


Centurion
Country | United Kingdom |
Ship Class | King George V (1911)-class Battleship |
Builder Name | HM Dockyard, Devonport, Britain |
Laid Down | 16 Jan 1911 |
Launched | 18 Nov 1911 |
Commissioned | 22 May 1913 |
Decommissioned | 1 Jan 1924 |
Sunk | 9 Jun 1944 |
Displacement | 25,500 tons standard |
Length | 597 feet |
Beam | 89 feet |
Draft | 29 feet |
Machinery | Coal boilers, turbines |
Speed | 21 knots |
Crew | 782 |
Armament | 5x2x343mm, 12x102mm, 4x47mm, 3x533mm submerged torpedo tubes |
Recommission | Apr 1941 |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseUpon commissioning, Centurion was assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron. During WW1, she served in the North Sea and the Mediterranean; she was a participant of the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. During the inter-war years, she was dispatched to the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War, served in the Mediterranean Sea between 1919 and 1924, and was decommissioned in 1924. Upon decommissioning, she became a remote-controlled target ship. In 1940, she was reactivated after being fitted with a false superstructure to make her look like the battleship Anson in an effort to confuse German intelligence. She began her new career as a false battleship in Apr 1941 based out of Gibraltar. She made a troublesome voyage from Gibraltar to Port Said around the southern tip of Africa, then participated in Operation Vigorous, one of the Malta-bound convoys, in Jun 1942. She also spent time off Suez to provide additional anti-aircraft weaponry to British task forces. She left the Mediterranean Sea in Jan 1944 for a return trip to Britain, where she ran aground and required repairs. On 9 Jun 1944, during the Normandy Campaign, she was sunk off the beaches as breakwater for the newly established beachheads.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.
Last Major Revision: May 2007
Centurion Operational Timeline
22 May 1913 | Centurion was commissioned into service. |
1 Jan 1924 | Centurion was decommissioned from service. |
Photographs
![]() | ![]() |
Did you enjoy this article? Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you. Share this article with your friends: Stay updated with WW2DB: |
|
» Malta Campaign
» Normandy Campaign, Phase 1
- » 1,069 biographies
- » 331 events
- » 37,136 timeline entries
- » 1,055 ships
- » 333 aircraft models
- » 186 vehicle models
- » 346 weapon models
- » 104 historical documents
- » 202 facilities
- » 463 book reviews
- » 26,111 photos
- » 311 maps
Thomas Dodd, late 1945