UNUSED OLD POSTCARD RMS BEN MY CHREE IOM STEAM PACKET C

UNUSED OLD POSTCARD
RMS BEN MY CHREE
IOM STEAM PACKET COMPANY
SOME OF THE PLASIC ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BOTTOM CORNER IS LIFTING BUT WOULD NOT SHOW IN AN ALBUM

RMS Ben-my-Chree was ordered in 1907 by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was built at the yards of Vickers, sons and Maxim Ltd in Barrow-in-Furness. The new ship would cost £112,000. She was powered by Vickers direct drive turbine engines coupled to triple screws which moved here over the water at 24.2 knots, although in one sea trial she reached a speed of 24.6 Knots. The ship had a certificate for 2,549 passengers, and she had a crew of 119. The SS Ben-my-Chree engines burnt up to 95 tons of coal a day which made her an expensive ship to run unless she had a full complement of passengers. This proved difficult to achieve by the Steam Packet Company, and so for nine months of the year the Ben-my-Chree found herself laid up

Royal Navy chartered
The SS Ben-my-Chree was chartered by the Royal Navy on 1 January 1915. On the 2 January 1915 the SS Ben-my-Chree began her transformation to HMS Ben-my-Chree at the shipyards of Cammell Laird in Birkenhead. She was to be converted to a seaplane carrier. Part of her superstructure was removed, aft of her second funnel and a hanger was constructed. This was capable of housing six seaplanes which were lifted in and out of the water by crane. There was also a 60 foot long flying off platform forward. Her armaments consisted of four quick-firing 12-pounder guns, and two 3-pounder guns. Later in May 1916 more 12-pounder guns, and 2-pounder pom-poms, along with 3-pounder guns were added.

Navy service
She was originally based at Harwich, England, under the command of Commander Cecil L'Estrange Malone, where on 3 May she took part in an abortive air raid on Norddeich using a Sopwith Schneider to be launched from a trolley on the fore deck. The raid was abandoned because of thick fog and the ships returned to harbour the following day. On 6 May, she was accidentally rammed by the destroyer Lennox in thick fog, although damage was slight. Another attempt at raiding Nordeich was made on 11 May but was again abandoned because of several mishaps. During this raid, Ben-my-Chree attempted to launch her Schneider seaplane to attack an airship, but the engine failed to start.
Making aviation history
At the end of May 1915, she sailed for the Dardanelles, where her aircraft were mainly involved spotting for naval artillery. However, one of her Short 184 seaplanes (piloted by Flight Commander Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds) made the first ever aerial torpedo attack on 12 August, when she successfully launched a single 14 in (360 mm), 810 lb (370 kg) torpedo. Although the torpedo hit the Turkish ship and exploded, the vessel had been previously torpedoed by the British submarine E14 and beached. This was followed by a successful attack on 19 August against a 5,000 long tons (5,100 t) ship by Edmonds and Flight Lieutenant George Dacre. On 2 September, she participated in the rescue of Australian troops from the torpedoed HMT Southland off Lemnos.

Following the abandonment of the Gallipoli Campaign, she was transferred to Port Said in Egypt. SS Uganda collided with her on 11 February 1916 and caused serious damage to Ben-my-Chree's bows, which were temporarily repaired. Permanent repairs in dry dock took from 13 March until 26 April. Cdr. Charles Samson replaced L'Estrange Malone as captain of the ship on 14 May. A few days later, Lieutenant William Wedgwood Benn, later Secretary of State for India (1929-1931), joined the ship as an observer.

Over the next few months, she operated from Port Said and Aden provided artillery spotting aircraft for the bombardment of El Arish, reconnaissance around Jaffa and Ramleh and bombing raids.

 
HMS Ben-my-Chree underfire of the coast of Castellorizo The loss of HMS Ben-my-Chree
On the 11 January 1917 HMS Ben-my-Chree was at anchor in a bay, off the island of Castellorizo, a Greek island on the south west coast of Turkey. The ship was total unaware that they were in range of a Turkish gun Battery two miles away on the coast of mainland Turkey. The Battery opened fire on the Ben-my-Chree immediately holing her petrol store which set the ship on fire. The ships steering gear was also hit in the shelling disabling her. This damage resulted in the captain being unable to move the ship out of range of the Turkish guns. The crew were ordered to abandon ship after half an hour of the bombardment. The crew used one of the three motor lifeboats to ferry the crew to safety. Her other two lifeboats had been destroyed in the shelling. The complete complement of 250 men were saved as the motor lifeboat was able to use the stricken Ben-my-Chree as a shield as they went ashore. The attack continued for five hours until the burnt out hulk of the ship sank in the shallow water of the Bay. Later in the day the Captain and the Chief Engineer returned to the Ben-my-Chree rescuing the ships cat and dog which had both survived the attack.

Salvage
The hulk of HMS Ben-my-Chree lay in the bay of the island until 1920. A salvage steamer called Vallette was sent to raise her. She was then toed to the port of Piraeus. There she was examined in detail where it was decided she was beyond repair. Three years later, in 1923, she was broken up at Venice

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