The Canopus Class (1899)
HMS Vengeance under way in Victorian colours in 1903. Note torpedo nets rolled up and stowed along the horizontal shelf provided on the hull. The Canopus class of 6 ships was designed primarily for colonial duty and all except the name ship served on the China Station. Though 20 feet (6.1m) longer than the Majestics, they had a displcement nearly 2,000 tons less; the hull form was dictated by the need to traverse the Suez Canal. With only a 6" armor belt, they were more lightly protected than their front-line sisters intended for home waters, but as their Krupp armor was the equivalent of 7-8" of Harvey armor used in previous warships, the disparity in protection was not so great as it might appear. Moreover, with 12" main armament, the class were still considered first-class battleships. For detailed plans of the Canopus class' 12"/35 cal. Mark VIII main guns, click here. The Canopi were equipped with high-performance Belleville boilers, an early water-tube design which was unfamiliar to British engineers at first, requiring more careful maintenance than the familiar cylindrical or "Scotch boilers." Bellevilles proved troublesome until Royal Navy personnel mastered their peculiarities and learned to maintain them; afterwards they performed brilliantly, as in the French fleet. Unfortunately the Canopus class battleships were at the base of that steep learning curve. With their more efficient boilers and narrower shape, the Canopus class ships were 2 knots faster than the Majestics, and more economical of fuel: they consumed 10 tons/hr at full power. Looking at the record, they had an inordinate amount of engine trouble over the years. Engine trouble was to cost Canopus her greatest shot at fame in the lead-up to the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914.
Canopus class ships had immediate visual identity from the preceding Majestics because of their funnel arrangement, brought about by the new boiler arrangement below decks. Whereas the funnels were placed side by side in the Majestics, in the Canopi the funnels were spaced along the ship's centerline. The forward, smaller funnel was cylindrical in form, while the aft one was oblong with the long dimension transverse to the vessel's axis (see plan, below). This strange arrangement was adopted in remaining classes of British pre-dreadnought up to the King Edward VII class. Over all, the Canopus class had a somewhat lighter look than the vessels which followed. Nevertheless, like most of Sir William White's designs, they had an agreeable level of clutter topside, retaining fighting tops, numerous small boats and davits, and prominent ventilator cowls, as in the preceding Majestic class. As you can see in the bows-on view of the Goliath, they had almost straight-up sides in profile ("wall" or "slab sides" as they were known in naval circles), whereas the Majestics featured a marked "tumble-home". At right, a boat-deck view of the Canopus' main gunsfiring shows the pop-up sighting hoods on the turret top. These contained the periscopes used by gun layers inside the turret to aim the great guns. The Canopus class turrets sat on circular barbettes and featured all-round loading, as in the last two of the Majestic class; they could only be loaded at flat elevation, however. This photo was taken during the March 18, 1915 bombardment of the Narrows forts in the Dardanelles.
Specifications for the Canopus class:
Dimensions: 421' x 74.5' x 26'2" Displacement: 13,141 tons. Armament: (4) 12"/35 Mk VIII, 2x2; (12) 6" QF in single casemates; (12) 12-pdr; (6) 3-pdr. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type. 6"/2" belt; turrets: 8" face, 2" roof; deck: 2"/1"; conning tower: 12"; barbette: 12"/10"/6". Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons of coal std, 2,300 tons maximum. Propulsion: 20 coal-fired Belleville boilers; (2) 3-cyl inverted vertical triple expansion engines developing 13,500 HP (15,400 IHP), shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 18.5 kts (Canopus) to 19.2 kts (Glory). Crew: 750 to 780. Initial cost: £900,000 at 1900 valuation.
Ships in class: Canopus · Goliath · Albion · Ocean · Glory · Vengeance
Metric Specs:
Dimensions: 128m x 22.7m x 8m Displacement: 13,141 tons. Armament: (4) 305 mm/35 Mk VIII (2x2); (12) 152 mm QF in single casemates; (12) 12-pdr; (6) 3-pdr. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type. 15.3/5 cm belt; turrets: 203 mm face, 50 mm roof; decks: 50/25 mm; conning tower: 305 mm; barbettes 305/250/153 mm. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons of coal std, 2,300 tons maximum. Propulsion: 20 coal-fired Belleville boilers; (2) 3-cyl inverted vertical triple expansion engines developing 11,500 kW, shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 33.5 km/hr (Canopus) to 35.65 km/hr (Glory). Crew: 750 to 780. Initial cost: £900,000 at 1900 valueation.
HMS Glory in a rendering shown courtesy of Digital Navy.com, recommended browsing for anyone interested in the ships of this era. For an image-mapped version keyed to interior and exterior photos aboard a pre-dreadnought, click here.
The intention to use the Canopus class battleships in Asia was curtailed when Britain and Japan signed an addendum to their alliance of 1902, immediately following the Japanese victory at Tsushima in 1905. This new agreement assigned Japan patrol duty in China waters and reduced the British presence, for instance withdrawing all British battleships from the region. All the Canopi had seen China duty, along with the second-class battleships Triumph and Swiftsure, except the name ship herself, which was outward bound to assume assume duty at Hong Kong. The ship was contacted at Colombo, Ceylon and recalled in June 1905. All of the class saw duty in the Channel and Mediterranean fleets, and later as gunnery training ships, undergoing refits and decommissioned spells through the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. All of the ships, although built in different yards, appeared to have difficulties with their engines. Canopus was slated for a mechanical refit in fall 1914, but was rushed out to the South Atlantic to counter the German Asiatic Squadron before the repairs could be performed.
All of the Canopus class saw combat duty in WWI, and two of the six made the supreme sacrifice. While all Britain's dreadnoughts were massed to confront Germany in the North Sea, her abundant older battleships were seen as expendable. In 1915, 13 pre-dreadnoughts were sent to the Aegean where Britain's forces were mustering for the invasion of Turkey -- the infamous Gallipoli campaign. Initially this flotilla was spearheaded by Britain's newest super-dreadnought, the Queen Elizabeth, and the older battlecruiser Inflexible, although these ships were withdrawn after it became evident how hazardous duty on the Turkish front could be. The British ships were joined by a half-dozen French pre-dreadnoughts. Goliath met a sticky end off Gallipoli, succumbing to 3 torpedoes from the Turkish torpedo boat Muavenetimilliye in the wee hours of May 13, 1915. Running their torpedo vessel was a snap for Muavenetimilliye's mixed German and Turkish crew: she had been built at Schichau, Germany only 5 years before to one of the standard German designs (left, Schichau type 1906 TBs on maneuvers before the War). In fog soon after midnight, they slipped through the Allied destroyer screen and approached an anchored British fleet including the Goliath and the Cornwallis, which had been supporting ANZAC landings at X Beach, Cape Helles. Aiming carefully, the destroyer launched two torpedoes, striking Goliath under the forward turret and abreast the Number One funnel. The forward end of the ship erupted in a shattering explosion and Goliath rapidly rolled on her beam ends. There she was caught by a third torpedo, wounding her under the after turret. She promptly capsized and sank by the bow. Capt. Thomas Selford and 570 of his crew went with her to the bottom. The Muavenetimilliye escaped unscathed. Her crew and commanders were showered with honors for their exploit.
Also in the Gallipoli campaign another Canopus, the Ocean, became a wreck after being mined and shelled by Turkish shore batteries in the disastrous attempt to force the Narrows on March 18, 1915. When HMS Irresistible was disabled by mines, Ocean was sent in to help rescue the crew and tow the hulk to safety. In the attempt, she ran aground under fire with the other battleship in tow and, after freeing herself with some difficulty, jettisoned the tow. Soon after Ocean herself exploded a mine and listed severely. Destroyers took off her crew and the survivors of the Irresistible and the ship was abandoned. Both derelict battleships sank, the Irresistible in Eren Keul Bay and the Ocean in Morto Bay; destroyers sent in after nightfall to administer the coup de grace could find no trace. Luckily Ocean's evacuation was accomplished without the catastrophic loss of life which accompanied the demise of Goliath and that of the French battleship Bouvet earlier on March 18.
The remainder of the class served out the Great War, ending mostly as guardships or accommodation ships. All were scrapped from 1920 onwards.
A Canopus Class Collection
In a photo as obligatory in the British fleet as the Kiel Canal shot was for the Germans, HMS Canopus steams past the Citadel at Malta. This scene likely dates from her service with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1908-09.
HMS Ocean, later sunk in the Naval Battle of Gallipoli, March 18, 1915. This shot shows the funnels especially well; also the gunnery control station in the foretop.
Quarter view of the Goliath shows off the handsome lines of the class.
Bow view of the name ship tied up at Chatham, 1900.
The Glory coasting up to her mooring buoy after a day of target practice.
Some of the crew of the ill-fated Goliath. In background under the bridge, the armored conning tube is visible with its horizontal slit for seeing forward and steering the ship in action. Visible details of the 12" Mark VIII turret include 6-pdr gun on turret top (unusable in combat because of blast from the main guns) and sighting hoods containing the objective ends of the gunlayers' periscopes.
The Goliath bows-on in the Med, 1907. The ship's virtually straight-up sides are apparent from this angle. This photo has been colourised by Geoffrey Miller, author of The Straits Trilogy, the definitive history of the Gallipoli campaign.
1911: A concatenated column of Canopi at anchor at the Nore, the Albion nearest the camera.
