|
HMS ''Agincourt'' was a dreadnought battleship built in the United Kingdom in the early 1910s. Originally part of Brazil's role in a South American naval arms race, she held the distinction of mounting more heavy guns (fourteen) and more turrets (seven) than any other dreadnought battleship constructed, in keeping with the Brazilians' requirement for an especially impressive design. Brazil ordered the ship as ''Rio de Janeiro'' from the British Armstrong Whitworth shipyard, but the collapse of the rubber boom and a warming in relations with the country's chief rival, Argentina, led to the ship's sale while under construction to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Navy renamed her ''Sultan Osman I'', after the empire's founder. The ship was nearly complete when World War I broke out, and British Admiralty fears of an Ottoman–German alliance led to her seizure for use by the Royal Navy (together with another Ottoman dreadnought battleship which was being constructed in Britain, the ''Reşadiye'', renamed as HMS ''Erin''.) This act was a significant contributor to the decision of the Ottoman government to join the Central Powers, as the payments for both ships were complete, and distrust of Britain increased. Renamed HMS ''Agincourt'' by the Royal Navy, she joined the Grand Fleet in the North Sea. The ship spent the bulk of her time during the war on patrols and exercises, although she did participate in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. ''Agincourt'' was put into reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1922 to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. ==Background== (詳細は1889 revolution, which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II, and the 1893–94 navy revolt, the Brazilian Navy found itself unable to care for its own ships, let alone acquire new vessels.〔Grant, p. 148; Livermore, p. 32; Topliss, p. 240〕 Meanwhile, Chile had agreed to a naval-limiting pact in 1902 with Brazil's principal rival, Argentina, as part of solving a larger boundary dispute, but they both retained the vessels built in the interim, many of which were significantly more modern and powerful than Brazil's ships.〔Scheina, pp. 45–52〕 Making matters worse, the Brazilian Navy was left behind its Argentine and Chilean counterparts in quantity as well—by the turn of the 20th century, Chile's total naval tonnage was , Argentina's , and Brazil's —even though Brazil had nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times that of Chile.〔Livermore, p. 32〕〔Gardiner and Gray, p. 403; Livermore, p. 32〕 Rising international demand for coffee and rubber in the early 20th century brought Brazil an influx of revenue.〔 Simultaneously, the Baron of Rio Branco spearheaded a drive by prominent Brazilians to force the leading world nations to recognize Brazil as an international power.〔Scheina, p. 80〕 The National Congress of Brazil inaugurated a large naval acquisition program in late 1904. They ordered three small battleships in 1906, but the launch of caused the Brazilian Navy to reconsider their purchase. In March 1907, they signed a contract for three s. Two ships would be constructed immediately by the British companies Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers, with the third to follow.〔Scheina, p. 80; Gardiner and Gray, p. 403; Topliss, p. 240〕 Alarmed at the Brazilian move, Argentina and Chile quickly nullified their 1902 pact and sought dreadnoughts of their own.〔 Argentina's orders, after a drawn-out bidding process, went to an American company, Fore River Shipbuilding Company, while Chile's orders, delayed by the 1906 Valparaíso earthquake, went to Armstrong.〔Hough, p. 22; Livermore, pp. 39–41〕 Since Brazil's relations with Argentina were warming and the country's economic boom was losing steam, the government negotiated with Armstrong to remove the third dreadnought from the contract, but without success. They borrowed the necessary money, and Armstrong laid down ''Rio de Janeiro''s keel in March 1910.〔Topliss, pp. 247–49〕 The Brazilian Navy had divided into two distinct factions, based on the size of the main battery. The outgoing naval minister favoured an increase over the 12-inch guns mounted on board the ''Minas Geraes'' class, while his incoming counterpart, Admiral Marques Leão, favoured keeping the smaller but faster-firing gun. While the exact influences upon the Brazilian government are unclear, Leão was advocating strongly for his position in meetings with the President. Other events probably influenced them as well, such as the November 1910 Revolt of the Lash, payments on loans taken out for the dreadnoughts, and a worsening economy that had led to high government debt compounded by budget deficits.〔Scheina, pp. 81–82; Topliss, p. 269; Martin, p. 37〕 By May 1911, the President had made up his mind: When I assumed office, I found that my predecessor had signed a contract for the building of the battleship ''Rio de Janeiro'', a vessel of 32,000 tons, with an armament of 14 in. guns. Considerations of every kind pointed to the inconvenience of acquiring such a vessel and to the revision of the contract in the sense of reducing the tonnage. This was done, and we shall possess a powerful unit which will not be built on exaggerated lines such as have not as yet stood the time of experience.〔Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca, 3 May 1911, in Scheina, p. 354〕 A contract to build the ship that would become ''Agincourt'' was signed on 3 June 1911, and its keel was laid on 14 September 1911. The design called for a staggering ''fourteen'' 12-inch guns, something historian David Topliss attributed to political necessity: the ship had to appear more powerful to the Brazilian populace than her predecessors (with twelve 12-inch guns) but, without increasing the gun size, the only option left was increasing the total number of guns.〔Topliss, p. 280〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Agincourt (1913)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|