Talk:HMS Centurion (1911)

Target Ship
I am reading a little book about Cromarty, written by someone who remembers the RN activity around that area in the 1930s. He writes about HMS Centurion being used as a target ship. All her guns had been removed and she was controlled from the destroyer HMS Shikari which carried the radio gear to control Centurion. Both these ships were painted light brey when all the other warships were painted dark grey. He says that she was sent to Bombay after Japan entered the war where she was stationed offshore with dummy upper works to look like a King George V class of battleship as described in the main article but could be wrong about that. She was sunk at Arromanches as part of the Mulberry harbour and withstood the storms better than the other smaller ships. --jmb 08:29, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * She was officially a Fleet Target Service vessel until April, 1941. Then she was converted into an imitation of HMS Anson, with dummy turrets, citadel &c.  Winston Churchill, directly responsible for her change of use, paid a visit to her while converting.  She was then dispatched via the Cape of Good Hope to Bombay, where she arrived before the Japanese war began.  It was realised that she could do nothing out there but lie at anchor, so she was sent to Alexandria, where she participated in Operation Vigorous and for a time was stationed in the Great Bitter Lake on the Suez Canal on Antiaircraft work.  She remained there until March 1944 when she returned to Britain to be readied for scuttling off Arromanches.  --Harlsbottom 10:02, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Point of interest, the ship was christened by Winston Churchill's wife, Clementine. Source: Churchill, author Ted Morgan, 1982 Simon and Schuster  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.31.94.82 (talk) 20:14, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Ambiguity about resting place of HMS Centurion
In the infobox it states that the fate of Centurion was: "7 June 1944 Sunk as a Mulberry harbour blockship off Avranches."

Conversely, the caption to one of the photographs states "Centurion sunk as breakwater off Omaha Beach, June 1944".

These can't both be correct. Avranches and Omaha Beach lie on opposite sides of the Cotentin Peninsula and are separated by a direct distance of about 54 miles. By sea it would be about twice that distance. Dolphin ( t ) 05:29, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Fixed. Well spoted, the other mulberry was off Arromanches, I'm guessing the editor just got mixed up. See Mulberry_harbour Gehyra Australis (talk) 09:58, 20 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I see you have replaced Avranches with Normandy. The coastline of Normandy is very long and includes the whole of the Cotentin Peninsula. Also, there is still a photograph with the caption saying Centurion was sunk off Omaha Beach. Dolphin  ( t ) 10:08, 20 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I'm hoping to narrow it down, I've just been researching 'omaha beach' and haven't yet found citeable evedence that the beach is actually called Omaha. 'mulberry a' was at 'Omaha beach' and 'mulberry b' was at 'gold beach' but these were just code names. As 'b' is directly off the town of Arromanches it is easy to describe but 'Omaha' was well between two towns so I'm looking for a better way to describe it. Any thoughts?


 * Although Normandy is a little vauge, it at least narrows it down in a world sense and is by nature correct.Gehyra Australis (talk) 11:17, 20 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Just to clarify, I think the caption in the photo is fine as it is dated and for that time and context the use of the code name is entirely appropriate. What I want to fix is it's contemporary location. Gehyra Australis (talk) 11:35, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
 * That's great. Good luck. Dolphin  ( t ) 10:35, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Is Centurion still there? Many ship articles give exact lat and lng of final location or mention later dismantling. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.9.139.126 (talk) 02:34, 9 August 2020 (UTC)

Clean-up and expansion
I've added some stats to the info box, taken from King_George_V-class_battleship_(1911), cleaned up the lead section, deleted some repeated links and corrected some grammar throughout the article. I'll continue to expand the article as I get time if no-one objects. Gehyra Australis (talk) 14:07, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm sure no-one will object. Dolphin  ( t ) 10:35, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

"she was briefly considered for rearming in May 1940 as an anti-aircraft cruiser in support of the Norway campaign."
This is fascinating. I'm inferring from elsewhere in this article and the Talk page that her 13.5-inch battery had been removed at this point. Does anyone know what AA fit was contemplated? Would the absence of main armament be why she was not termed a potential "AA battleship"? She sure doesn't have much of the cruiser about her - too much armour and not quick enough...Tirailleur (talk) 11:46, 14 November 2018 (UTC)