Erebus Class: Naval Fire Support of the WWI Western Front Long Patrol Part 8

The Erebus-class monitors were rapidly built at Harland and Wolff in 1915-16 as inexpensive, heavily armed ships for coastal operations.

The class traded speed for two 15-inch guns whose range made it a dedicated platform for shore bombardment.

Erebus combined unusually wide torpedo bulges with heavy armour, then moved from First World War bombardment into intervention and gunnery duties.

Erebus's changing Second World War assignments show how a slow monitor could guard a harbour, carry supplies, and support major amphibious operations.

The often-repeated claim that one of Erebus's guns armed HMS Vanguard remains uncertain, and a spare barrel is more plausible than a complete-gun transfer.

German FL boats show that remotely controlled explosive craft were already being developed to attack British monitors in the First World War.

At Walcheren in November 1944, Erebus helped the Anglo-Canadian force clear the approaches to Antwerp with concentrated naval gunfire support.

Terror's secondary battery was repeatedly altered, showing how a 15-inch-gun monitor had to adapt to changing anti-surface and anti-aircraft demands.

Erebus and Terror supported the Zeebrugge Raid, an effort to limit U-boat operations by striking the harbour infrastructure rather than submarines at sea.

Terror's interwar gunnery work and deployment to Singapore show how a monitor could provide both weapons development and a temporary heavy-gun deterrent.

The three-month passage to Singapore exposed the poor seakeeping and handling costs that accompanied a monitor's shallow draft and heavy armament.

Terror's interwar live-fire exercises, including a target towed by HMS Berwick, helped prepare Singapore's fixed guns.

During Operation Compass, Terror used her heavy guns against Italian positions and coastal fortifications in the advance through Libya.

Concern over Terror's worn main guns forced a risky reduction in cordite charges even as the monitor continued bombarding Bardia and Tobruk.

The rapid advance to Benghazi left anti-aircraft guns, radar, air cover, and base support behind, exposing the logistical difference between moving troops and moving their infrastructure.

Terror's loss to air attack shows the limits of her altered anti-aircraft battery and the courage of a crew defending an exposed monitor.

The class illustrates how a relatively cheap specialist ship can add massed firepower without the expense and crew burden of a capital unit.