When John Ericsson proposed the concept of his turret ship to the Navy, it was to break the ability of land gun batteries to prevent naval movement. Ericsson proposed the name Monitor in that it may admonish or "monitor" the rebels. During the American Civil War, ironclad vs ironclad bouts were fairly infrequent. The two most notable occasions were the Monitor vs Virginia and the Battle of Mobile Bay with CSS Tennessee vs the world. However, monitors were used frequently to bombard Confederate forts and gun emplacements. Like HMS Dreadnought 44 years later, USS Monitor gave its name to a type of warship. The designation Monitor described a shallow draft, low freeboard, low speed coastal vessel with heavy armor and heavy armament.

The Royal Navy looked at the monitor and built a haphazard assortment of a few vessels but quickly realized that it was no substitute for a sea going warship. As the premier naval force in the world, Britain ’s first line of defense was not its own coast but the coast of any enemy. The low freeboard and slow monitor could only be used in coastal and comparatively sheltered waters. Quite correctly, the Admiralty saw that this type of vessel could not project force. During the last half of the 19^th Century, the monitor type of warship was a poor man’s battleship. Any country that wished to challenge the Royal Navy did not build monitors, they built battleships. By the start of the 20^th Century, except for the last spasm of monitor construction by the USN with their 1903 Florida , the last of 71 monitors built for the USN, the monitor as a type was totally obsolete. That status changed in 1914. 

In October 1914 Admiral Jackie Fisher was back as First Sea Lord. Admiral Fisher found a kindred spirit with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. One of Fisher’s pet projects was a Baltic Invasion of Germany with landings 90 miles (150 km) from Berlin . Additionally, both Fisher and Churchill wanted warships that could support the British Army along the North Sea coast. Both operations required a vessel with shallow draft. In November 1914 Charles Schwab, President of the Bethlehem Steel Company of the US was in London to negotiate and sign a contract to build 20 submarines for the Royal Navy. Fisher and Churchill asked Schwab if his company had any other items that may tempt the Royal Navy. As a matter of fact Schwab did have more. Germany was building a battlecruiser for Greece that was to be named the Salamis . However, the armament of four twin 14-Inch/45 turrets had been contracted with Bethlehem Steel. Since the blockade of Germany precluded delivery of the guns to the German shipyard, Schwab did as any good armaments salesman would, sold the arms to the rival, Great Britain . This marked the moment that the 20^th century British monitor was conceived. 

After Italy entered the war as allies of Germany , Terror again showed the worth of the type by effectively supporting the 8^th Army in North Africa . However, because of near misses on more than one occasion, plating and bulkheads on the ship were damaged and weakened. Terror was lost on February 24, 1941 after detonating two acoustic mines and receiving another three near misses from the Luftwaffe. Clearly, the Royal Navy needed some more monitors. The mastermind behind the 40 monitors produced for the Royal Navy during World War One was Winston S. Churchill. When he again became First Lord of the Admiralty on September 3, 1939, the day Great Britain declared war on Germany , only three of those earlier monitors were still on the RN lists. Erebus was scheduled to go to South Africa , Terror was at Singapore and Marshall Soult was a turret drill ship. Churchill foresaw a need for the specialized shore bombardment ships with a new German threat to the Low Countries and France and tried to quickly rehabilitate the existing monitors. Erebus and Terror were capable of being rehabilitated but the Marshall Soult was not. Although it was worth the effort or time to recondition the Marshall Soult, her turret mounting twin 15-inch/45 Mk I guns were still very serviceable.

The best solution appeared to be to remove the turret from the old monitor and install it in new construction. After Italy entered the war as allies of Germany , Terror again showed the worth of the type by effectively supporting the 8^th Army in North Africa . However, because of near misses on more than one occasion, plating and bulkheads on the ship were damaged and weakened. Terror was lost on February 24, 1941 after detonating two acoustic mines and receiving another three near misses from the Luftwaffe. Clearly, the Royal Navy needed some more monitors. 

So was the HMS Roberts born. Roberts and her half sister HMS Abercrombie, were the last two monitors to be constructed for the Royal Navy and represent the only such vessels constructed during World War Two. The hull lines of Erebus were selected as the best place to start for the new monitor design. Originally diesel engines were considered but since the diesels would take longer to produce than steam turbines, the later was the final choice to speed construction. In comparison to the Erebus, the more efficient machinery of the World War Two turbines allowed for shorter machinery spaces and Roberts was 32 feet shorter than Erebus, 354 feet versus 385 feet. Hull armor was designed to resist 6-inch gun and 9-inch howitzer strikes and the enormous bulges of the ship were modified from the design for the King George V class battleships. Each side would be adorned with a 17-foot bulge arranged as a three-layer sandwich. The outer space was an air void. It was anticipated that the outer hull would detonate any torpedo and the air void was designed to dissipate the explosion without transmitting the force to the second layer. The second layer was filled with water. This layer was designed to absorb any splinters and dissipate and evenly distribute any shock that made it to that layer. The third layer was another air void, which in theory, would remove the last of any blast effects without transferring it to the hull sides over the machinery spaces. Further, the ship was better provided with sub-compartments to minimize flooding. Also included in the design four 550-ton/hour water pumps, which served two purposes. They could pump out water from damaged compartments and also redistribute water to induce a list to maximize firing range of the guns. 

The main armament of course would be the superb 15-inch/45 Mk I, which despite its quarter of a century age was still one of the best pieces of ordnance every devised. The turret and guns from the Marshall Soult were slated to be removed and remounted on Roberts. However, it was recognized that far more emphasis would have be given to antiaircraft defense. The Erebus and Terror had six single 4-inch mounts and that was too weak for the new design. It was considered to mount two twin 4.5-inch mounts that were being used for the additional air defense for the battleships and fleet carriers but this mount was in too short of supply. Instead it was decided to equip the Roberts with the twin 4-inch HA/LA gun mount used for cruisers secondary armament and main armament for AA sloops. For close in defense the multiple pompom mount was selected but as a stop gap measure UP rocket mounts were to be carried pending the availability of the pompoms. The first plan called for quadruple pompoms and three &-inch rocket UP mounts, providing cruiser level AA defense. 

In October 1939 the building of the Lion class battleships were postponed for a year. John Brown shipyard had been scheduled to lay down one of these suspended battleships, the HMS Conqueror of the Lion class, as soon as the HMS Duke of York cleared the builder’s slip. With this ship postponed and the Duke of York nearing launch, John Brown was selected as the builder of the new monitor design and was brought into the design process in November 1939. The design was not finalized until February 6, 1940 and Job Number J.1573, later HMS Roberts, became part of the 1940 naval program. John Brown was formally given the contract for construction on March 16, 1940 with trials scheduled for April 1941. Duke of York had been launched in February but it was not until April 30, 1940 that Roberts was laid down on the vacant slip. To facilitate speed of construction details of the build were hashed out at meetings set every two weeks between John Brown and the Admiralty. This promised to be far faster than the normal bureaucratic method of submitting design proposals in advance for approval and then waiting for the glacial pace of the bureaucracy to grant the request before implementing them. 

One significant problem developed on how to get the Roberts to her turret or get the turret to the Roberts. There were three possible ways to skin that cat. One was to tow the Roberts to the Marshall Soult at Portsmouth . This would take too much time. Another course of action would have the Marshall Soult taken to Scotland but this would end her mission as training/base ship. The third course of action was chosen. This was to remove the turret in Portsmouth and transport it to John Brown by barge. Since the turret components were too heavy to transport overland, a risk of loss had to be incurred in transport by barge. There was another constriction in that there were only two barges with enough capacity to move the turret components and both of these were already involved in moving 14-inch gun turrets for the newly launched Duke of York. This bottleneck was enough to throw the building time table out of kilter. It was anticipated to launch the Roberts on February 1, 1941 and from that day to the 19^th prepare the ship to receive the turret and turntable. At this point the barge with the turret components would arrive and a crane would transfer these parts to the quay next to Roberts for immediate installation. Well, Murphy’s Law jumped to interfere with this best laid plan. 

Of course by this date, the need for shore bombardment against a German onslaught of the Low Countries and France had passed, as they were overrun in 1940 during the monitor’s construction. However, those 15-inch guns could certainly be used to support the 8^th Army in North Africa . HMS Roberts, along with the Erebus, were dispatched to Egypt , via the Cape of Good Hope , on December 1, 1941. She did not arrive at the Suez Canal until February 26, 1942 and initially served as an AA ship at the southern canal entrance due to the heavy Luftwaffe attacks on the canal. Roberts stayed south of the Suez Canal until August 17, 1942 when she was dispatched to Durban South Africa for a stay in the dry dock there. On September 20, she resumed her clockwise trip around Africa and arrived at Gibraltar on November 2, 1942. Her mission was support the Operation Torch landings scheduled for the next week. Roberts was slated for inshore support of the forces landing near Algiers . Since there was little opposition on the ground, she did not have a chance to use her 15-inch guns. Instead she was deployed as early warning of impending German air attacks. On November 9 Roberts used her 4-inch guns to defend against an attack on shipping by Ju-88s. On November 10 Roberts moved east to support landings at Bougie on November 11, which again were unopposed. That afternoon the Junker Ju-88s again made their appearance and Roberts claimed knocking down one of the bombers. At dusk another attack came in and three Ju-88s made dive bombing attacks on Roberts. On bomb landed 30 feet to port but the other two struck the monitor. 

One of the 1100 pond bombs hit the port bulge next to the funnel, flooded two compartments and started a fire on main deck. The other bomb hit aft of the funnel and exploded on the armored deck. This wrecked upper compartments and started more fires. However, the worst damage was in the destruction of the ventilator fans for the engine rooms. Without ventilation the engine rooms had to be abandoned because of high temperature but not before one crewman died of heat exhaustion. Other physical damage was a collapsed funnel, contamination of feed water lines, destruction of piping and electrical lines and the loss of turbo-generators. The attack cost 17 killed and 35 wounded. Another air attack of Roberts came on November 16 when two torpedo bombers made runs on the monitor. Both torpedoes missed and hit the quay in the harbor. Roberts left Bougie with improvised ventilator fans on December 1, for first Algiers and then Gibraltar, before arriving at Liverpool on January 6, 1943. Repairs took until May to complete. In June both Roberts and Abercrombie worked upon bombardment practice in preparation with the next scheduled major operation, the invasion of Sicily . 

All three surviving monitors, Terror was lost in February 1941, were picked as the sole heavy gun support for Operation Husky, as the invasion of Sicily was named. On June 18 both Roberts and Abercrombie left from the Clyde estuary. However, in steaming south Roberts stripped one of her turbine blades, limiting her to one turbine. Gibraltar had no spares, so she continued on to Algiers , which she reached on July 2. Roberts’ mission was to support the British landings at Cape Passero on the southeast tip of the island on July 10, 1943. During the landings only one shore battery opened fire upon the British and Canadian landings. A battery of five 5.9-inch (148mm) guns near Pachino opened fire and Roberts fired 14 rounds of her 15-inch shells for the first time in anger. Roberts fired from 9,000 yards and battery was silenced. Several fire missions were ordered but quickly cancelled as the areas to be targeted were quickly captured. In late afternoon Roberts received her next fire mission. Fourteen more rounds of 15-inch shells went downrange, this time to suppress a mortar battery. The Italian mortar crews surrendered but claimed it was unfair to fire 15-inch shells at them when they only had small mortars. On July 11 Roberts fired thirty 15-inch shells at 18,000 yards at an Italian troop concentration near Rosolini. Again the troops surrendered after receiving Roberts’ special attention. On the 13^th Roberts steamed north up the coast to provide AA defense to another landing beach south of Syracuse . Roberts was subject to several air attacks but was not hit. On July 15 Roberts conducted her most ambitious fire mission to date. Ninety rounds were fired at facilities and positions in the town of Catania . 

On July 18^th Roberts and Erebus, along with two Dutch gunboats, were made the "Inshore Squadron". Roberts was ordered to indict the withdrawal of German forces towards Messina by bombarding the coastal road at Taormina . On August 4 Roberts attacked the highway, which was above a railway tunnel, on a cliff face at this point. Roberts closed from 19,000 to 16,000 yards and expended 32 shells. Debris littered the roadway but later Germans claimed it did not hinder the evacuation to Messina . On August 16 Roberts conducted her last fire support mission in Operation Husky. At Cape Scaletta 10 miles south of Messina two L.S.I.s carried commandos whose mission was to blow up some bridges. Across the strait a battery on the mainland opened fire on Roberts, so the monitor increased range. The ship did not have a good field of observation of the commando landing beaches and ceased fire after expending only four rounds. Ten more rounds were fired an hour later with RAF Spitfire pilots acting as spotters. On August 21 HMS Roberts departed from Sicily to steam to Malta in preparation for her next mission. 

This mission came on August 30 and was Operation Baytown. This operation leap frogged the British 8^th Army across the narrow Straits of Messina to the Italian mainland of Calabria in the tow of the Italian boot. Roberts received no calls for fire as the landings were almost unopposed. Roberts left for Bizerta on September 4 to prepare to support the landings at Salerno . Roberts, along with Abercrombie, left Malta on September 7 with Roberts tasked to support the British troops on the northern beaches of the Salerno landings. In the morning of September 9 responded to two fire support requests. Two more fire missions came on September 11 with three more following on September 12. On September 11 her gunners destroyed a Me109 that was part of an air attack. Her final fire missions came on September 18 and 19 when she fired on a German headquarters inland. Now Roberts needed an overhaul and on October 20, 1943 she arrived at Port Said , Egypt for an overhaul. The next five months were spent in Egyptian waters. 

As 1943 ended and 1944 began preparations and planning continued on the greatest of the European amphibious operations, Operation Overlord, the invasion of northern France . In this operation Roberts and Erebus would again be called upon for fire support, as Abercrombie was still under repair from being mined. Older battleships were also selected for this role. Roberts along with Warspite and Ramilles were Bombardment Force D, supporting Sword Beach , the closest beach to Caen . Roberts left Egypt on March 5, 1944 to prepare for the Operation Neptune, the naval plan for the invasion. On June 6 Roberts anchored 12 miles west of Le Havre and opened fire on a battery of 155mm guns. S-boats came out of Le Havre and an torpedo attack was made on Roberts. One torpedo passed along each side of the monitor. Later in the day she fired upon troop concentrations. However, at 21:35 the right gun burst its jacket. The jacket split but the whole gun did not burst. She was sent to Portsmouth but it was decided not to replace the damaged gun until the left barrel also needed replacement. So on June 9 Roberts went back into action but with only one 15-inch gun operational. For the next five days the monitor performed fire missions off of Sword and Juno beaches. On June 14 Roberts withdrew to steam back to Portsmouth to exchange both of her main guns. On June 21 she arrived back to Normandy . For the rest of the month and into July Roberts continued to provide fire support for the British troops around Caen . Roberts last support missions came about in support of Operation Goodwood. 

Roberts next came into action in support of British and Canadian operations in the Netherlands . This time it was Roberts, Erebus and Warspite as the bombarding force. On November 1, 1944 Roberts and Warspite opened up. Targets were coastal batteries, radar stations and strong points. Warspite left for new guns in the evening, leaving just the two monitors. On November 3 the monitors also returned to Portsmouth . Although other fire support missions were planned, the Roberts never was again tasked to provide gunfire. After the fall of Germany it was planned to send Roberts and Abercrombie to the Indian Ocean to support an attack on Singapore . Both left for Ceylon in July 1945. Of course this never occurred because with the surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945 Roberts was at Port Said and Abercrombie was off Aden . Both ships were sent home and arrived back in Great Britain in November 1945. Roberts survived for another two decades, serving in various roles. She was sold for scrap and on July 19, 1965 departed for the breakers. (History from Big Gun Monitors by Ian Buxton. This title is the best source available on the history of the 42 monitors of the Royal Navy. Published in 1978, it was long out of print but has been recently reprinted. Get one while you can!)  

White Ensign Models HMS Roberts
If you have ever been set up for a blind date, you may have asked, “Well what does she/he look like?” If you received the response, “Hey, she/he has great character”, you may have thought, “Oh, Oh, watch out!” It has been truly said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A case in point is the new 1:350 scale HMS Roberts just released by White Ensign Models. How do you define beauty? If you are looking for a beautiful ship, HMS Roberts is not the solution. No one will confuse the physical appearance of HMS Roberts with HMS Hood or HMS Tiger. Dumpy, ungainly, wide of beam, if HMS Roberts was set up as a blind date, when asked “Well what does she/he look like?” you would have received the response, “Hey, she/he has great character.”  That response would be so true. It is the character and those same ungainly lines that make the HMS Roberts so fascinating. Now, if you ask the question, “What does the White Ensign Models 1:350 scale kit of HMS Roberts look like?”, then there is a different response. “The WEM Roberts is gorgeous!” This response of course applies to the WEM kit not to the lines of the original ship. 

You can build the WEM Roberts with full hull or waterline, as the kit comes with a separate lower hull. My personal preference in 1:350 scale is full hull but many prefer waterline. When it comes to the WEM HMS Roberts you can’t go wrong. I believe the full hull build will only further accentuate the unique appearance of this monitor because it graphically displays the very shallow draft and enormous torpedo bulge, which were such a characteristic of monitor designs. As with every White Ensign Models product, the WEM Roberts is beautifully executed and exceptionally clean. For hull detail, you just can’t get past those bulges with numerous vertical strakes. Four of what appear to be strakes extend upward above deck level, so they are probably some form of duct. Aft on the sides of the hull are stanchion supports and what appears to be segmented booms. 

Each side also has three locations where the deck extends beyond the hull to even further add relief and interest. The forecastle has anchor chain plates, very nice and deep deck hawse and superb windlass and capstan detail. Additional fittings include twin bollard fittings and open chocks. There is a very crisp breakwater with support gussets on front and aft faces with an addition locker fitting on the aft face. From the breakwater to high barbette deck fittings include four 20mm ammo lockers, locator holes, a ventilator cluster and two more bollard fittings. The short quarterdeck has another superb windless for a stern anchor, offset deck hawse and two more twin bollard fittings. The lower hull part exudes its own character with a continuation of the bulge, long horizontal strengthening strakes and very clean and flawless bilge keels. Aft are the twin shaft housings and short centerline keel. In keeping with the monitor concept the lower hull is shallow draft and has an absolutely flat bottom. 

The Roberts has the angular barbette, which is so much different that the standard circular barbette. The nicely done turret has the correct overlapping crown armor segments. Other manufacturers such as Trumpeter, have gotten this wrong displaying abutting not overlapping plates, but not WEM. The 15-inch gun barrels have excellent canvas blast bag details. Other crown detail includes range finder fittings at the rear and sighter hoods forward. The forward superstructure as a one piece massive control tower with door, locker and reel bracket detail. At level four is a perfectly cast solid splinter shield at the edge of the open deck. Aft of the control tower is a short deck house, which also serves as the base for the funnel. Most notable features on this part are the 20mm gun tubs. The funnel is well done with steam pipes, siren platform, top apron/stay guide with additional piping on the top. There is a long aft deck house ending in a 8 barreled pom-pom platform. This deck house has three levels of detail with access doors, lockers, strakes and portholes. 

On the outer face of the pom-pom position splinter shield are more reel brackets. Two AA director tubs are at the highest level. There are three platform parts. One is the navigation deck which goes atop the forward tower. The piece has excellent detail with wind baffles on the forward edge, interior tubs and detailed fittings. The other two platforms are quad pom-pom positions, which are at the forward quarters of the barbette and overhang the hull sides. Detail includes raised pom-pom base plate, interior supports and ammunition locker. The control top has window detail and the starfish already cast integral. A trade off was used here as using a one-piece resin part certainly simplifies and speeds construction but the resin starfish supports are on the thick side. WEM also supplies brass photo-etch platform and starfish supports but to use the photo-etch parts, you have to carefully remove the lower pole mast and sand off the resin starfish. A better solution would have been provide a separate control top and pole mast for those wishing to use the brass starfish. 

Smaller parts come in resin and also in white metal. Best of show are the marvelous eight and four barreled pom-poms. Extraordinarily well detailed, WEM has the best pom-poms in the business. Each pom-pom has a separate rein base/mount. The gun mounts for the twin secondary guns have gun shields with open back and sighting shutter detail. There are twelve AA director tubs in three pattern, all of which are perfectly cast. Two are raised in pedestals. Other smaller resin parts include galley stacks, search lights and two sizes on carley rafts. White metal parts include the twin secondary guns, paravanes, davits, rudders, propellers and shaft supports. A huge relief etched brass fret is included with the WEM Roberts. However, what WEM kit doesn’t include a huge exquisite brass fret, designed by the Mad One? For AA fittings, all 20mm Oerlikons with shields and sights are photo-etch. Side panel fittings for all three pom-pom mounts are included, as well as safety railings and ammo runs. Very fine AA Yagis are included. Be patient with these, as they are delicate because of their fineness. They will be spectacular when completed and well worth taking time for their assembly. As mentioned above a full main top platform and starfish is included on the fret. I believe the brass parts provide much better detail than the resin parts but it does add time to the assembly process. The secondary 4-inch guns get relief-etched splinter shields in different patterns based upon location. With 67 different patterns of brass parts, there are plenty of ship specific parts, including antennae, search light lens cross, various yardarms, paravane detail and streaming frame spacers, paravane crane jib for the bow, boat cradles and thwarts, funnel cap, anchors, signal lamps, hose reels and loading davits. More generic brass parts include various patterns of railing, vertical, ladder, inclined ladder, anchor chain, and accommodation ladders. Additionally WEM includes brass rods of three different diameters.

  Instructions are up to the usual top drawer WEM standard. Eleven pages in length, they are comprehensive and all inclusive with text and drawings. Page one provides history and statistics. Page two shows resin and white metal parts, while page three covers photo-etched parts. Page four starts with the assembly process with attachment of major parts to the hull casting. Subsequent pages present a series of modules, which address subassemblies. Page five has four modules with main gun turret, secondary guns 8-barrelled pom-pom and quad pom-pom subassemblies. Page six has nine modules two for yagis, Oerlikons, 4-inch splinter shields and locations, pom-pom tub assembly, air warning radar, paravanes (each paravane has six parts!), and forecastle assembly. Page seven has six modules, which cover aft gun locations, tripod assembly, bow jib, anchors, paravane gantry and starfish assembly. Page eight has five modules with three modules on foretop/topmast details, funnel details and mainmast details. Modules for searchlights, boat cradles, boat assembly, accommodation ladders, and boat and davit attachment are on page nine. Page ten rounds out the assembly with equipment location diagram, stern details, running gear and cable reels. The last page presents a full color plan and profile of HMS Roberts in 1941 in a multicolor Admiralty Light Disruptive Pattern camouflage, in which WEM conveniently indicates the appropriate Colourcoat paint needed. 

Verdict
Dumpy, ungainly, wide of beam, if HMS Roberts was set up as a blind date, when asked “Well what does she/he look like?” you would have received the response, “Hey, she/he has great character.”  It is the character and those same ungainly lines that make the HMS Roberts so fascinating. Now, if you ask the question, “What does the White Ensign Models 1:350 scale kit of HMS Roberts look like?”, then there is a different response. “The WEM Roberts is gorgeous!” 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________