The five ship Matsiatra class were designed and built between 1898 and 1904. The ships served for 40 years as coast defence ships around Lemuria up into the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Fifteen years later they would probably have been classed as monitors. They were designed with one large gun forward, a medium sized gun aft and a number of tertiary weapons on the broadside.
The five ships were the Lemurian Sea anti-piracy patrols. Slavery, although banned in most countries, was still rife in areas of Africa. There were always pirates who were willing to capture and feed people into the slave markets. Lemurian seaside villages had been known to disappear as pirates attacked in the dawn and would take a whole village, men, women and children, for the slave market. It was up to the anti-piracy patrols to intercept these slavers and return the Lemurian people to their homeland. It was not until the advent of aircraft that the pirates of the Lemurian Sea were eradicated. Harder to hide from aircraft and then the guns of the fleet.
The First World War found the ships, pretty much in their 'as completed' status. The major upgrade to the ships in their first ten years of service were the gun directors that had been added to control the two main guns. And then the spotting top added on the foretop of the tripod. This gave the ship a better range for the guns for inland shoots. This was a much needed addition as three of the ships were sent to Europe to actions off the coast of Belgium. Helping to anchor the end of the Allied Armies seaward end. Seaborne artillery was a major factor in stopping any German advances along the coast. It was during this stage of their careers the ships were redesignated 'Monitors' from their Coast Defence tag. None of the three were lost during the war and returned to Lemuria where their guns needed to be refurbished having been worn down to almost smoothbore weapons. The addition of AA weapons were the major WW1 additions. The old low angle 2 pounder guns were replaced with 2 pounder AA weapons. Two 3" AA were added aft beside the after bridge.
The ships went back to their peacetime roles as anti-piracy ships but they were now assisted in this by ships carrying aircraft which made catching and dispatching pirates a lot easier. Prevention was also now easier. Lemuria would tell an African country what was about to happen and none said 'No'. Another pirate nest destroyed. Bombed from the air and shelled from the sea, there was no escape.
By 1939 the AA value of the ship had been increased in a major way. The single 4.7" were replaced with single 4" AA guns, with a DP director mounted outside of the aft funnel. The tub beside the bridge was enlarged and a quad 2 pounder mounting fitted. The remaining single 2 pounder AA were retained. This gave the ships a genuine AA battery a lot of cruisers would be happy with. The ships were ready for the war the world could see was coming. During 1940-41 some electronic parts were fitted but the ships were a long way down the list for any really modern equipment. The fittings they got were the items removed from other ships that had been upgraded.
Four out of the five ships were lost to enemy action while the fifth was discarded in 1944, as its machinery broke down to a point to be not worth repairing. Its very valuable crew being transferred to new ships being completed. The first loss was in Norway 1940, when German bombers attacked the port the ship was helping to guard, three bomb hits and the ship was afire end to end, beached and abandoned. The hulk was scrapped in 1948. Second loss was at Dunkirk 1940. German Stukas and Ju88's attacked the port where the ship, was taking on troops, for transport to Dover, when the ship was sunk at its mooring. The hulk was crammed with demolition charges which were exploded as the last ships left port, to deny the enemy any of the valuable equipment and armaments on the ship. Third loss was in the Mediterannean where it was escorting a convoy to Tobruk when German Aircraft attacked the convoy, several bomb hits later the ship rolled over and sunk.
The fourth loss was the most interesting. The Matsiatra was escort leader of a four transport ship convoy that had five escorts. This was a decoy convoy going from Alexandria to Malta, while the huge Pedestal Convoy was fought through to Malta from Gibraltar. The convoy and its escorts were deemed expendable if they could draw off any German and Italian forces away from Pedestal. The escort force was the Matsiatra two ex-WW1 destroyers and two corvettes. The Axis high command took note of the convoy and sent three cruisers (1xCA, 2xCL) to deal with it. The Matsiatra's search radar picked up the Italian cruisers at 18 miles range, its captain giving orders for the escorts. The transports would turn 180 degrees and head back to Alexandria with the two corvettes. The Matsiatra and two destroyers would take on the Italian cruisers to give the convoy the chance to escape. At 27,000 yards the heavy cruiser opened fire, at 24,000 yards the two light cruisers joined in. The Matsiatra opened fire with its 12" gun at 22,000 yards and its 8" gun at 20,000 yards, the destroyers 4" came into play at 17,000 yards. The destroyers were tasked with making a torpedo attack on the cruisers while the Matsiatra distracted them firing large guns at them. Something unexpected as the large splash from the 12" landed alongside the heavy cruiser, spraying it with splinters. An unwelcome moment for the Italian Captain. It got worse a minute later when the next 12" shell arrived and hit the cruiser amidships. Destroying the aircraft and handling equipment, starting a large fire that was threatening the ship. That hit had also damaged the ships machinery and slowed the ship. The question for the captain was, keep in the battle and risk further major damage or withdraw and make sure his ship survived. Reports of the severity of the fire made up the Captains mind. He passed command to the next senior Captain and withdrew his ship away from the battle to fight the fire. The two light cruisers should be more than enough to sink the impudent Allied ships. Matsiatra had not gone unscathed, four 8" shells had hit the ship, dismounting the engaged side 4" battery, a hit in the bridge, destruction of the ship boats. It was still in a condition to fight. The two destroyers were dodging and weaving toward the light cruisers and trying to line them up for a torpedo run. The light cruisers had been concentrating on the destroyers and one now had to transfer its fire to the Matsiatra. That was the Matsiatra's chance while it was not under fire. The 12" had two unopposed shots at the lead light cruiser. One hit and one near miss, the range was down to 14,000 yards, almost point blank. The near miss sprayed splinters through the bridge section, killing and wounding the bridge staff, the ship being not under command for several minutes. The hit was on the side of the cruiser. It went straight through the cruisers armour like it was cardboard, entered the aft magazine and detonated it. The aft part of the cruiser disappeared and the ship came to a stop. One of the destroyers fired a bank of three torpedoes at it, getting two hits, which turned the cruiser into a colander which slowly sank. The cruiser had its revenge, the two cruisers had fired their torpedoes at the Matsiatra, which was only making 10 knots, which received two hits also. That was two hits too many for the old ship. The side of the ship opened up to the sea, the ship slowly heeled to port and rolled over, the destroyers picking up survivors. Both sides withdrew their forces. The Matsiatra had shown that even one 12" gun could make a mess of a cruiser that is just not built to take that size of shell hit.
