 On 4 November 1913 , Empress of India was used as a target ship in firing trials in Lyme Bay that were primarily intended to give officers and men an idea of the effect of live shell against a real target . A secondary objective was to look at the problems caused by several ships firing at the same target at the same time . The first ship to engage the stationary Empress of India was the light cruiser Liverpool , this was followed by two dreadnought battleships ( Thunderer and Orion ) and the pre @-@ dreadnought battleship King Edward VII , and finally four dreadnought battleships ( Neptune , King George V , Thunderer , and Vanguard ) . By 16 : 45 , " Empress of India was blazing furiously and down by the stern , sinking at " 18 : 30 . She had received forty @-@ four 12 @-@ inch ( 305 @-@ mm ) and 13 @.@ 5 @-@ inch ( 343 @-@ mm ) hits and " it is not surprising that an elderly ship sank , " though the intention had been to repeat the firing at longer range before she did . 
