HMS Roberts became a guardship and experimental platform

Roberts served in the Dardanelles and Eastern Mediterranean until February 1916, then returned to Yarmouth as a guardship. A slow monitor with 14-inch guns could still strengthen a vulnerable port by confronting a raiding force that did not expect capital-caliber coastal defense. Although initially sold for breaking after the war, the Admiralty retained Roberts as an experimental platform. A 1925 proposal would have converted it into a mobile airship base with a mooring mast and refueling facilities, but the plan did not proceed. In the 1930s the ship instead tested underwater protection for new construction before finally going to the breakers in 1936. In naval high-low terms, the monitors were practical ships whose specialized capability remained useful when matched to the right task.