HMS NEPTUNE was a Royal Navy dreadnought battleship, intended to be the lead ship of three Neptune-class battleships, but the subsequent two ships had slightly thicker belt armour and were reclassified as the Colossus class.
Service History
She was flagship of the Home Fleet from May 1911 until May 1912 when she was transferred to the 1st Battle Squadron, where she remained until June 1916, just after the Battle of Jutland. She was accidentally struck by SS Needvaal in April 1916 but no serious damage was done. She was present at the Battle of Jutland as part of Admiral Jellicoe's Battle Fleet. She fired only 48 12 inch (305 mm) shells but is credited with scoring several hits on the German battlecruiser Lützow.
After the war she was quickly transferred to the reserve fleet and on 1 September 1922 she was sold to Hughes Bolckow for breaking up at Blyth, Northumberland.
Name: HMS NEPTUNE
Ordered: 1908 Naval Estimates
Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down: 19 January 1909
Launched: 30 September 1909
Commissioned: 11 January 1911[1]
Fate: Scrapped in September 1922
Type: Dreadnought battleship
Displacement: 19,900 tons (22,000 full load)
Length: 546 ft (166 m)
Beam: 85 ft (26 m)
Draught: 27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion: Parsons steam turbines, direct drive on four shafts, 25,000 shp, 18 Yarrow boilers
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h)
Range: 6,330 nm at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement: 756
Armament: 10 × BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk XI guns (5×2)
12 × BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk VII guns
3 × 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes, later removed
Armour: Belt: 10 inches (254 mm)
Upper Belt: 8 inches (203 mm)
Bulkheads: 5 and 8 inches (203 mm)
Conning Tower: 11 inches (280 mm)
Turrets: 11 inches (280 mm)
Barbettes: 9 inches (229 mm)
Delandre label
Source: Wikipedia

Peter Crichton
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The Australian $1.45 stamp design of this poster, is by Walter Jardine and illustrated the ORMONDE or ORSOVA built in 1917 and 1909. Both were converted in one class vessel in 1933.


Built under yard No 383 by John Brown & Co., Glasgow for the Orient Steam Navigation Co. Ltd, Glasgow.
1908 Launched under the name ORSOVA, named after a small town in Hungary on the River Danube.
Tonnage 12.036 gross, 6.831 net, dim. 163.4 x 19.3 x 10.4m. (draught).
Two quadruple expansion engines 14.000 hp., service speed 16 knots, designed speed 18 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 288 first, 126 second and 660 third class passengers.
May 1909 delivered to owners.

25 June 1909 sailed from London for her maiden voyage to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane via the Suez Canal.
1915 Requisitioned by the British Government as a troopship, sailed from London on 07 May 1915 for Malta, Alexandria and Mudros with troops, before continuing her voyage to Australia.
July 1915 taken up by the Australian Government for trooping, made a voyage from Australia with around 1600 troops, sailing from Sydney on 14 July as Troopship No A 67 and via Melbourne to Egypt where the troops embarked, then the ORSOVA continued to Britain to unload her cargo.
On a voyage via the East African coast via Cape Town for London, she was torpedoed by a German submarine on 14 March 1917. Hit in the engine room, which killed six persons in a position near Eddystone in the English Channel, she was beached the same day on Cawsand Bay.
Then towed to Portsmouth for temporary repairs, then to Devonport where she was repaired.
January 1919 sailed out again after her repair, and was used to repatriate Australian troops.
She was handed back to the company and resumed her voyages between Great Britain and Australia in November 1919, sailing on the 12th from London.
1933 Converted in a one tourist class vessel of 660 passengers. Used for cruise voyages and regular liner service.
After making 70th round voyages to Australia, she became over complete after a new vessel the ORION took over her service.
20 June 1936 sailed for the last time for Australia.
October 1936 she sailed from Tilbury, near London for the breakers yard in Bo’ness, Firth of Forth, arriving 21 October by the P & W MacLellan Ltd. breakers yard, and she was beached the 27th after which work commenced to break her up.

Australia 2004 $1.45 sg?, scott? (see scan of the stamp under ORMONDE)
Cocos (Keeling) Islands 1984 $1 sgMS114, scott?

Sources: Across the Sea to war by Peter Plowman. Register of Merchant Ships Completed in 1909.
http://www.stardate.be.ca/ivan/sub_pages/orsova.htm North Star to Southern Cross by John M.Maber.

The JUKONG or JUGONG are used in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the East Indian Ocean.
It is a small sharp-ended sailing boat used for interisland commuting, fishing and pleasure.
Straight plump stern, raked sternpost; short fore-and stern deck; keel curved toward the bow; hard high chines.
Outboard rudder worked with lines.
Mast stepped through thwarts. Sets a boomed gunter mainsail and a large jib tacked to stem-head.
Reported length 3 – 6 m., narrow very shallow draught.

Cook (Keeling) Island 1963 2s sg5, scott?. 1979 50c sg33, scott?. 25c sg48, scott?. 1984 55c sg112, scott?. $1 sgMS114 scott?. $2 sgMS121, scott?. 1985 30c sg126, scott?. 1987 36c sg158, scott?. 65c sg170 scott?. 1988 90c sg189, scott?. 1989 35/$1.10 sg211/13, scott?. 1994 45c sg311/15, scott292a-292e. 1999 45c sg360/63, scott?. 1999 5c sg364, scott?

Source: Aak to Zumbra a Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft.

She is not the ORONTES depict on Cocos Islands 1976 50c sg 30, she was built in 1929.

Built as a cargo-passenger vessel under yard No 418 by Fairfields Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow for the Orient Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., London.
10 May 1902 launched under the name ORONTES, named after the longest river in Syria and known by the Arabs as the Nahr-el-Asy.
Tonnage 9.023 gross, 4.622 net, dim. 156.5 x 17.7 x 10.0m.
Two quadruple expansion steam engines, manufactured by the shipbuilder, 10.000 ihp., twin screws, speed 18 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 152 first, 147 second, 368 third class.
October 1902 delivered, building cost £327.790. Port of registry, Glasgow.

24 October 1902 sailed for her maiden voyage from London via the Suez Canal to Australia.
From November 1915 till August 1916 chartered as a freight and troop transport.
October 1916 requisitioned by the British Government, became a full time troop transport under the Liner Requisition Scheme.
August 1917 redelivered to the Orient Line.
Again in the liner service between the U.K. to Australia.
19 February 1921 made her last voyage to Australia, and after her return in the U.K., laid up at Southend.
16 February 1922 Sold to the British World Trade Expeditions Ltd., London but the deal fell first through, at least on 25 January 1923 she was sold to that company.
27 January 1923 was she registered in London and renamed BRITISH TRADE, and converted in Hull.
But before she was converted the company got bankrupt, and the company got in receivership.
1924 Again laid up at Southend.
1925 Sold by liquidators to the shipbreaker T.W.Ward Ltd., Sheffield.
02 November 1925 Demolition commenced at Inverkeithing.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands 1984 $1 sgMS114, scott?

Source: Orient Line by Peter Newall. Origins, Orient and Oriana by Charles F. Morris.

HMS Russell was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 11 March 1899 and launched on 19 February 1902. She was completed in February 1903.
HMS Russell and her five sisters of the Duncan-class were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programmes, including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian programme; they were designed as smaller, more lightly armoured, and faster versions of the preceding Formidable class. As it turned out, the Russian ships were not as heavily armed as initially feared, and the Duncans proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and protection.
Pre-World War I
HMS Russell commissioned at Chatham Dockyard on 19 February 1903 for service in the Mediterranean Fleet, in which she served until April 1904. On 7 April 1904 she recommissioned for service in the Home Fleet. When the Home Fleet became the Channel Fleet in January 1905, she became a Channel Fleet unit. She transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in February 1907. On 16 July 1908, she collided with cruiser HMS Venus off Quebec, but suffered only minor damage.
On 30 July 1909, HMS Russell transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. Under a fleet reorganization of 1 May 1912, the Mediterranean Fleet became the 4th Battle Squadron, First Fleet, Home Fleet, and changed its base from Malta to Gibraltar; HMS Russell transferred to home waters in August 1912. In September 1913, she was reduced to a nucleus crew in the commissioned reserve and assigned to the 6th Battle Squadron, Second Fleet. Beginning in December 1913, she served as Flagship, 6th Battle Squadron, and Flagship, Rear Admiral, Home Fleet, at the Nore.
World War I
When World War I began in August 1914, plans originally called for Russell and battleships HMS Agamemnon, HMS Albemarle, HMS Cornwallis, HMS Duncan, HMS Exmouth, and HMS Vengeance to combine in the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, where the squadron was to patrol the English Channel and cover the movement of the British Expeditionary Force to France. However, plans also existed for the 6th Battle Squadron to be assigned to the Grand Fleet, and, when the war began, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, requested that Russell and her four surviving sister ships of the Duncan class (HMS Albemarle, HMS Cornwallis, HMS Duncan, and HMS Exmouth) be assigned to the 3rd Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet for patrol duties to make up for the Grand Fleet's shortage of cruisers. Accordingly, the 6th Battle Squadron was abolished temporarily, and HMS Russell joined the 3rd Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow on 8 August 1914. She worked with Grand Fleet cruisers on the Northern Patrol.
HMS Russell and her four Duncan-class sisters, as well as the battleships of the King Edward VII class, temporarily were transferred to the Channel Fleet on 2 November 1914 to reinforce that fleet in the face of German Navy activity in the Channel Fleet's area. On 13 November 1914, the King Edward VII class ships returned to the Grand Fleet, but HMS Albemarle and the other Duncans stayed in the Channel Fleet, where they reconstituted the 6th Battle Squadron on 14 November 1914, with HMS Russell serving as the squadron's flagship. This squadron was given a mission of bombarding German submarine bases on the coast of Belgium, and was based at Portland, although it transferred to Dover immediately on 14 November 1914. However, due a lack of antisubmarine defenses at Dover, the squadron returned to Portland on 19 November 1914. HMS Russell participated in the bombardment of German submarine facilities at Zeebrugge on 23 November 1914.
The 6th Battle Squadron returned to Dover in December 1914, then transferred to Sheerness on 30 December 1914 to relieve the 5th Battle Squadron there in guarding against a German invasion of the United Kingdom.
Between January and May 1915, the 6th Battle Squadron was dispersed. HMS Russell left the squadron in April 1915 and rejoined the 3rd Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet a Rosyth. She underwent a refit at Belfast in October-November 1915.
On 6 November 1915, a division of the 3rd Battle Squadron consisting of battleships HMS Hibernia (the flagship), HMS Zealandia, HMS Albemarle, and HMS Russell was detached from the Grand Fleet to reinforce the British Dardanelles Squadron in the Dardanelles Campaign at the Gallipoli Peninsula. HMS Albemarle had to turn back almost immediately due to heavy weather damage, but the other ships continued to the Mediterranean, where HMS Russell took up her duties at the Dardanelles in December 1915, based at Mudros with HMS Hibernia and held back in support. Her only action in the campaign was her participation in the evacuation of Cape Helles from 7 January 1916 to 9 January 1916, and she was the last battleship of the British Dardanelles Squadron to leave the area. She relieved HMS Hibernia as Divisional Flagship, Rear Admiral, in January 1916.
After the conclusion of the Dardanelles campaign, HMS Russell stayed on in the eastern Mediterranean.
HMS Russell was steaming off Malta early on the morning of 27 April 1916 when she struck two mines that had been laid by the German submarine U-73. A fire broke out in the after part of the ship and the order to abandon ship was passed; after an explosion near the after 12-inch (305-mm) turret, she took on a dangerous list. However, she sank slowly, allowing most of her crew to escape. A total of 27 officers and 98 ratings were lost. John H. D. Cunningham served aboard her at the time and survived her sinking; he would one day become First Sea Lord.
Name: HMS Russell
Namesake: Edward Russell
Builder: Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow
Cost: £1,104,051
Laid down: 11 March 1899
Launched: 19 February 1901
Completed: February 1903
Commissioned: 19 February 1903
Nickname: The Duncan-class battleships were known informally as "The Admirals"
Fate: Sunk by mine 27 April 1916 off Malta
Class and type: Duncan class
Type: Predreadnought battleship
Displacement: 13,270 to 13,745 tons load
14,900 to 15,200 tons deep
Length: 432 ft (132 m)
Beam: 75 ft 6 in (23.01 m)
Draught: 25 ft 9 in (7.85 m)
Installed power: 18,000 ihp
Propulsion: 24 Belleville water tube boilers
4-cylinder triple expansion
2 shafts
Speed: 19 kt (35.2 km/h)
Range: 7,000 nautical miles (12,964 km) at 10 knots (18.5 km/h)
Complement: 720
Armament: 4 × BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk IX guns
12 × BL 6-inch (152-mm) 45-caliber Mk VII guns
10 × 12-pounder guns
6 x 3-pounder guns
2 x machine guns
4 × 18-inch (457-mm) submerged torpedo tubes
Armour: Belt: 7 in (178 mm)
Bulkheads: 11 in-7 in (279 mm-178 mm)
Decks: 2 in- 1 in (51 mm-25.4mm)
Gun houses: 10 in-8 in (254 mm-203 mm)
Barbettes: 11 in-4 in (279 mm-102 mm)
Casemates: 6 in (152 mm)
Conning tower: 12 in (356 mm)
Delandre label
Source: Wikipedia

Peter Crichton
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She was built at Chatham and launched on 20 September 1906.
HMS SHANNON commissioned at Chatham on 10 March, 1908, under Captain James A. Fergusson, with the crew from HMS Leviathan and ratings from Chatham. Rear-Admiral George A. Callaghan, commanding the Fifth Cruiser Squadron, transferred his flag from HMS Leviathan to HMS SHANNON on the same day.
At the outbreak of WWI she was attached to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron with the Grand Fleet and in November 1914 she was refitting at Cromarty. She fought at and survived the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and in November that year was based at Murmansk. In the years 1917 – 1918 she was employed on escort duties with the Atlantic convoys.
She served in the First World War with her sisters and fought at Jutland, where she was captained by John S. Dumaresq. Unlike her sister, HMS Defence, she survived the battle, and the war, to be sold to McLellan of Bo’ness, Scotland, for breaking up on 12 December 1922.
Name: HMS SHANNON
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Launched: 20 September 1906
Fate: Sold on 12 December 1922
General characteristics
Class and type: Minotaur-class armoured cruiser
Displacement: 14,600 long tons (14,800 t)
Length: 490 ft (149.4 m) between perpendiculars
519 ft (158.2 m) overall
Beam: 74.5 ft (22.7 m)
Draught: 26 ft (7.9 m)
Installed power: 27,000 ihp (20,000 kW)
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 24 Yarrow water-tube boilers
2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed: 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range: 8,150 nmi (15,090 km; 9,380 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 802
Armament: 2 × 2 - BL 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mk XI guns
10 × 1 - BL 7.5-inch (191 mm) Mk V guns
16 × 1 - QF 12 pounder 18 cwt guns
5 × submerged 18–in (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour: Belt: 3–6 in (76–152 mm)
Deck: 1.5–2 in (38–51 mm)
Barbettes: 7 in (178 mm)
Gun turrets: 4.5–8 in (114–203 mm)
Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm)
Delandre lable
Source: Wikipedia; http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index ... c=12295.0;

Peter Crichton
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HMS SOUTHAMPTON was a Chatham class light cruiser that served as the flagship of Commodore William Goodenough during the three main naval battles of the First World War. At the outbreak of the war she was the flagship of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. In that role she led Division 1 of the Light Cruiser Squadron at the battle of Heligoland Bight, 28 August 1914.
On 15-16 December 1914 she took part in the British attempts to intercept the German ships that had launched a raid on the Yorkshire coast, actually opening fire on the German light cruisers at 11.30 am on 16 December, before a poorly worded signal from Admiral Beatty forced Goodenough to break contact.
HMS SOUTHAMPTON was flagship of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron during the battle of Dogger Bank, 23 January 1915. There she was first to sight the German battlecruisers, and then acted as a spotter for the British battlecruisers during the main phase of the battle, helping to penetrate the barrier of smoke that was obscuring long range gunnery.
From 1915-1917 HMS SOUTHAMPTON was flagship of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, still under Commodore Goodenough. In this role she was present at the battle of Jutland, as part of Beatty’s battlecruiser fleet. During the battlecruiser phase of the battle, HMS SOUTHAMPTON was first to spot the battleships of the High Seas Fleet as they approached the fighting, triggering Beatty’s run towards the Grand Fleet.
During the night action on 31 May-1 June the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, four strong, came into direct contact with the German 4th Scouting Group of five cruisers and a short but brutal engagement followed. HMS SOUTHAMPTON was hit by 18 smaller calibre shells, suffering 37 dead and 40 wounded, the highest casualty levels of any British light cruiser at Jutland (with HMS Chester). All of her midships gun crews and most of her searchlight crews were amongst the casualties. However, during the clash HMS SOUTHAMPTON fired the torpedo that sank the German cruiser Frauenlob with all hands.
After the battle HMS SOUTHAMPTON was forced to remain on the scene to conduct repairs on shell holes near the waterline. She finally reached Rosyth twelve hours after the rest of the battlecruiser fleet, and was immediately taken into the dockyards. She was fully repaired by 20 June.
She was still with the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in October 1917 when the High Seas Fleet attacked the Scandinavian convoys, evading detection despite widespread British cruiser patrols.
In July 1918 she carried Sir Eric Geddes, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to Murmansk, to investigate the British intervention in northern Russia.

Post-war the HMS SOUTHAMPTON served as flagship of the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron off South America (1919-1920), then in the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies (1921-1924). She was placed into the Nore Reserve in 1924 and sold for scrapping on 13 July 1926 to Ward, of Pembroke Dock.
Class and type: "Town" class light cruiser
Name: HMS SOUTHAMPTON
Builder: John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Laid down: 6 April 1911
Launched: 16 May 1912
Fate: Sold 13 July 1926
Displacement: 5,400 tons
Length: 430 ft (130 m)
457 ft (139 m) overall
Beam: 49 ft 10 in (15.19 m)
Draught: 17 ft 8 in (5.38 m) (maximum)
Propulsion: Yarrow boilers
Curtis turbines
coal and oil fuels
Speed: 25,000 shp = 25.5&n knots
Trials:26,006 shp = 26.5 knots
Complement: 429 to 440 men
Armament: 8 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI guns
1 × QF 3 inch AA gun
4 × QF 3 pdr guns
Torpedo tubes:2 × 21 in submerged
Delandre lable
Source: Wikipedia; http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/we ... pton.html;

Peter Crichton
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