British Battleship HMS Valiant

HMS Valiant

HMS Valiant was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy. Laid down on 31 January 1913 and launched on 4 November 1914 she was commissioned on 19 February 1916.

First World War

At the Battle of Jutland she fired 288 15-inch shells at the German High Seas Fleet. Despite the severity of damage suffered by her sister ships (bar HMS Queen Elizabeth which did not take part in the battle), she suffered no damage.

Inter-war period

Between 1929 and 1930 she underwent a major refit and had a complete rebuild between March 1937 and November 1939.

Second World War

In July 1940, Valiant was assigned to Force H at Gibraltar, under the command of Admiral James Somerville and took part in Operation Catapult. the attack on French ships at Mers-el-Kébir.

Valiant saw action at the Battle of Cape Matapan on 27–29 March 1941, and in the bombardment of Tripoli harbour on 21 April 1941. In May 1941, she operated off Crete, and was struck by two bombs.

On 19 December 1941, Valiant was seriously damaged by limpet mines placed by Italian frogmen of Decima Flottiglia MAS, who entered Alexandria harbor riding two-man “human torpedoes” (“maiali”). Her sister ship Queen Elizabeth was also damaged.

Valiant was repaired in Durban, South Africa, carrying out post-refit trials in July 1942, and took part in exercises with the Eastern Fleet the following month. At the end of August, Valiant took part in Operation Touchstone, an exercise to test East Africa’s defences against a seaborne invasion and to conduct a dress rehearsal for Operation Ironclad, the invasion of French Madagascar. She remained in African waters until the end of the year, and returned to Devonport for a refit in January 1943.

Valiant returned to the Mediterranean in 1943, supporting the landings in Sicily (Operation Husky in July) and at Salerno (Operation Avalanche in September).

In 1944, she was sent to the Far East to join the Eastern Fleet. There she took part in raids against Japanese bases in Indonesia. On 8 August 1944, she was severely damaged in an accident with the floating drydock at Trincomalee, Ceylon. She returned to the UK and was decommissioned in July 1945. Valiant formed part of the Imperieuse stoker mechanics’ training establishment at Devonport for the rest of her career. She was sold for scrap on 19 March 1948, and left Devonport for the breakers of Arnott Young at Cairnryan on 11 August of that year.