1/700 H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree

AJM Models - 1/700 H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree
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H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree 1915.jpg
H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree
History
United Kingdom
Name: Ben-my-Chree
Operator: Isle of Man Steam Packet Co.
Port of registry: Isle of Man Douglas, Isle of Man
Route: England ½'Isle of Man
Builder: Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down: 1907
Launched: 23 March 1908
Completed: 8 August 1908
Fate: Chartered by the Royal Navy, 1 January 1915
United Kingdom
Name: H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree
Acquired: 1 January 1915
Commissioned: 23 March 1915
Fate:
Sunk, 11 January 1917 by Turkish artillery
Scrapped, 1923
General characteristics as passenger ship
Type: Packet
Tonnage: 2,651 GRT
Length: 390 ft 118.9 m o/a
Beam: 46 ft 14.0 m
Depth: 18 ft 6 in 5.64 m
Decks: 5

Installed power: 4 ' cylindrical boilers
Propulsion:
3 ' shafts
3 ' Parsons steam turbines
Speed: 24.2 kn 44.8 km/h, 27.8 mph
Capacity: 2,549
Crew: 119
General characteristics in Rn service
Type: Seaplane carrier
Displacement: 3,888 long tons 3,950 t
Length: 387 ft 118.0 m o/a
Draught: 16 ft 4.9 m
Installed power: 14,500 shp 10,800 kW
Speed: 24.5 kn 45.4 km/h, 28.2 mph
Crew: 250
Armament:
4 ' quick-firing 12-pounder guns
2 ' 3-pounder anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft carried: 4 ½'6 ' seaplanes
H.M.S. Ben-my-Chree Manx: 'Woman of My Heart' was a packet steamer and a Royal Navy RN seaplane carrier of the First World War. She was originally built in 1907 by Vickers for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was intended for use on the England 'Isle of Man route. She was the third vessel to bear her name. To this day Ben-my-Chree holds the crossing speed record from Liverpool to Douglas for a steamship at under three hours.

She was chartered by the Rn at the beginning of 1915 and participated in several abortive attacks on Germany in May. The ship was transferred to the Dardanelles in June to support the Gallipoli Campaign. One of her aircraft made the first ship-launched aerial torpedo attack on a ship in August. After Gallipoli was evacuated at the end of the year, Ben-my-Chree became flagship of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron that operated in the Eastern Mediterranean, performing reconnaissance missions and attacking Turkish facilities and troops. She was sunk by Turkish artillery while anchored at the recently occupied island of Kastellorizo in early 1917, five members of her crew being injured. The ship was salvaged in 1920 and broken up in 1923. Ben-my-Chree was the only aviation vessel of either side sunk by enemy action during the war.