HMS General Craufurd

HMS General Craufurd

HMS General Craufurd was a First World War Lord Clive-class monitor named for General Robert Craufurd, commander of the British Light Division during the early years of the Peninsular War. She is the only ship of the Royal Navy ever to be so named. Her 12-inch main battery was stripped from obsolete battleships of the Majestic class.

The Lord Clive-class monitors were built in 1915 to engage German shore artillery in occupied Belgium during the First World War. General Craufurd—with her sisters—was regularly engaged in this service in the Dover Monitor Squadron and was present at the First Ostend Raid, providing cover for the Inshore Squadron

In November 1918, General Craufurd and her sisters were put into reserve pending scrapping, as the reason for their existence ended with the liberation of Belgium. In 1921, General Craufurd was scrapped.