guns on the earlier dreadnoughts classes as the smaller calibre had been  found to be both too weak and to have far too short a range to permit them to effectively counter the torpedo boats with the newer more powerful torpedoes. Admiral Jackie Fisher had been an  opponent of increasing the secondary batteries calibre, but he retired from the post of First Sea Lord in 1910.  With his absence, the Iron Dukes, which were designed in 1911, received the larger 6 inch gun.

The 6 inch  guns fired a 100 lb (45.4 kg) shell at a rate of between 5 to 7 rounds per minute. The muzzle velocity was  2,775 fps (846 mps), but the guns were capable of a higher velocities. It had been reduced to standardize the performance of all the 6 inch guns in Royal Navy service, which would then simplify the  range calculations for guns of the calibre. The guns could elevate to +20°, which achieved a maximum range of 15,800 yd (8.9.miles / 7.80km).

During their construction ten of the 6 inch guns had been mounted under the focsle deck, five on either beam and an additional two guns in the stern of the vessel in casemates below the quarter deck level with "Y" turret.The purpose of the two pair of 6 inch guns was in order to fire at torpedo boats silhouetted against the setting sun, but in service these two guns were found to be to wet and useless in anything but a flat calm sea.  They were to be removed with the casemates plated over. Admiral Sir Jellicoe  wrote to the Director of Naval Construction, Eustace  d'Eyncourt on 9 September:
"I don't know if it is intended in the design but she is 18 inches by the head when complete with coal & the fore part of the thick belt is then 1 ft under water and it very rarely sits above water. Surely there is something wrong about this. There seems no way of curing it now, but future ships should not be the same. She draws over 33 ft forward at this moment although I have got rid of 600 tons of oil. She is very wet indeed.

The next point is the 6" gun ports. They can't be used at sea because you can't open or shut them from inboard. Consequently the main deck is absolutely underwater & there is no way of keeping it out. Moreover the water finds its way down to the lower deck & it is quite a serious matter. We are raising all main deck coamings, but it is a big job & meanwhile there is 6 inches of water or more constantly on the main deck. The ship being down by the head & the scuppers all at the after end of compartments, the water won't run away.

We can't use the 2 after 6" guns at all, as the ship would get far too much water in. The ports are now permanently closed".

Casemate guns always had a tendency to be wet so the Iron Dukes mounted their guns as far aft as possible, but this did not elevate the problems. These problems were not helped by the fact that the casements were mounted too low in the hull, which subjected them to heavier pounding in rough seas. The clam shell type doors which had been fitted to keep them dry, leaked badly. Rubber seals were designed and fitted which did go someway to improving matters but they by no means cured the problem. Later in her career Iron Duke had the two forward most guns on each side fitted with a short retaining bulwark at the rear of the guns and this finally stopped the water from finding it's way below into the mess-decks, and causing significant flooding. This idea was copied into the following Queen Elizabeth Class but not with the remainder of the Iron Duke class.

HMS Iron Duke was to be the first British battleship fitted with an anti-aircraft defence. In 1914 two 3 in (7.62 cm) QF guns were fitted on the aft deck house to provide a defence against Zeppelins. These guns could fire between 12 and 14 rounds per minute, and were expected to have a barrel life of approximately 1,250 shells before replacement or repair was necessary. The 3" shell used were 12.5 lb (5.67 kg) with a high-explosive warhead and they were manually operated, with a maximum effective ceiling of 23,500 ft (7,160 m). The class were also fitted with four 3 pounder signalling guns. Emperor of India, Marlborough and Benbow was to also carry the pair of QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns and four 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder guns.

The Iron Dukes were fitted with submerged torpedo tubes, but the stern tube unit was dropped for this class. The torpedo tubes were four 21 in (53.3 cm) gauge, two on each beam and they fired a Mk II torpedoes with a 515 lb (234 kg) TNT warhead. The torpedoes had two speed settings, one at 31 knots and the second at 45 knots.  At 31 knots the range was 10,750 yd (9,830 m), but at 45 knots this dropped considerably to 4,500 yd (4,110 m). In a torpedo firing exercise on the 1st July 1918, Iron reloaded a submerged tube in a one minute fifty-four seconds, and fired the second shot after a further delay of six seconds. With the other tube, she took two minutes fifteen seconds to reload and 45 further seconds to fire.  On her commissioning the Iron Duke was fitted with a new design of Anti-Torpedo nets, but these were to be removed during her sea trials and were never fitted to her sister ships.

Fire direction was now  recognized within the worlds navies as an established need and to cope with the weight of the direction gear the Iron Dukes had a heavy tripod masts fitted from at construction and in comparison to the preceding King George class, their funnels were taller and thinner, which made them very easy to distinguish from the KGVs.  By 1918, the ships had the following rangefinders:
Two 25-ft in turrets (presumably in "B" and "X")
One 18-ft in a turret (presumably in "A" or "Y")
One 15-ft in a turret (ditto)
One 9-ft in a turret (presumably in "Q")
One 9-ft (in forward superstructure, likely the one adding 1916-1917)
One 15-ft in T.C.T.
Two 9-ft in fore bridge (likely the torpedo control ones alluded to above)
Two 2m F.T. 29[24] high-angle RFs
By 1919 the class carried eight 36in, two 24in signalling and improved control arrangement had been fitted.
Despite being similar to previous designs in many respects, the Iron Duke class benefited from a better internal protection from  the KGV class. Iron Dukes main armour belt was made of Krupp Cemented Armour (KCA) and was 12" (305 mm)  in thickness around the central area of the ship, which was where the ammunition magazines, machinery spaces, and other vital parts of the ship were located. The belt narrowed down to 4.0" (102 mm) as it neared both the bow and the stern. The 13.5" barbettes  had 10.0" (254 mm) on the sides and 3.0" (75 mm) on their rear, where shells were less likely to strike and the turrets were 11.00" (280 mm) thick on the sides. The classes armoured deck was between 1" to 2.5" (25 and 65 mm) in thickness. But after the battle of Jutland, additional armour was added to the ships, primarily to thicken the deck around the main battery turrets, as well as to increase the bulkheads in the ammunition magazines.  As for protection, barbettes had a new type of reinforced integral shield that was also adopted on the HMS Tiger and later battleships of the Queen Elisabeth class.

The Iron Dukes  carried a crew of 995 officers and enlisted men, but during the war this increased to 1,022. The average cost per ship was £1,891,600, or at 2015 prices, £207,640,005. The current HMS Iron Duke type 23 frigate was built in the early nineties at a cost if £140,000,000 each! A 1914 cutting edge super-dreadnought was 48.31% costlier than a modern 'state of the art' Frigate!   Somethings have gone down in price!

In 1913 Iron Duke was to have been one of the twelve ships to receive a director along the lines of that developed in Neptune, and by 1914, (pre war) she was fully equipped with it.  The class were to receive their directors after King George V had received hers, and were most likely of a similar design, placing the light aloft tower atop the spotting top. In May 1917 Iron Dukes  secondary battery directors were installed and in 1919 she was chosen to receive one of the first six Renouf Torpedo Tactical Instrument [3]Type Bs and one of the first nine Renouf Torpedo Tactical Instrument Type Fs manufactured by Elliott Brothers.

The Iron Dukes were found to be prone to pitching in any sort of sea and were known as being quite wet ships.  They were however relatively manoeuvrable, and made for steady gun platforms. In appearance they differed from the KGVs in having thin round funnels of equal size, and a prominent Derrick post between funnels. And finally, Emperor of India was the only one of the class to be completed without the traditional stern walk.

SHIPS HISTORIES

Before we delve into the career of these four remarkable vessels, I need to clarify a couple of points.  Given her important role and the fame that accompanied it, the Iron Dukes history is generally recorded in greater detail.  Marlbrough breaks  that rule twice but we'll get to those moments  in depth at the relevant time. During the war years the term Grand Fleet, unless mentioned otherwise,  must include the Marlbrough, Emperor and Benbow.  So their histories are to be found in those two words.
The post war history is only vaguely covered and in places conflicts. So aside from Marlbrough and Yalta,  I ask you take my words as a guidance and not as gospel. Ok lets tell the careers of the four sisters.

Jellicoe's Iron Duke was the second vessel to bear that name. The first Iron Duke was an iron built battleship of the Audacious class, a central battery ironclad, built by Napier's at Glasgow between 1868 to 1871. In 1902 she was relegated to harbour service, then in 1904 was renamed HMS Fishguard, and renamed once more as HMS Imperiouse in 1914. She was to be scrapped in 1922.  The keel plate for the new dreadnought Iron Duke (motto Virtuosi Fortune Comes: “Fortune is the companion of Valour” and nick named within the navy as "The Tin Duck"), was laid down by Miss Evelyn Moore, the sister of the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, Sir Arthur W. Moore, on the 15 January 1912 at the  Portsmouth Royal Dockyard. Admiral Superintendent Rear-Admiral Alban G. Tate,  Tate, Mr. J. Apsey (manager of the Constructive Department), Mrs. Apsey, Captain William B. Fawckner (Captain of the Dockyard), Mrs. Fawckner, and the other officials were present on the day. The hull first took to the water on Saturday the 12th October, before an estimated crowd of 60,000 plus.  The Duchess of Wellington performed the naming ceremony, in the company of the new Admiral Superintendent, Herbert L. Heath, his wife, daughters, a large number of other naval, civil dignitaries, Mrs. Fawckner, and other officials.

After completing her fitting out process, Iron Duke was to begin her sea trials on 25 November 1913. During these trials she was to attain 30,040 SHP while running at 21.6 knots over a 3 hour period. The ship was commissioned into the navy at Portsmouth on 10 March 1914, by Captain Robert N. Lawson and had been built at a cost of £1,945,824. On her commissioning she became the flagship of the Home Fleet, flying the flag of  Admiral Sir George A. Callaghan, replacing HMS Neptune in the role.

There had been four HMS Marlborough's, before the name was allocated to the second of the Iron Duke class, the name deriving from the Duke of Marlborough:
1: HMS St Michael (1669), a second rate, renamed Marlborough in 1706, fought in the Seven Years' War, present in Sir George Pocock's fleet at the taking of Havana from the Spanish 1762, foundered at sea 1762.
2: HMS Marlborough (1767), a third rate built 1767, fought in the American Revolutionary War, heavily damaged in the Battle of the Glorious First of June 1794, wrecked 1800.
3: HMS Marlborough (1807), a third rate built 1807, broken up 1835.
4: HMS Marlborough (1855), a first rate screw ship built 1855, renamed Vernon II 1904, and she sank on her way to being broken up in 1924.

The dreadnought Marlborough  (Motto: S'en Vat'en Guerre; "He Goes to War") was laid down at the Devonport Royal Dockyard on 25 January 1912 and was launched nearly ten months later, on 24 October. Her commissioning date was the 2nd June 1914, and the ship was completed two weeks later on the 16 June.

Dreadnought HMS Benbow was preceded by two earlier namesakes, each named after after Admiral John Benbow:
1: HMS Benbow (1813) was a 74 gun third rate ship of the line, built in 1813 and was converted to a coal hulk in 1859. She was broken up in 1895.
2: HMS Benbow (1885) was an Admiral-class battleship launched in 1885 and scrapped in 1909.

HMS Benbow's keel was laid down at the Glasgow shipyard of William Beardmore and Company on 30 May 1912 and her completed hull was launched the following year on the 13 November 1913 by the Lady Randolph Churchill, widow of the former government minister and mother of the First Lord of the Admiralty. To mark the occasion she was presented with a Brazilian diamond necklet by Messrs William Beardmore and Company. Benbow's fitting out work was completed on the 7th October 1914, just two months following the outbreak of the War.

HMS Emperor of India was originally to have been named HMS Delhi, but a month prior to her launch King George requested that  her name be changed to Emperor of India. The ship was ordered  on the 25th March 1912, laid down on 31 May 1912 at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness and was launched at 09:30 on 27 November 1913, the vacated slip being used for the keel of H.M.S. Revenge on the 22 December. The launching ceremony was performed by Lady Islington, followed by a 'luncheon' held after the event in the 'Mould Loft'. Among those present were the Romanian Minister, the Colombian and Peruvian Chargés d'Affaires, representatives of the Admiralty and British Army, and of the navies of Japan, Russia, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

With her change of name the traditional Loyal Toast given at dinner in the Royal Navy; "Gentlemen, The King"  was amended to "Gentlemen, the King Emperor." in light of the British King holding the position of Emperor of India. Her carved crown mounted on the ensign staff was rested on a cushion indicating the Imperial Crown. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on the 10th December 1914.

During her brief peace time service in 1914, on the 18th March, Iron Duke was involved in a collision with the oiler Rosalind. The Rosalind was blown into the Iron Duke,  causing bent awning stanchions and damaging a number of scuttles. The repair bill was stated to be "about £10" (£1050 in 2017 prices).

On the 18th July 1914, Iron Duke, Marlborough and the Home Fleet gathered for a review off Spithead where no fewer than 59 warships and 17 seaplanes were present for the occasion. The Western Daily Press described what was to be one of the final  moments  of a passing world,  on Monday 20 July 1914 with the  following words;
"FLEET AT SPITHEAD. VISIT OF HIS MAJESTY. INSPECTING THE SHIPS. The King, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and the Premier, reached Portsmouth at five o'clock on Saturday evening, and was joined by Prince Albert. His Majesty's arrival in the port was announced by the firing of a royal salute. For this Nelson's Victory gave the signal, the fleet following her lead and each ship firing its twenty-one guns. In the dockyard his Majesty was received by Admiral Sir Hedworth Meux and General Blewett, but there were no guards of honour. After shaking hands with the distinguished officers who met the train, the King went aboard his yacht. At this moment the airships Astra Torres and Gamma flew past the yacht, one at either end, while a couple of waterplanes passed right over the vessel. After watching the airships for few minutes, the King went below to his apartments.

Mr Asquith was his Majesty's guest aboard the royal yacht. From the high bridge of the yacht the King and his guests had a good view of the fleet after tea, and from this same vantage point the King watched the searchlight display which the fleet gave during the night. Several of the principal officers of the Fleet dined aboard the Victoria and Albert with his Majesty. Every ship in the fleet entertained large parties of guests, and the pleasure steamers that plied around the lines were packed. One of the greatest attractions proved to be the double row of waterplanes which lay on the surface between the submarines and the Portsmouth shore. During the afternoon the waterplanes rose one after the other, flying along by the beach and between the lines of the fleet. They then returned to Calshot.

About six o'clock airship No. 3, which left Sheerness just before noon, arrived at Spithead, and flew over the anchorage, while the Gamma some hours later made a night flight over Spithead. At this time the fleet was playing its searchlights, and the powerful beams sweeping land and sky in all directions made a wonderfully effective sight. His Majesty's yacht is being strongly guarded by picket boats as there was a rumour that the Suffragettes intended to make an attack upon it from a boat".

Following the review, on the 27th July  Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty  ordered the fleet to hold a 'Test Mobilisation'  off  Portland Harbour. The next day was to see both Austria-Hungary and Imperial Russia declare war on each other, and on the same day (28th) the British Fleets were ordered to their war bases. At 14:10 on the 29th, the British Admiralty sent a "Warning Telegram" to the Fleets and with the international situation deteriorating, the fleet was ordered to set sail for its wartime base of Scapa Flow to safeguard the it from the danger of a surprise German attack.  The Home Fleet was reorganized into the Grand Fleet,  and Iron Duke retained her position as the flagship. Admiral John Jellicoe boarded his new flagship on the 4th August, and his predecessor,  Admiral Callaghan's left at 08.30 on board HMS Sappho.  At 09:30 on 5th Jellicoe's flag was raised  over the Iron Duke. The new Grand Fleet C-in-C brought his staff onboard increasing the Dukes Compliment with the following personnel:
A Rear-Admiral as Chief of the Staff.
A Commodore as Captain of the Fleet.
Two Secretaries, with the necessary clerical staff.
A Flag-Lieutenant.
Three Signal officers.
Three Wireless officers (soon reduced to two).
War Staff officers.
Two Signal Boatswains.
A Fleet Coaling officer was also tp join the Admirals Staff.

Marlborough had also on her commissioning joined the Home Fleet, where she had served as the flagship to Sir Lewis Bayly. But with the British entry into the war on the 4th August, she was reassigned as the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron, where she was to serve for the entire duration of the war. On the 5th of August her squadron comprised of the following ships, Marlborough,(Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly), St. Vincent, Colossus, Hercules, Neptune, Vanguard, Collingwood, Superb, with the scout cruiser Bellona attached.

At 08:00 on 4th August, the Grand Fleet was ordered out to sea by the  Admiralty. Iron Duke would always be one of the last ships to depart from Scapa when the fleet sailed out. This allowed her to remain fast to the Telephone Buoy until the last moment, and consequently in touch with the Admiralty in London. She was joined on this, the first of what would be almost a countless number of sweeps, by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battle Squadrons, the light cruisers Southampton, Birmingham, Boadicea, Blonde and the destroyers of the 4th Flotilla. In addition  the cruisers Shannon, Natal and Roxburgh, accompanied by the light cruisers Nottingham, Falmouth and Liverpool, where despatched from  Rosyth with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla to meet with the main body at Sea.

A report from the Admiralty had informed Jellicoe of three German transports that had apparently passed the through the Great Belt on the evening of 1st August. The 3rd Cruiser Squadron, along with the cruisers Cochran, Achilles, and the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron had put to sea on the evening of 3rd August to patrol to the southward of the Fair Island Channel through the night. The orders for the fleet instructed it  to sweep eastwards,  and then with the cruisers to carry out a wide sweep to the south. At 21:30 on the 8th the dreadnoughts Orion, Monarch and Ajax, were detached for target practice, while the remainder of the Fleet proceeded to the south-eastward from Fair Island, carrying out Fire Control Exercises. But a report from Monarch that a torpedo had been fired at her by a submarine, caused the practice to be cancelled and the three ships hastily rejoined the fleet, while one-half of the 2nd Flotilla was directed to search for the submarine. At 18:30  the officer of the watch on board the Iron Duke sighted a periscope and ordered a  course to ram, but no contact was made. The second periscope was shortly afterwards sighted by the Dreadnought, but was not seen again. On August 10th at 05:00 the Iron Duke parted company from the Fleet and sailed to Scapa so Jellicoe could  communicate by 'land wire' (or telephone?) with the Admiralty and to order further arrangements for the work on the fleet bases. The Iron Duke, with her escort of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, and the Falmouth, Liverpool and Bellona, arrived at Scapa at 14:30.The next day, (11th) Iron Duke departed Scapa to rejoined the Battle Fleet at 17:00, which was being exercised in forming line of battle, and also carrying out sub-calibre gun practice

On the 26th August the Grand Fleet arrived  at Scapa at 07:30 with the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron to re-coal. The Agincourt, a new dreadnought  which was 'bought' (but never paid for) from Turkey when still in an incomplete state, was met off Noss Head and entered Scapa with the Fleet. At 17:30 a submarine was sighted from the bridge of the Iron Duke, and the Fleet manoeuvre clear of the position. One-half of the 4th Flotilla, which had screened the 3rd Battle Squadron to sea, joined the Commander-in-Chief at 17:00, and was ordered to search for this submarine, but without result. Later that day the Iron Duke, the 2nd and 4th Battle Squadrons, 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron, and 2nd Flotilla, were all at Scapa re-coaling.

Over the next month the capital ships remained in Scapa Flow, until on the evening of the 25th September, when the Grand Fleet once more sailed out to the westward of the Orkneys for gunnery practice. A heavy westerly gale the next day was to prevent the target practice, but by the morning of the 27th found the fleet to the east of the Shetlands as the weather started to moderate. But that was not to last and the day was to bring seventy mile an hour winds. The ships struggled through the rising seas, taking a  considerable amount of damage in the process to wireless masts, topmasts, and several ships had boats damaged or washed away. The four Iron Dukes shipped huge quantities of water through their 6-inch gun ports, due to casements poor positioning. The gale continued unabated through the night and the ships were battered by wind and waves all the next day. It wasn't until the 29th that the weather finally moderated and the fleet could enter Scapa. As the capital ships steamed towards their base, they were met and screened by destroyers which had up until then not been able to join the Fleet at sea owing to the bad weather.

Once at anchor, it was found that the condenser tubes of the Iron Duke were in a poor state, this despite the ships recent completion. Her condensers would  need either partial or  complete re-tubing. The discovery was all the more unsettling  considering that the Orion had her condensers re-tubed in September, and reports were being received from other ships of their tubes failing.

The Admiralty were advised of the developing problems and all the available spare tubes were ordered be sent at once to Scapa,  together with a number of dockyard fitters who could then assist the artificers of the Fleet in the task of re-tubing. It was also decided, given the amount of time the fleet spent underway at sea, to take steps to increase the general stock of tubes in case the defects became more general within the Fleet.  The job of replacing the defective tubes in the Iron Duke’s condensers was underway quickly, with help of the artificers from the Fleet. Centurion was ordered to be the Fleet-Flagship in the event of an emergency and the fleet having to put to sea without the Iron Duke. The ship was not kept to harbour, with the re-tubing work being undertaken as the opportunities occurred. But this made things even more difficult for her engine-room crew, since the task of suddenly preparing the ship for sea, with a condenser undergoing re-tubing, was very difficult . But the task was completed while the ship remained at Scapa, surely a reflection on the  efficiency and skill of the engine-room's within  the ships of the Grand Fleet.

On the 1st December, the newly commissioned Benbow and her sister ship Emperor of India arrived at Scapa Flow to join the 4th Battle Squadron (second division). The squadron with its two new additions now merited a second flagship with Dreadnought surrendering her flagship role, and an additional cruiser was attached. The squadron now  comprised Benbow (Vice Admiral Sir Douglas Gamble), Emperor of India (Rear Admiral Alexander Ludovic Duff),Temeraire, Bellerophon, Agincourt, Erin, Dreadnought , with the scout cruiser Blonde, and third class protected cruiser Sapphire attached. This line-up would last for just one month.

Both Benbow and the Emperor of India commenced their working up, prior to being declared ready for service with the fleet on 10 December.  As a result of the 'rush', both their crews were not at that stage of the war considered to be well trained. But as the months passes the crews honed their skills, and the ships became a strong part of the fleet. With the turn of the year, January was to see the 4th Battle Squadron reshaped to be comprised of HMS Agincourt, Bellerophon, Dreadnought, Temeraire, Benbow, Emperor of India and  Erin.

During this stage work was undertaken on the Iron Dukes in regards to the issues of flooding through the 6" casements. A  partial bulkhead was fitted to the rear of the guns to restrict the sea water from entering the ship, and watertight india-rubber joint was provided between the gun shields and the ship's side. The result was to prove to be satisfactory, and similar changes were to be made with the Queen Elizabeth class and with the Tiger. The two aft 6-inch guns, which were level sited level with the main deck level, were removed altogether, and the casement plated over, as it had become apparent that the guns could never be worked at sea, being only a few feet above the water line. The removed 6" guns were relocated in new unarmoured casemates on the superstructure deck level. The work was undertaken  entirely in Scapa, with the ships remaining at short notice for steam. In at least once case the workmen remained on board and continued to work while the ship was  at sea.

On the evening of 22 November 1914, the Grand Fleet was to carry out a sweep in the southern half of the North Sea, with the  four Iron Dukes  in their allotted steaming stations. The battlefleet had sailed as distant support for  Vice Admiral Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, but by the 27th November the battle cruisers and dreadnoughts were all back at their anchorages. Initially the bulk Grand fleet was to remain in port during the German raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby during the 16 December, but the 3rd Battle Squadron was despatched to reinforce the Royal Navy's forces at sea. After receiving further intelligence that that the  German fleet could be at sea, Jellicoe ordered the remainder of his fleet to sail in an attempt to intercept the Germans, but by that stage the High Seas Fleet was already homeward bound. Iron Duke and her sisters returned once more to sea as part of the 2nd and 4th Battle Squadrons for gunnery practice north of the Hebrides on 23 and 24 December. On the next day, (Merry Christmas!), the remainder of the fleet joined the two Battle Squadrons for a sweep in the North Sea, which concluded on 27 December. During December Vice Admiral Cecil Burney replaced Bayley aboard Marlborough and with the new year Marlborough remained part of the 1St Battle Squadron, while her sister ships  Benbow and the Emperor of India formed part of the 4th battle squadron.

Between the 10th and 13th January 1915, the Grand Fleet conducted further gunnery exercises west of the Orkneys and Shetlands islands. Then on the evening of 23rd January, the Grand Fleet sailed from Scapa to  provide distant support to Beatty's Battlecruiser force,  but the fleet was not to be involved in the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank on the 24th.  Having returned to Scapa, Iron Duke was detached to Invergordon for a refit. In his book The Grand Fleet 1914-1916 Jellicoe writes of Iron Dukes refit; " Iron Duke and Centurion, which were sent to Cromarty, the Iron Duke to dock and refit and the Centurion to act as "stand by" Fleet-Flagship during the refit".  It would seem that during her time in Cromarty, Jellicoe remained on board?

On the 23rd February Iron Duke exited the dockyard and steamed north to resume her role as the fleet flagship.  The following month, between the 7th and the 10th, the Fleet conducted another sweep of the northern North Sea, during which it participated in  further training manoeuvre's. Another such operation was to take place between the 16th and 19th March.  The Grand Fleet was at sea again on the 11 April conducting a patrol in the central North Sea and returning to port on 14 April. Similar sorties were to take place between 17 and 19 April, followed by gunnery drills off the Shetlands on 20 and 21 April.

The Grand Fleet conducted a further sweep into the central North Sea between the 17 and 19 May but without encountering any German shipping. On the 25th May, the day following Italys entry into the war, Jellicoe took the Iron Duke to Rosyth so he could to confer with Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, who had succeeded Lord Fisher as First Sea Lord. The conference took place on the 26th  and Iron Duke returned to Scapa Flow on the 28th. The following day was to see another of the fruitless sweeps into the North Sea, returning to port on the 31st May. On her return to Scapa Flow, Iron Duke was immediately dispatched to Cromarty, but no reason is recorded in my sources. On 12 June, 1915 the Battle Fleet and Cruiser Squadrons carried out further target practice. Commander Matthew R. Best onboard Iron Duke was to write in his journal, "Warspite & QE salvoes were delightful to watch. Mackinnon spread about 200 [yards] with ½ charges at 12000 [yards]".The 2nd August saw the 2nd Battle Squadron, in company with the 1st Cruiser Squadron conducted yet more gunnery training at Cromarty, so maybe there in lays the reason for the visit in May? After the completion of their exercises, the ships returned once more to Scapa Flow. The 7th August was once again to see both Admiral and ship in Cromarty for another meeting, but this time with the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.  She returned to Scapa Flow by 16 August.

Between the 2nd and 5th September, the Grand Fleet went on another sweep in the northern end of the North Sea and conducted more gunnery drills. Through the rest of September the fleet completed a number of additional training exercises following which, Iron Duke was despatched to Invergordon on 1st October for another period of refitting, the  work lasting until 11 October.  Two days later the bulk of the fleet conducted a sweep into the North Sea, returning to port on 15 October. Between the 2nd to 5th November  Iron Duke and her sisters  participated in further fleet training operations west of the Orkneys, with a repeat of this on the 1st to 4th December, and later in the month, Iron Duke took part in gunnery drills. During these drills she conducted an experiment to determine the accuracy of her gunners. Jellicoe concluding that the "result was very satisfactory."  On the 20th December Iron Duke undertook a short range gunnery practice. Forty rounds were fired using reduced charges at a towed target of 146 by 30 feet in size at a average range of 7,000 yards on a smooth sea. The extreme visibility was 13,000 yards and director firing was used for the practice. Whilst firing a two point turn was made, but the rate of fire was maintained. A "high" bearing rate of 6 degrees per minute was incurred, and continuous training was carried out. "Rapid Salvos" was ordered after three salvos, and the ship fired seven times in the next 85 seconds, faster than the guns could be continuously loaded. At least twelve actual hits on the target were counted. The rangefinders worked rapidly throughout the shooting, obtaining 10 hits per minute for each of the first three minutes. This was in part possible, as the 6 degree elevation used, did not require the guns to be depressed while loading to clear the lines of sight of the turret rangefinders. Thirty-eight of the shells were fired in 2 minutes, 52 seconds.
The new year of 1916 was to see both the Benbow and Emperor of India as part of the  4th Battle Squadron,  while Marlborough was stationed within the 1st Battle Squadron.
 
On the 12th January 1916 Iron Duke was in collision with the tanker Prudentia, which had come adrift in winds of up to 80 mph and drifted across the Iron Dukes bows. Whilst Iron Duke was undamaged the unfortunate Prudentia was sunk. The gale in Scapa flow also drove one ammunition-ship, one store-carrier, a tug and three trawlers ashore. 

Iron Duke, in company with the fleet conducted a routine of gunnery drills and squadron exercises through the rest of January, and the fleet sailed for a sweep in the North Sea on 26 February. Jellicoe had planned to make use of the Harwich Force to conduct a sweep to the Heligoland Bight, but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea. As a result of this weather, the operation was amended to the northern end of the North Sea.  On the night of 25 March, Iron Duke with the rest of the fleet slipped out from Scapa Flow to give support to the Battlecruiser Fleet and the other light forces that raided the German zeppelin base at Tondern. By the time of the Grand Fleets approached to the area on 26 March, the British and German forces had already broken off from contact, disengaged and a severe gale threatened the light craft. Iron Duke took the destroyers under her wing to shepherd them to Scapa while the rest of the fleet retired separately to Scapa.

In October 1914, it had been decided that Emperor of India should be fitted with an Open Director Sight for each of her turrets. These were finally fitted between April 1916 and June 1917. She also received a temporary director system for her secondary battery fitted between November and December, 1916 which was replaced by a permanent  one sometime in 1917.

On 21 April, the Grand Fleet conducted another of its relentless sweep's, off Horns Reef this time, in an effort to distract the German navy while the Russians relaid its defensive minefields in the Baltic Sea. The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and  once having re-coaled, sailed south in response to intelligence reports  hinting that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft. The Grand Fleet didn't reach the area until after the German ships had withdrawn back to their home waters. The 2nd to 4th May was to see another sweep conducted by the fleet  off Horns Reef to keep German eyes focused on the North Sea.

Late in May 1916 the Emperor of India departed Scapa to undergo a refit and was to be  absent when on the 31st May when the Grand Fleet sailed on a sortie that was to climax in the Battle of Jutland. The Iron Duke (Capt Frederic Charles Dreyer, C.B) was ninth in the British line, steaming at head of 4th battle Squadron, 3rd Division,  but she was not part of 4th Battle Squadron.  Benbow (Capt Henry Wise Parker) was near the lines centre forming part of the  4th Battle Squadron,  and was the 4th Division's flagship (Vice Admiral Sturdee) with Bellerophon, Temeraire), Vanguard in company with her. HMS Marlborough (Capt George Parish Ross), was toward's the line's rear as flag ship of  the 1st Battle Squadron, 6th Division and was the flagship of Vice Admiral Cecil Burney, second in command of the Grand fleet, with Revenge, Hercules and Agincourt forming her division.

The opening phase in the battle that English history calls Jutland and German history Skagerrakschlacht was conducted primarily between the British and German battlecruiser squadrons in the afternoon. By 18:00 the Grand Fleet was approaching the scene and at 18:30 Jellicoe gave the order to deploy the fleet for meeting the German battlefleet in action. The transition from British cruising formation caused congestion within the rear divisions, forcing Marlborough and a number of other ships to reduce speed to 8 knots in an effort to avoid colliding with each other. The British ships suffered initially from poor visibility and Marlborough could faintly make out a group of Kaiser class dreadnoughts  at 18:17. In the span of four minutes, she fired seven salvos, with the range increasing from 10,000 yards (9,100 m) out to 13,000 yards (12,000 m). Marlborough's gunners claimed after the battle to have made a number of hits with their fifth and seventh salvos but its was unlikely to be correct. Marlborough's guns were then blocked by a burning vessel, in all likelihood the armoured cruiser HMS Warrior. At 18:14 two large caliber shells fell near Iron Duke, but they were to cause no damage. Fifteen minutes later, Iron Duke having closed to within 26,000 yards (24,000 m), of the German fleet engaged SMS König. Her first salvo fell short, but the next three were to be on target, the Duke's gunners claiming at least six hits on the König. She had in fact struck König seven times and had inflicted a significant amount of damage.

Marlborough joined the group of battleships that were pounding the German light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden at 18:25, and fired five salvos, before a premature detonation in the right barrel of "A" turret disabled the gun. The barrels  jacket cracked, a large portion of jacket was broken off. At the same time she also engaged Wiesbaden with her 6" battery. At 18:39, Marlborough engaged what appeared to be a Kaiser class ship, firing one salvo before the unidentified  vessel disappeared into the haze. While Marlborough was shelling the Wiesbaden, the German cruiser manage to launched one or two torpedoes in return at around 18:45. One torpedo struck Marlborough near the starboard diesel generator room, with the detonation creating a 28 foot (8.5 m) hole in the hull and causing significant flooding. The flooding forced the forward boilers on that side of the ship to be extinguished and the ship's speed dropped to 16 knots. Marlborough developed a 7° list to starboard and due to the list. The list also caused all the firing generators in turrets to flood, and it became necessary to disconnect the pipe and allow the water to drain away. Burney at first reported to Jellicoe that his flag ship had struck a mine or had been hit by a torpedo at 18:57. Further torpedoes from the torpedo boat SMS V48, forced Marlborough and the rest of her division to take an evasive action.

At 19:03, Marlborough once again engaged Wiesbaden, in concert with  Iron Duke, and Benbow. Marlborough fired four salvos at ranges of between 9,500 and 9,800 yards (8,700 to 9,000 m). She possibly delivered three shells from her last two salvos on target and it was these that were to finally silence the cruiser, but it was to be several more hours before Wiesbaden succumb to her wounds and sank. At 19:11 Iron Duke and Benbow engaged the German destroyers with her secondary battery at a range of 9,000 to 10,000 yards (8,200 to 9,100 m). Iron Duke's gunners claimed to have sunk one of the destroyers and damaged a second, but  there were no hits scored on their targets.  Shortly afterwards the German destroyers attempted to launch a torpedo attack on the British line and Iron Duke in company with other battleships opened fire at 19:24. The sinking of the destroyer SMS S35 is credited to a salvo from Iron Duke, but its impossible in a melee to accurately decided which ship fired which shells. Marlborough now turned her fire to the König class battleships leading the German line at 19:12. She fired thirteen salvos over the next six minutes at SMS Grosser Kurfürst at ranges of 10,200 to 10,750 yards (9,330 to 9,830 m), scoring three hits, and claiming erroneously a forth strike. During this phase of the battle, Marlborough fired two torpedoes, the first at Wiesbaden at 19:10 and the second at SMS Kaiser at 19:25. Both were to miss.

Benbow's gun crews fired six salvos from her main turrets between 19:17 and 19:25, the first from two of her forward guns in order to mark the range, and then four 5-gun and one 4-gun salvo in rapid succession. The gunners claimed, erroneously, to have struck the battlecruiser Derfflinger. At around this time, Benbow and three other battleships opened fire with 6" guns on a group of torpedo boats that were launching an attack on the British line. The vessels made four hits, but in the confusion, credit for the hits could not be confirmed.

By about 19:30, Marlborough's pumps had managed to contain the flooding in the boiler rooms but she retained her 7° to 8° list. It was for some reason decided not to counter-flood, but instead her crew attempted to correct the list by using coal and oil from the starboard bunkers. As a result of the list the generators supplying power to the main battery turrets flooded, which hampered the gun crews, in particular  as shells were transferred from the magazines to the turrets. The explosion from the torpedo had caused damage to forty watertight compartments. But the torpedo bulkhead had managed to localise most of the damage and the more badly damaged compartments were sufficiently shored up. At 19:33 a further three more torpedoes were fired towards the Marlborough. She evaded the first two and the third luckily passed under the hull, causing no further damage to the ship.

Following a final German destroyer attack, the High Seas Fleet broke off its contact with the British forces,  and Iron Duke, with the rest of the Grand Fleet were to see no further action in the battle. In part  this was due to the confusion on aboard Iron Duke over the exact location and course of the German fleet. Without accurate information, Jellicoe could not bring his fleet to action with the German forces, unless by luck he stumbled onto them himself. Benbow was to briefly engage a group of torpedo boats at about 21:10, with a salvo of 6-inch shells and a single 13.5-inch round. At 21:30, the Grand Fleet commenced it reorganization into its night time cruising formation. With the morning of 1 June the Grand Fleet combed the area of the battle, looking for damaged German ships, but after spending several hours searching, none were found, Iron Duke with the Grand Fleet returned to Scapa Flow, arriving at 11:30 on the 1st June.

While the Grand fleet steamed back to its respective ports, one British Dreadnought remained at sea, not reaching port until the 2nd June, Following the two fleets disengagement late on the 31st, the Grand Fleet headed south in an attempt to cut off the retreating Germans and be in a position to re-engage when the sun came back up the following morning. The 6th Division's speed  was slowed down by Marlborough, which could make by now achieve no more than 15.75 knots. At approximately 02:00 on 1 June, the 6th Division was now 12 nautical miles behind the rest of the fleet, and at this moment Marlborough's bulkheads in the starboard forward boiler room started to give way under the strain. This forced Marlborough down to 12 knots. The damage control teams reported that they believed if the main battery were to fire, the shoring supporting the damaged bulkheads would give way, greatly increasing the risk to the ship. As a result Jellicoe ordered the ship to make her way independently to Rosyth or the Tyne. Burney ordered at 02:15, the scout cruiser Fearless alongside and at  02:30 with engines stopped, he transfered to the battleship Revenge. With the Admiral gone, Marlborough turned northward at 11 knots.

Fearless rejoined Marlborough to act as her escort  and at about 04:00 a great deal of firing could be heard to the southward. Soon after this a Zeppelin was sighted crossing from astern and steering approximately east. Marlborough's 3" H.A. gun engaged the airship firing 12 rounds. "X" and "Y" turrets at a range of between 5,000 and 10,000 yards. She also opened fire with A.P. shell, which was already loaded in the guns, and two rounds of common which was in 'G.L. cage'. In all four rounds were fired. The nose of the Zeppelin was seen to dip very suddenly, but it couldn't be seen if  she had been hit, German records claim she was unscathed.

Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt's Harwich Force had finally been allowed to sail in order to reinforce the Grand Fleet, and to relieve ships  that were low on fuel. Tyrwhitt sailed his squadron at 03:50 but this was already too late for them to reach the fleet by morning. As a result Jellicoe ordered Tyrwhitt to detach some destroyers to escort Marlborough as she limped back to port. Jellicoe ordered the stricken dreadnought to proceed to Tyne or Rosyth viâ 'M channel'. At 04:30 her course was altered to S. 38 W at 14 knots. Owing to the deep draught the ship know drew the captain decided to make for Rosyth for her temporary repairs.

At 09:30  two submarines were observed, bearing west about 8 miles off and steering towards the Marlborough with their conning towers awash. Five minutes later the two boats dived, and Marlborough's course was altered away from the danger, her course being resumed at 10.50 to S. 56 W. At 10.52  an oily patch was observed about 2 miles astern, and the track of a torpedo passed the ship, the torpedo passed along the port side, two cables off. The two submarines were the British G3 and G5 and they both recognized the two British ships as they moved into a attacking position. The submarines in fact did not launch any torpedoes. 

At 11.10  Marlborough's course was altered to westward, and at 13:45 Commodore (T) with the Harwich Flotillas was sighted bearing S.E. The destroyers Lark, Lance, Lysander, and Lassoo, and shortly afterwards Laforey, Lookout, Lawford, and Laverock were detached to act as her escort. Then at 16:00 the destroyers Ness and Albatross joined the growing flotilla. As the evening drew on the wind freshened from the S.W and was blowing force 5 by 20:00. At 22:00 the wind had shifted to W.S.W and strengthened to force 6, with a rising sea.

At about the same time (22:00) the water in "A" boiler room had risen through the suction of the ash expeller pump and submersible pump continually choking and the canvas hose of the ejector burst. By midnight the water was gaining on the pumps and was now about 4 feet below the grating around the top of the boilers. Commander Currey reported that things were serious below, and asked for a salvage tug to be signalled for. The Marlborough's Captain altered course to S.W. by W and ordered a reduction in speed to 10 knots, while he steered her for the lee of Flamborough Head, which was distant about 50 miles. He ordered the Fearless one and a half cables to windward of the fore bridge as the sea was now breaking over the starboard side of the upper deck. At the same time he wirelessed Jellicoe about the situation, and asked that the S.N.O. Tyne, send tugs to meet the dreadnought off  Flamborough Head. He also warned the destroyers to be prepared to come alongside on the lee side should the crew need to be take off.

The Laforey and Lookout suggested they lay an oil track ahead of Marlborough and at  02:00 Lance's division was ordered to lay the oil track, both ahead and to windward of Marlborough. This was to ease Marlborough's struggles, and her Captain was grateful to the destroyers for the idea. Her wireless messages to Jellicoe had been intercepted by the Admiralty and a signal was received from the Admiralty ordering her to proceed to the Humber. In the meanwhile in "A" boiler room, Stoker Petty Officer Ackerman was sent down in a diving dress and he cleared the suctions of the pumps. At 01:00 the water finally stopped rising and her speed was increased to 12 knots at 03:00. At about 04:30 the steam ejector was  repaired and the boiler room was cleared of water well below the floor plates by about 05:15.  As Marlborough drew closer to the coast the weather improved, and at 05:30 the destroyers could stopped laying their oil track.

Marlborough finally passed Spurn Light Vessel at 07:35, and was secured to No. 3 buoy off Immingham by 10:00.Whilst she was there, her forward main battery and 6-inch magazines were emptied to lighten the ship, more pumps were brought aboard and the shoring supporting the damaged bulkhead was reinforced. On the morning of 6 June, Marlborough sailed once more, escorted by four destroyers from the Harwich force,  for the Tyne, where she could receive permanent repairs. In the course of the battle, A post battle report lists her danger as follows:
" The principle damage, two views of which are given, was caused by the explosion of a torpedo which struck the ship on the Starboard side about 20 feet below the Water Line in the vicinity of 86 - 88 Stations.

The Outer Bottom Plating was holed irregularly from the lower edge of the armour belt to the outside edge of the Docking-Keel plate transversely, and from about 85 to 98 Stations longitudinally, an area of about 20 feet × 26 feet in extent. Beyond this the plating was distorted and indented generally to about 78 Station on the Forward side and 111 Station on the Aft side, and towards the Middle Line to between the 1st and 2nd Longitudinals.

The Inner Bottom Plating was holed to an extent similar to that of the Outer Bottom, and damaged over an area corresponding to that of the damaged Outer Bottom, which was also pierced in several other places adjacent by the lower ends of the stiffening angles on the transverse framing being forced through it.

The framing, both transverse and longitudinal, was torn and much distorted where the plating was holed, and very badly crushed over the remaining damaged area.

The Bilge-keel was completely carried away between 85 and 110 stations, a portion of the wood filling being found in a beam space under the Lower Deck against the Magazine Protective Bulkhead in the Dynamo Room. Between 78 and 85 Stations the Bilge-keel was distorted and torn away from the connecting angles which were forced inboard with the Outer Bottom Plating. At the After end of the damaged area, the upper part of the Bilge-keel was doubled back.

The outer edge of the slope of the Middle Deck between 80 and 111 stations was drawn downwards and inboard as was also the covering plate, the fastenings of the latter being carried away from the armour plate, but remaining intact in the outer bottom plating.

The bulkhead between the Wing Space and the Dynamo-room was penetrated and bulged in from the Inner Deck to the Inner Bottom. The inner Coal Bunker bulkhead was bulged in to a corresponding extent and also the bulkhead to the Forward Boiler Room, this limiting the extent of the damage in an inboard direction, although the watertight doors on the bulkhead were rendered non-watertight by distortion. The bulging of this bulkhead jammed the telegraph shafting running adjacent to it, and communication had to be made by other means.

The crown of the Dynamo Room which formed the floor of the Hydraulic Machinery Room and the floor of the Electric Lead Passage were bulged upwards, also the floor of the Dynamo Room, the Oil Drain Tank beneath it being badly damaged. The Hydraulic Tank was also damaged considerably.

The transverse bulkhead at 78 Station was damaged at its outer edge, where the fastenings were carried away over a small area. That at 90 Station was much distorted over an area extending from the Outer Bottom to the inner bulkhead of the Dynamo Room, a distance of about 20 feet. The bulkhead at 92 Station forming the after boundary of the Transverse Coal Bunker was also badly buckled from the Inner Coal Bunker Bulkhead to about 6 or 8 feet from the Middle Line. The Coal Bunker Bulkhead at 100 Station was buckled over practically the whole of its area, while the damage to 111 transverse bulkhead was limited to slight buckling at its outer edge where connected to the Inner Bottom.

The flats of the compartments between 66 and 78 Stations below the Middle Deck were strained causing leaks.

The torpedo-net shelf above the position of the damage was forced up by the explosion, three supporting brackets being torn away from the armour. The Upper Deck stringer-plate was also sel [?] up in the vicinity and fractured transversely for a short length.

Difficulty was experienced in opening the Conning Tower door after the explosion and it was found that the lower hinge pin was slightly bent. The belt armour was neither damaged nor displaced by the explosion".

Marlborough was repaired by the Armstrong Whitworth shipyard at Jarrow, with the work completed by 31st July/2nd August, (depending on your  source) after which she sailed for Cromarty, arriving on 5th August. During her repair work, an extra 100 tonnes (98 long tons; 110 short tons) of armour plating was added to the ship, mainly over the magazines. The additional plating was as a result of the British experience at Jutland, where three battlecruisers had been destroyed from their magazine exploding.

Through the battle Iron Duke had fired ninety rounds from her main battery, along with fifty rounds from her secondary guns. Benbow fired forty 13.5-inch armour-piercing, capped shells and sixty 6-inch rounds. During the battle Marlborough had fired one hundred and sixty-two 13.5" (138 Lyddite 24 common  0 miss-fires) sixty 6" (55 Lyddite 5 common 0 miss-fires) shells and five torpedoes. When the ship was struck by the torpedo, Stoker William Rustage, (Official Number K. 20,877), and Stoker Edgar G. Monk, (Official Number K. 4,266), who had been on duty in the Diesel room, were instantly killed. In addition two other crew members were wounded.

June 1916 was to see the Emperor of India transferred to the 1st Battle Squadron, where she once again served as the second division flagship. She was to remain with the 1st Squadron for the remaining duration of the war. Around the same time, the Benbow was relieved as the squadron flagship, and from that point was to serve as a 'private ship'. Benbow's had her armour upgraded in July with the  additional deck armour, primarily over the ammunition magazines. The work was completed by August. Emperor of India and Iron Duke had their additional 100 tonnes (98 long tons; 110 short tons) of armour fitted between October and December. The later half of 1916 was to also see the Emperor of India equipped with the equipment necessary for her to operate a kite balloon.

In 1916 it was suggested by the Government that Lord Kitchener be despatched to Russia for face-to-face meetings with the Czar and his government. Kitchener with his party of officials, military aides and personal servants left London by train for Scotland on the evening of 4 June 1916. From Scrabster he sailed to Scapa Flow where on the 5 June he aboard HMS Oak before transferring to Iron Duke for lunch with Jellicoe. Before lunch the two men toured the ship, where officers and crew made them welcome. Over lunch they discussed kitchener's forthcoming trip to Russia and once the table had been cleared the conversation turned to the recent battle of Jutland.  An hour after his meeting he transfered to the armoured cruiser HMS Hampshire for his diplomatic mission to Russia. Just before 19:30 she left the Flow, steaming towards the Russian port of Arkhangelsk in a Force 9 gale. Hampshire was to strike a mine laid by the newly commissioned U-boat U-75 (Curt Beitzen) and sank west of the Orkney Islands. Only twelve of the crew survived and amongst the dead were all ten members of his entourage. Kitchener was last to be seen standing on the quarterdeck during the twenty minutes that it was to take for the Hampshire to sink.

On the 7th July George V visited Grand Fleet, arriving in Scapa from Thurso on board HMS Oak at 17:00, with an escort from  the destroyers of the 11th Flotilla. After cruising round the Fleet in the Oak, the King boarded Iron Duke, where he was to spend the night. The following day he addressed an assembly of officers and men onboard Iron Duke, his audience being comprised of personnel   from the ships at Scapa. Then he visited all the squadrons flagship, reviewed the officers and men of the smaller vessels, destroyers, sloops, etc. He visited the island of Flotta, the hospital ships, and reviewed the  auxiliary vessels anchored in Scapa Flow, followed by further visits to the shore batteries, and an inspection of the anti-submarine defences and the boom vessels. The weather  was rapidly turning for the worse, but the visits programme went ahead despite the conditions. The king finally left for Thurso in the Oak at 17:00. As he sailed out of Scapa the king signalled the fleet: "Sir John Jellicoe, officers, and men of the Grand Fleet, you have waited for nearly two years with most exemplary patience for the opportunity of meeting and engaging the enemy's fleet.
I can well understand how trying has been this period, and how great must have been the relief when you knew on May 31st that the enemy had been sighted.

Unfavourable weather conditions and approaching darkness prevented that complete result which you all expected, but you did all that was possible in the circumstances. You drove the enemy into his harbours, and inflicted on him very severe losses, and you added yet another page to the glorious traditions of the British Navy.
You could not do more, and for your splendid work I thank you." The king went on to visit the squadrons based at Invergordon, and Rosyth as he handed south.

On the 25th July Iron Duke was to lead the  fleet in a practice shoot which was to include:
1:Rapid ranging with double salvos and ladders
2: Rapid salvo firing under new regulations intended to eliminate catastrophic explosions as at Jutland
3: Rapid and excellent range finding
Though the maximum range at which director laying seemed optically possible was just 12,900 yards, firing was from 12,500 and 11,300 yards at the same sized target in misty weather with "severe mirage". Iron Duke in 1 minute, 52 seconds fired six salvos and firing was stopped as the target was being continual straddled. A turn of two points away was then made, and the firing resumed after pausing for three minutes firing. In 2 minutes 50 seconds, eight salvos were fired, six of which straddled and badly damaged the target. In all, fourteen salvos of 56 shells were fired with one missed fire

On the 7th August Iron Duke was to take Jellicoe to Cromarty for a meeting the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer who were about to visit Invergordon.  Ship and Admiral returned to Scapa on the 16th.

On 18th August, the German navy once again sortied into the North Sea, to repeat the plan that had taken them to sea on the 31st May, a bombardment of Sunderland. Scheer hoped once again to draw out Beatty's battlecruisers and destroy them in piecemeal. But Room 40 decrypted the German wireless transmissions, and Jellicoe deployed the Grand Fleet in an attempt to engage the German forces. But both sides were to withdrew, following  submarines inflicted losses. The cruisers Nottingham and Falmouth were both torpedoed and sunk by German U-boats, while the German battleship SMS Westfalen was damaged by the British submarine E23. Once back in Scapa, Jellicoe issued an order that prohibited risking the fleet in the southern half of the North Sea due to the overwhelming risk from mines and U-boats unless their was a good chance of defeating the High Seas Fleet in a decisive engagement.

On September 20th Iron Duke led the Battle Fleet, (2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron, 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, Campania, and the destroyer flotillas) on a sortie from  between the Orkneys and Shetland Islands and the Norwegian coast. Fleet battle exercises were carried out during the time the ships were at sea. On November 1st Jellicoe left the Iron Duke at Cromarty and proceeded to the Admiralty at the request of the First Lord, Mr. Balfour, returning to the fleet on 5th.

Whilst Iron Duke was in dock for the fitting of her additional armour, Admiral Beatty replaced Jellicoe as the commander of the Grand Fleet on the 28th November 1916. Iron Duke was to retain her role as fleet flagship until January 1917, after which Beatty transferred his flag to Queen Elizabeth. It seems that Iron Dukes crew had never, according to some sources, warmed to their new C-in-C and  the poor atmosphere on board is given as the reason Beatty transferred his flag. Iron Duke was transfered to the 1st Battle Squadron, where she joined her three sisters as their flagship. But a month later the Revenge replaced her as the Squadrons flagship, and Marlborough now served as the second command flagship to the 1st Battle Squadron. Marlborough was again, all be it briefly this time, replaced in her role by Emperor of India in May and she temporarily became a private ship. Possibly this indicates Marlborough was absent from Scapa on a refit or maintenance?

The new year of 1918 was to find all four Iron Dukes as part of the 1st Battle Squadron,  a placement they were  to retain until the end of hostilities. The final year of the war was to see a number of modifications to the class. All four received flying-off platforms mounted  on their "B" and "Q" turrets to allow them to be able to operate a reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft was not a permanent fixture on the flying off platform and would only be carried if it was to be needed. The Emperor also had the equipment that was needed to tow a kite (or balloon) fitted in 1918. They also underwent the installation of larger and additional searchlights to help improve their night fighting  capabilities and rangefinder baffles that were intended to make it more difficult to estimate the range for enemy gunners. The baffles were later to be removed.

The armistice brought the surrender of the German Fleet on the 21st November 1918 and all four Iron Duke's were present on the day the Cardiff led the High Seas Fleet into captivity.

I can find no record of her decommissioning, but on the 12th March 1919, Marlborough was recommissioned at Devonport, then with her three Sisters and two Centurion class battleships she was assigned to the 4th Battle Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. Iron Duke  became the fleet flagship of Vice Admiral Sir John de Robeck between 26 July 1919 and 14 May 1922. Then Vice Admiral Sir Osmond Brock between 15 May and 7 June 1925.

In April 1919 a detachment from the Mediterranean fleet passed through the Dardanelles on route to the Black Sea to participate in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Whilst on route Iron Duke stopped over in Constantinople on 7 April. There she was to be involved in the destruction of warships and other materiel that might be used by the Bolsheviks. 

On the morning of 4th April 1919, HMS Marlborough (Captain Johnson),  left Constantinople  for Sevastopol in the Crimea bearing a letter from Queen Alexandra (Queen of the United Kingdom, the British Dominions, Empress of India and the wife of King Edward VII), to her sister the Dowager Empress Maria of Russia, (Maria Feodorovna was the widow of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and mother of Tsar Nicolas II. Born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, she was a daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark), advising her to leave Russia as soon as possible to escape from the Bolsheviks and advising her that Marlborough was ready to carry her to Malta and then on to England. The Empress had already refused to similar offer from Captain Thesiger of HMS Calypso, about four weeks previously. She was reluctant to leave Russia in spite of the fact that the Bolsheviks were rapidly gaining control of the country and their front line was drawing near to the Crimea.The order to rescue the Empress had originated from King George V, but the real power behind the  mission had been his mother Queen Alexandra who wanted her sister rescued at all cost. King George was most likely to have done nothing without his mothers instance. He had refused to rescue his cousin, Tsar Nicolas II, leaving them to the Bolsheviks rather than help him or his family, being afraid that anti-monarchical feelings could sweep over into Britain. Shamefully, he later tried to blame Prime Minister Lloyd George for his decision.

When the two ships captains, Johnson and Thesiger, returned back on board their respective ships from the meeting with the Empress in Yalta on the 6th April, they ordered the ships to sail for Yalta the next day,  in order to embark those whom the Empress wished to take with her. She'd only agreed to her sisters proposal on the understanding that she would not board the Marlborough until arrangements had been made for the  evacuation of all soldiers, the wounded and the people loyal to her in the neighborhood of Yalta should they wish to leave. Up until that time, the French High Commission had agreed to provide the ships needed for the evacuation, but then with a change of mind now refused, leaving the British alone to handle the evacuation.

The exact number of those who boarded  HMS Marlborough with the Empress is unknown, but it  certainty exceeded the numbers that had been planned. The original plan had been to rescue only the Empress along with a few of those closest to her, maybe in total ten or twelve people. But now plans had to be remade to house and feed a larger number. The officers' cabins at the aft end of the ship were allocated for around thirty-five people and wherever it was feasible the number of bunks in other cabins were doubled up. The Captain's cabin was reserved for the Empress herself,  and the Captain relocated himself to his sea-cabin beneath the bridge. (The Empress, despite her bearing, would in private indulge her habit as a chain smoker. If a servant came in she would quickly hide the cigarette behind her like a guilty schoolgirl, oblivious that the smoke continued to rise behind her back). The officers who surrendered their cabins had to so fend for themselves in  other areas of the officers' quarters. In total around 35 officers quarters were allocated to the ships 'guest'.  A search of the ship only yielded around  thirty spare mattresses and sheets were even more scare, even with officers did offer up their own supplies for the Empresses party. The question of food supplies and additional cooking facilities produced further problems to be solved. Even the captains chef was to lend a hand with the catering.

Two ship's officers were sent ashore at Yalta to organize the white Russians who had decided to take the opportunity to leave Russia. They quickly learnt that the Empress would not be boarding the ships boat from Yalta's pier, but from her summer palace at Harax. Marlborough duly sailed a few miles along the coast to a small cove named Koriez, which was within easy reach of Harax. The British officers now learnt that Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Xenia, the sister of the Emperor, and the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Peter, the Emperor's cousins, would be among those leaving Russia on board Marlborough and more suitable accommodation would need to be arranged.

The first officer overseeing the arrangements noticed that even more passengers were arriving on board and in company with Count Fersen (on the staff of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich) he noticed two unaccompanied ladies uncertain as to where they should go. He quickly realized one of the ladies, an elderly little lady dressed in black, resembled Queen Alexandra was in fact the Empress. Count Fersen saluted the Empress and presented her and the other lady who was the Grand Duchess Xenia, to the British officer.The Empress was escorted and with her companion to the Captain's quarters and as Fersen and the officer were about to leave the Grand Duchess enquired as to what the two men were in fact doing. Having explained they were trying to sort out accommodation on board the Grand Duchess said she would come accompany them and help them as to how to best allocate the cabins. What had been becoming a difficult task was now simplified and easily resolved. A further thorny issue was the stowing the luggage. Some of the evacuees arrived having had only received short notice and as a result bore only a little luggage. But what was brought onboard soon amounted to a small mountain. Princess Marina the elder daughter of Grand Duke Peter helped as an interpreter as the British crew struggled with non English speaking servants and Russian Cyrillic script labels.

The Marlborough departed Koriez after dark and anchored once again off Yalta, where she remained for a few days before finally sailing for Constantinople . The battleship now carried fifty passengers, thirty-eight of whom were women. Amount these thirty-eight people was H.I.H. the Grand Duke Nicholas and H.I.H. the Grand Duke Peter, with their Grand Duchesses. The six feet six inch tall Grand Duke Nicholas, who while on board HMS Marlborough, always dressed in a Cossack costume with the tall lambskin head-dress. Another member of the party, also wearing Cossack costume, was Prince Youssoupoff, formerly the Governor of Moscow, and maybe the biggest landowner in Russia. He was accompanied by his wife Princess Zinaida, his son Prince Felix Youssoupoff, (who had been heavily involved in Rasputins murder), his daughter-in-law Princess Irina Youssoupoff (daughter of the Grand Duchess Xenia) and his grand-daughter Princess Irina, aged about five. With the Grand Duchess Xenia was five of her six sons, the Princes Feodor, Nikita, Dimitri, Rostislav and Vassili. Prince Feodor, her second son, was twenty, and the youngest, Vassili, twelve.  Prince Vassili was to become a great favourite throughout the ship, as sailors took to the lively youngster, who  spoke English fluently, was full of enthusiasm for all things naval, and possessed a good  knowledge of British warships.

The following day, (8th April), was spent bring on board the rest of those that were to accompany the Empress. With them came yet further tonnage of luggage.The ships crew were assisted on shore by a party of one hundred and twenty officers of the Imperial Army in coping with the new arrivals and their luggage. The officer in command of the party suggested the new comers bring bedding, which much to the ships relief, they did.

Every morning that he was onboard the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevich Romanov would approached the Empress, who was sat on deck, and presented himself to her with an immaculate military salute, and then paid her homage by bending low and kissing her hand. All the more odd considering the Empress upheld a fierce, acrimonious, and quite petty dispute with her neighbor on the Crimea, namely the hand kisser.

The Red Army had by this time defeated the resistance in the northern Crimea and were advancing rapidly southwards. More refugees in rapidly increasing numbers were now streaming into Yalta and on to the pier in ever growing numbers. A state of chaos developed among the terrified refugees. Children became separated from their parents and husbands from their wives and some were never to reunite with their families. Many of those that reached the pier were without any possessions other than the clothes on their backs. One family arrived in a state panic and on reaching the harbour jumped out of their car and ran down the pier leaving the engine still running. By the end there were enough abandoned cars to provide at least one for every officer in the ship. That evening Marlborough was warned by the police that there was a danger that the local Bolsheviks might revolt at any time, and Marlborough agreed to the polices request that her searchlights were swept over the town all through that night.

Over the next three days the evacuation of Yalta, despite strong winds and rough sea, carried on. During those days a succession of people arrived on board Marlborough asking to see the Empress Maria and  begging her to take them with her, many of which she was unable to help.

Shortly before the evacuation of Yalta was completed, a British sloop embarked about four hundred of the Imperial Guard, mostly officers, who had collected at Yalta, for transport to Sevastopol. The sloop steamed slowly past the Marlborough, to allow those on board to salute the Empress Maria and obtain a last sight of her. On Marlborough's quarter deck were a number of her distinguished passengers, including the Empress and the Grand Duke Nicholas. The Empress stood sadly and apart from the others near the ensign staff,  while the voices of the Imperial Guard singing the Russian Imperial Anthem drifted across the water to her in last salute.  This was to be the last occasion on which the Russian Imperial Anthem was sung to a member of the Imperial family within Russian territory.

In the afternoon of the 11th April Marlborough, without any escort, sailed from her anchorage off Yalta and headed out into the Black Sea. The passengers gathered on deck watching as the  coast line of the Crimea slowly faded from sight.  She had on board twenty members of the Imperial family, which included two small children, plus twenty five ladies and gentlemen of the suites of Her Majesty, the Grand Duchess Xenia and the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Peter. The maids, servants and others added an additional thirty six to the number for whom some form accommodation needed to found on board. It was estimated at the time Marlborough sailed from Russian waters she was carrying near two hundred tons of luggage.

On the morning of 12 April the ship anchored off Halki Island, about 12 miles off Constantinople , due to an uncertainty about the final destination of the former Russian Royal family. On 16 April the Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, his wife the Grand Duchess Anastasia, the Grand Duke Peter Nicholaievitch, his wife Grand Duchess Milica, Princess Marina, Prince Roman, Count, Countess Tyszkiewich, Baron and Baroness Staal, Mr Boldyreff, Dr Malama with their respective servants transfered from the ship to HMS Lord Nelson, which then sailed for Genoa. The free space was quickly  filled by a number of new visitors, the Count Dimitri, Countess Sophia Mengden, Count George, Countess Irina Mengden, Countess Vera Mengden, Count Nicholas Mengden, Madame Helena Erchoff and two maids. On the morning of 18th April, (a Good Friday), Marlborough sailed for Malta.

Rumours were rife in Malta about the arrival of the White Russian party onboard Marlborough.  In an effort to make everything appear normal, Lord and Lady Methuen together with their A.D.C Robert Ingram went to the opera in the evening of  Saturday (12th). During an intermission in the performance Ingram was called to the phone with a call from the Military Secretary Major Denham, who told him that a decoded telegram was being delivered to the theatre by motorcyclist. On its arrived it was shown to His Excellency. HMS Marlborough duly arrived during the evening of 20th April and the Governor went on board to pay his respects to the Empress Maria Fedorovna and inform her that accommodation had been arranged for at the San Anton Palace until HMS Lord Nelson returned from Genoa to take her and her suite on to England. The Empress had enjoyed the Marlborough and the hospitality of the crew so much that when the ship reached Malta she didn’t want to go ashore. She sent a telegram to the King asking for it to take her onto England. Unfortunately, the King replied, it was wanted elsewhere.

The following morning the ships Royal Marines Guard was drawn up on parade as Captain Johnson escorted the Empress along the  Marlborough's deck to the gangway and into the barge waiting alongside. To salute her, the band played the Imperial National Anthem of Russia. The remainder of the Russians went ashore during the day and by mid afternoon all their luggage totalling more than seven hundred items had also left the ship. Marlborough then departed for Constantinople .

Maria was finally to reach Portsmouth where her sister Alix was waiting. The King meet them at Victoria Station and she went to stay with Alix at Marlborough House. But soon they got on each other’s nerves and Maria went home to Denmark for the rest of her life. She died in 1928.

During May 1919, Marlborough conducted tests with a new high-explosive 6-inch shells off the Kerch Peninsula off the Crimea, though these proved to be unreliable. Also during this period, she was to operate a kite balloon in order to assist in spotting the fall of shot. Later in the month, a shell broke up in the left barrel of "A" turret causing minor damage. Whilst she was stationed off the Kerch Peninsula, the ship provided artillery support to White troops, including bombardments of Bolshevik positions in the villages of Koi-Asan and Dal Kamici.

The Emperor of India  bombarded Bolshevik troops on 5 May 1919 outside Theodosia, and later shelled a railway being used to supply the Bolsheviks in their assault on the port. Iron Duke sailed from Constantinople  passing  back through the Dardanelles on the 12 May bound for Smyrna, where she provided a landing party to occupy some of the city's outer forts. She then returned to the Black Sea in late 1919. On her arrival at Novorossiysk on 12 October, she met the White Russian protected cruiser General Kornilov. On the 12th she departed for Sevastopol where two days later on the 14th, Marlborough arrived, allowing Iron Duke returned to Novorossiysk on 19 January 1920. In late January 1920, Benbow sailed from Constantinople  to Novorossiysk where she relieved Iron Duke, and shortly afterwards rescued a group of 150 Russian soldiers and their British adviser, who had been attacked by bandits. Rear Admiral Michael Culme-Seymour hoisted his flag aboard Benbow on the 1st February, and a shore party from the ship was despatched to inspect the White positions in the Kerch Peninsula. On 25 January, Benbow called into the ports of Yalta and Sevastopol to inspect the situation of the White Russians there. The Emperor of India, on the 26 March gave shellfire support to White Russian forces outside Novorossiysk, along with the French armoured cruiser Waldeck-Rousseau.  Soon afterwards the  Emperor of India came under fire from an armoured train, forcing the ship to leave the harbour, and head to Theodosia.  The 17 June was to see shore parties from Iron Duke and the destroyer Shark destroy the  Turkish guns in the forts protecting the Bosporus on the Black Sea. In June 1920 Benbow was ordered to return to Constantinople , where the Mediterranean Fleet was being gathered in order to begin supporting Greek forces during the Greco-Turkish War. She arrived at the Turkish capital on 19 June. On the 5 July Benbow and a number of other vessels sailed from Constantinople  to land a force at Gemlik in order to secure the harbour, and to hand it over to Greek forces that would arrive later. Benbow's men returned to the ship on 16 July after a Greek battalion reached the town.

In October 1920 the battleship King George V arrived to replace Marlborough in the Mediterranean Fleet, which allowed her to return to Devonport where she was paid off to C. & M. Party on the 1st November for a major refit. The work estimated at £211,097 was allocated for in the 1921 Naval Estimates. During her time in dock she was manned by a care-and-maintenance party under Commander Harry B. Jermain.  The planned works included the installation of range dials, along with another range-finder on  "X" turret. In addition the aircraft platform was removed from "B" turret. After her recommissioning in January 1922, Marlborough was once more deployed to the Mediterranean, where she replaced Emperor of India. She was to serve as the second command flagship until October, then following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, the Allied countries withdrew their occupation forces from Turkey. Marlborough was to be involved in the withdraw by escorting the troop convoys out of Constantinople . Marlborough then briefly served as the flagship for the deputy commander of the 4th Battle Squadron after King George V was damaged when she struck a rock off Mytilene in Greece.

February 1921 was to see Benbow, King George V, and several destroyers take part in training exercises in the Sea of Marmara. Then in 1922, the ship underwent a refit at Malta, followed in September and October with further operations against Turkish forces. On 2 September 1922, Iron Duke was on route to the Dalmatian coast for training exercises, when she received a signal about the Greek defeat in Turkey. Admiral Osmond Brock, C-in-C of the Mediterranean Fleet, ordered the ship to head to Smyrna, where trouble was trouble.  From Smyrna Iron Duke served as the flagship of the British naval forces involved in the evacuation of Greek refugees from the port and was  present during the Great Fire that devastated the city. During all the chaos of the fire, a small number of refugees came alongside Iron Duke in small boats, and were brought on board. The following month, the Allies held a conference aboard Iron Duke at Mudania to mediate the Greco-Turkish dispute. Following this Iron Duke sailed to Constantinople. The Emperor of India was also involved in observing the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22  which included stops in the ports of Mitylene and Smyrna.

In February1922 was to see the Emperor of India return home to Devonport for a refit, during which new long-base rangefinders were installed on "X" turret. She exited the refit a year later in February 1923, and the following year returned to the Mediterranean, were she took part in competitive firing trials held by the Mediterranean Fleet. Her forward torpedo flat fired at intervals of 48, 66, 47, and 69 seconds, and the aft flat at 54, 43, 51 and 48 seconds. These times were considered quite remarkable. HMS Marlborough took part in the firing trials as well with her forward torpedo flat firing at intervals of 58, 67, 77 and 203 seconds, and the aft flat at 57, 57, 99 and 271 seconds. Iron Duke achieved with her forward torpedo flat intervals of 62, 70, 93 and 132 seconds, and the aft flat at 59, 85, 75, and 101 seconds. Benbow's forward  torpedo flat fired at intervals of 62, 70, 93 and 132 seconds, and the aft flat at 59, 85, 75, and 101 seconds.

Emperor of India was to remain part of the Mediterranean Fleet  until 1926. During this stint, she was involved in a demonstration off Smyrna against Turkish demands that foreign warships leave the port.

In November 1924, Queen Elizabeth once again relieved Iron Duke of her role as a Fleet flagship and Iron Duke was then transferred to the 3rd Battle Squadron (until 1st November 1924 the 3rd BS had been the 4th BS) within the Mediterranean Fleet where she became the squadron flagship, a position she retained for eight years until 30 May 1928, when she was relieved by her sister Benbow.   Two years later in March 1926, the 3rd Battle Squadron, including Marlborough, was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet, where the battleships served as training ships. Marlbrough became the 3rd squadrons flagship on 12 May 1928. In May 1926, stability tests were conducted with Iron Duke and these provided a basis for the 1927 proposal from the Director of Naval Construction to add anti-torpedo bulges to the four Iron Duke-class ships. The proposal was sent to the Board of the Admiralty for review, but concerns over the further service value of the ships, which were due to be replaced under the 1931–32 terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, and the cost of the reconstruction led the Board to cancel the project. In 1927  the aircraft launching-platform mounted on Iron Duke's "B" turret was removed and on the 29th June 1927 Marlborough's  propeller was damaged by a torpedo. Their Lordships informed Captain Frederick Charles Fisher that a Court of Enquiry concluded that a dive to inspect the matter should have been conducted sooner than 14 July. But there  are no records for where the torpedoes came from or the results that's I've been able to find.  July to September 1927, Emperor of India underwent a refit in Devonport following which she served as the squadron flagship from June 1929 until January 1931, when she was relieved by Marlborough. In May 1928 Iron Duke went into dry dock for a periodic refit, that was completed in May 1929. Two 4 in (100 mm) anti-aircraft guns were installed on the forward superstructure. The second aircraft platform, on "Q" turret, was also removed during this refit.The 3rd Battle squadron was to remain within the Atlantic fleet until September 1930. The  Emperor of India also joined  the Atlantic Fleet, where she served until 1930.

Benbow final services was in March 1929 when she took part in major fleet training exercises in conjunction with the Mediterranean Fleet. Later that year, she ship was paid off and in  September 1930 was offered up for sale. Under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, Benbow and her sisters were ear marked to be replaced by new construction the following year. She was sold on the 6 March 1931. There was apparently a photo in The Daily Telegraph of 28 March, 1931 of Benbow under tow onroute to Rosyth. Then there was three...

In January 1931, Marlborough was to serve as the 3rd Battle Squadrons flagship, relieving the Emperor of India, a position she retained for only five months. She was decommissioned on 5 June. According to the terms of the London Naval Treaty of 1930, the four ships of the Iron Duke class were to be scrapped or demilitarised. The Iron Duke's were joined in their fate by the  battle cruiser Tiger, in order to allow the new replacements (the second King George V class) to be built in 1937 (15 years after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty). The fourth  battleship (Iron Duke) could be kept as a training ship, but all of her three of her main turrets had to be removed, her belt armor and any torpedo tubes had to be removed, and her power plant had to be reduced so that she could make no more than 18 knots.  The relevant clause in the treaty stated that Iron Duke must be refitted as soon as was possible, (the work was to be underway within twelve months of the treatys signing) and had to be completed within eighteen months. A great deal of thought was given to her demilitarization and the question arose as to what smaller guns could replace the 13.5in which were to be removed. Twin 8in were very much favoured at the time, but these would involve a great deal of rearrangement of the barbettes and supports, so 6in and 4.7in were fitted, but some experimental fittings were tested throughout the thirties with an eye to refitting other battleships with a suitable secondary armament when their time came for reconstruction. A total of 4,258 tons was to be removed. As a result of the treaty Marlborough was scheduled to be removed from service in 1931 and to be broken up for scrap. But prior to this the ship, as well as the Emperor of India, was used as a target to test the effect of various weapons on capital ships. The tests included firing destroyer calibre armament at the upper works from a close range in an effort to test its effectiveness in a simulated night engagement, direct hits from 13.5-inch shells, bomb tests, and experiments with flash tightness in the magazines. The first two tests were conducted in July 1931, and were simulations of magazine explosions. The venting system worked as designed, and while the explosions caused serious internal damage, Marlborough was not destroyed, as the battlecruisers had been at Jutland. In 1932 further tests followed, conducted with dummy 250-pound (110 kg) and 500-pound (230 kg) bombs to test deck strength; 450-pound (200 kg) armour-piercing (AP) bombs and 1,080-pound (490 kg) high explosive (HE) bombs were then detonated inside the ship to test their effectiveness. The Royal Navy determined that the HE bombs were useless, but that thicker deck armour was necessary to defeat AP bombs. This was to lead to a decision to reinforce the deck armour of all the existing battleships throughout the 1930s. Marlborough was finally placed on the disposal list in May 1932 and was quickly sold to the Alloa Shipbreaking Co. On 25 June, she arrived in Rosyth, where she was broken up for scrap. Now there were two...

The 1931 tests for Emperor of India were planned to be held off Bognor Regis. But as she sailed out of Portsmouth on 6 June she was to run aground on the Owers Bank. Salvage efforts were to prove unable to free her, so the Navy decided to conduct the gunnery tests where she lay. The tests were carried out between the 10th and 11th June, with her sister Iron Duke delivering the twelve 13.5 inch shells onto the Emperor of India over the two days, (something sad about the Duke being made to fire on her sister ship, or maybe I'm being to sentimental?). The first shells were fired from 12,000 yards (11,000 m), while on the second day the range was increased out to 18,000 yards (16,000 m). With the tests completed she was refloated by Cox & Danks Shipbreaking Co, of Scapa Flow fame, following an unsuccessful attempt the navy. Once afloat she was sold for scrap to the Alloa Shipbreaking Co on 6 February 1932 and arrived in Rosyth for breaking up on 16 February. The tests she had been put through provided invaluable experience that was to incorporated into the King George V, Lion classes and HMS Vanguard. Of particular importance was a shell that struck Emperor of India along the bottom edge of the main belt, which penetrated into one of the boiler rooms, where it caused tremendous damage. This showed that the depth of British belt armour was too thin, which influenced the design of the King George V class. In addition, the tests with Emperor of India and Marlborough demonstrated the weaknesses of British deck armour within the battleship designs, particularly over the ammunition magazines, and the other First World War-vintage battleships that continued in service had additional armour installed during their 1930's modernizations. Now there was one...

Iron Duke returned to service on the 30th May 1929, when she recommissioned as a gunnery training ship. She was to serve in this role for just a year and a half, then in November 1931, under the terms of the London Naval Treaty, Iron Duke was disarmed and converted into a gunnery training vessel. The work was completed on the  21st September 1932, when she was once more commissioned for new sea trials. Iron Duke had lost her "B" and "Y" turrets and her torpedo tubes in the conversion, plus several small guns of various types has been installed on top of the vacated "B" barbette. Her armor and turrets once removed were placed in storage along with the turrets from the scrapped battle cruiser Tiger (but apparently not those from the three other ships of the Iron Duke class). Two 4.7 in (120 mm) anti-aircraft guns were installed as well, but these were to be removed three years later in 1935. In addition a high-angle director for the anti-aircraft guns was also added in place of the aft rangefinder. Over 2,500 long tons (2,500 t) of armour was removed from her belt during the demilitarisation. In total 4,258 long tons (4,326 t) of material was removed from the ship and 202 long tons (205 t) added. The ship was recommissioned on 4 October 1932 at Devonport, once again as a gunnery training ship.

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin  considerwd the  re-activation of Iron Duke as a full-fledged battleship once more when he became PM in December 1935. Iron Duke had only been out of service for about four years when the Baldwin government began its program to rebuild all suitable warships for service in the war that seemed likely in the near future.

Iron Duke She was to 'star' in the film Brown on Resolution, which was released in May 1935 and she attended the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead for King George V on the 16 July 1935.  She also was present at the Fleet Review for the coronation of George VI, on 20 May 1937. The ship was deployed at Portsmouth as Gunnery Firing Ship and after 1936 had been used as Boys Training ship. Iron Duke was to spend most of the 1930’s based in Portsmouth, training new gunners on short cruises in the Solent and around the Isle of Wight.  

In 1939, a twin QF 5.25-inch dual-purpose gun mount was installed aft of "Y" barbette and in August 1939 she was too attended  the Review of the Reserve Fleet and then despatched to her war station on 26th August, as a Depot  Ship in her old home of  Scapa Flow. She was by this time one of the last British battleships to be coal fired.

Iron Duke was used as a base ship and a floating anti-aircraft platform at  Scapa Flow. All her secondary guns had been removed and was 'recycled' as coastal defence around the Flow.

On the 17th October 1939 two air raids were carried out by the German airforce on the Fleet in Scapa Flow. An armed reconnaissance flight of I/KG30 appeared over Scapa on the morning of the 17th to find that the largest target on offer was Iron Duke. She was moored off the mouth of Ore Bay near Lyness where she was serving as both a transit accommodation & Fleet Mail ship as well as the headquarters for the Admiral Commanding Orkney & Shetland, and his staff. Number 226 Battery opened fire on the German bombers as they attacked  on the Iron Duke and the gunners at the Rysa battery succeeded in hitting one of the aircraft which crashed near Pegal Burn, becoming the first German aircraft to be shot down by anti-aircraft gunfire and crash on British soil during the war. Despite 226 Battery’s efforts, the aircraft released their bombs over the Duke, but many fell short. By the close of the second raid the ship had received extensive damage with one boiler room and two magazines flooded by the near misses that had opened up her seams. The ship also developed a significant list  and had to be beached in Ore Bay by her crew in order to prevent her from sinking.

This raid was to have a significant impact on the Royal Navy’s presence on Hoy, as the bombing of Iron Duke had shown the risk in having to many departments housed aboard a moored ships. The movement of personnel from ship base to the shore base led to an expansion of the Lyness Naval Base which had by now become commissioned as the land-based ship HMS Proserpine. After the attack the Admiral commanding the base and his staff moved ashore.

On the 26th January 1940 Iron Duke was re-beached in a location where ship remained aground in all levels of the tides.On the 16th February the Iron Duke was attacked once more by the Luftwaffe. Eighteen Ju 88s attacked the harbour and its installations with both Iron Duke and the heavy cruiser Norfolk suffering damage.

Its possible that the Iron Dukes presence in Scapa Flow affected the Germans' plans during Operation Rheinübung, the Atlantic sortie of the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in May 1941. German aerial reconnaissance had sighted Iron Duke and two decoy battleships, (merchant ships that had been camouflaged with wood and canvas to look like Revenge-class battleships), in the Flow, and reported them as units of the Home Fleet. Now believing that the heavy units of the British  Fleet were  still in port, the German fleet commander, Günther Lütjens, decided to break into the Atlantic via the Denmark Strait, which resulted in the Battle of the Denmark Strait.

The ship was repaired in situ and but she was to remain beached throughout the remainder of the war. Iron Duke remained on the Royal Navy's books until March 1946, when she was finally sold off for scrap to Metal Industries, whilst still beached in Scapa Flow. On the 19th April 1946, the grand old lady was finally refloated and on the 19th August, towed to Faslane. In September 1948, she was sold once again and towed to Glasgow, arriving there on 30 November 1948, where she was finslly reduced to scrap metal. 

Then there were none....

Two small parts of Iron Duke remains with us today. Her ships bell was presented to Winchester Cathedral by Admiral Sir Frederic Charles Dreyer, her captain during the Battle of Jutland.  In addition her Jutland Ensign is currently on display in Portsmouth Dockyards Jutland Exhibition. I say only two items remain, but there is a strong  trade in whats offered as Iron Duke carved wooden  memorabilia on the website EBay. But how much wood did one dreadnought have? Plus who's to say your home doesn't contain metal reclaimed from the four sisters? That all around us in our daily lives is the recycled materials from Iron Duke and all her Grand Fleet brethren?

Writing this piece was a revelation. Prior to the research I saw the four sisters as mainly  ship's of the Great War. But I was amazed at their post war careers and how much they achieved. I also noticed hints that their were plans to re-militerize the Duke. Given their post war lifes I'm of the opinion that but for the inter-war naval treaties, the four Iron Dukes would have been rebuilt and modernized as Warspite was. They were as beautiful a class of ships as I'd envisaged and I wish I'd painted my Airfix kit with more attention and care.

[1] The "(H)" denotes that the gun is the variant that fired heavy shells—these were about 1,400 pounds (635 kg) as opposed to 1,250 pound (567 kg) shells fired by the (L) variant. See Navweaps.com
[2] The Nassau and Helgoland classes had a 12 in thick armoured belt, though the subsequent Kaiser, König, and Bayern classes had 14 in-thick belts
[3] The Renouf Torpedo Tactical Instrument was a family of Torpedo Control instruments designed by Lt. Cdr. Edward de Faye Renouf of Conqueror first described in the Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917. It was proposed in 1917 and was to be delivered in 3 types of increasing complexity and function:
Type A (for Attack)
Type B (for Battleships)
Type F (for Flagships)
In 1919, a Type M was proposed, possibly intended to replace the Type F