HMS Drake dressed over all. Click here for enlarged view.
In the mid-1890s British intelligence sources warned of two deadly cruisers being constructed in Russia, faster and more heavily armed than anything the Royal Navy could field against them. HMS Terrible and her sister Powerful were built to "answer" the Russian cruisers. Though the two giant British cruisers did not prove successful ships -- they were simply too expensive to operate when smaller ships would do --, they served as the model from which more effective British armored cruisers were developed. After dallying with the Diadem design (which replaced the 9.2" singles with two 6" guns mounted side-by-side bow and stern), the Brits made a strong comeback beginning with the 12,000-ton, 21-knot Cressy class of 6 ships built between 1896 and 1902. The Drakes built on the success of the Cressy class (also called the Bacchantes), restoring nearly the full 14,200-ton size and 23-knot speed of the Terribles in a better-balanced package. See schematic armor plan of the Drakes at the foot of this article.
If the Terribles provided the template for the type, HMS Drake exemplified the mature first-class armored cruiser of the British Navy in the pre-dreadnought era: a class of vessels which was operationally satisfactory, suitably intimidating to minor Powers, and generally helpful to fleet operations. At 14,150 tons, she was nearly double the size of the French Dupuy de Lôme and its clones; her armament plan was a virtual duplicate of the Terrible class, but her lines and disposition were greatly improved. The section diagram at right shows in red the arrangement of belt armor and protective deck (upper) and splinter deck (curved, lower) protecting the ship's vitals: boilers, machinery, and magazines. Also shown is the double bottom, additional insurance against perforation. Most unfortunately, many of the armored cruisers included in their design longitudinal watertight bulkheads which trapped seawater on one side, leading the ships to heel and begin to capsize when punctured on one side (the most common form of hit at the waterline).
Long, sleek and fast, the Drakes were deemed quite successful. Some two dozen variations and improved near-sisters were built for the British Navy through 1905, all bearing the distinctive 4-funnel, 2-mast silhouette. Some of the classes built were smaller and less heavily protected vessels of under 10,000 tons intended for commerce protection and colonial work. Generally, they were armed with two 9.2" guns in single turrets fore and aft and a secondary armament of 6" QF guns in 2-tier casemate mountings. These were fast vessels for their day, at 23 kts, and were intended for scouting the enemy's fleet position and signaling it back to the battleship fleet. With armor up to 6" on the belt and turrets, these were doughty warriors capable of mixing it up with any ship in the fleet except the battleships or, after 1908, the Dreadnought battlecruisers. The rapid development of technology, particularly of all-big-gun ships with turbine engines, quite left the armored cruisers behind, with tragic consequences when they came into conflict with dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers. These vessels were thought to be capable of getting in a few shots with their heavy guns in a fleet engagement, but fast enough to scoot out of danger when out-matched. The rapid development of battleship technology outpaced this class of ships when they were still new or at least still young, with tragic consequences when they were exposed to the overwhelming might of dreadnought firepower.
At left, a quarter view of Drake showing the aft deckhouse and turret and aft extremity, like a miniature battleship with its captain's walk wrapped around the pointed cruiser stern. Drake proved a steadfast warrior, being mortally torpedoed by a U-boat while escorting RMS Olympic into Liverpool early in the War; she made safety but was deemed too badly damaged to rescue and was allowed to sink offshore without notable casualties. A later development, the 3-ship Minotaur class of 1906-07 added 500 tons, upped the number of 9.2" guns to four by deploying twin turrets in place of single, and brought the secondary armament up to 7.5" (ten were mounted in single turrets: 6 along the sides and two singles each bow and stern, flanking the 9.2" mounts). These were much more powerful ships, but again, hopelessly outclassed by the battlecruisers with their eight or more 12" guns and 28-kt. speed. In the service there was grumbling that the Minotaurs were over-gunned, that the additional weight would have been better alotted to increased protection. Given the ships' battle record, the objection would appear to be well justified.
A number of armored cruisers featured in the chequered history of the First World War: HMS Good Hope at the Battle of Coronel in 1914; the German Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Coronel and the Falklands; HMS Hampshire, sunk by a mine while carrying Britain's War Secretary, Lord Kitchener, to a conference in Russia in 1916 -- sunk with Lord Kitchener; the 1890 cruiser HMS Hawke, torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat early in the War with great loss of life; HMS Defence in the pursuit of the Goeben, August 1914, and later at Jutland, where she was sunk; HMS Warrior and Black Prince, both sunk at Jutland. And of course there was the lamentable case of the "Live Bait Squadron." (q.v.)
Specifications for the Drake:
Dimensions: 519' x 67'11" x 24'6" Displacement: 14,150 tons. Armament: (2) 9.2"/45 Mk IX, (16) 6"/45 Mk VII QF, (12) 12-pdr and (3) 3-pdr guns; (4) 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: 6"/3" belt, 8"/6" turrets, 6" barbettes, 8" aft bulkheads, 6" casemates, 3"/2" deck. Fuel capacity: 1,250 tons of coal std; 2,500 maximum. Propulsion: (43) coal-fired Belleville boilers; (2) vertical inverted 4-cyl triple expansion engines developing 31,000 hp, shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 23.5 kts (25.1 King Alfred). Crew: 760.
Ships in Class: Drake · Good Hope · Leviathan · King Alfred
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 158.2m x 20.7m x 7.5m Displacement: 14,150 tons. Armament: (2) 234 mm/45 Mk IX, (16) 152 mm/45 Mk VII QF, (12) 12-pdr and (3) 3-pdr guns; (4) 45 cm torpedo tubes. Armor: 152/76 mm belt, 203/152 mm turrets, 152 mm barbettes, 203 mm aft bulkheads, 152 mm casemates, 76/50 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 1,250 tons of coal std; 2,500 maximum. Propulsion: (43) coal-fired Belleville boilers; (2) vertical inverted 4-cyl triple expansion engines developing 23,117 kW, shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 43.5 km/hr (46.5 King Alfred). Crew: 760.
HMS Good Hope of the Drake class, Sir Christopher Cradock's flagship at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914. Good Hope was blown up by the Scharnhorst's deadly-accurate gunnery. Her little cousin, the 9,800-ton second-class cruiser Monmouth of the County class -- armed only with 6" guns, many of which were mounted too low to the sea to be usable -- shared a similar fate in what amounted to a complete rout of the British. In a precursor to the all-out hunt for the Bismarck in WWII, the Admiralty mobilized all resources for prompt revenge on von Spee. They succeeded a month later in the Battle of the Falklands, in which the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible methodically annihilated the proud German Far East Squadron. Vengeance satisfied, the British stood off to rescue survivors: a pitiful few, bobbing on the oil-soaked waves after most of their squadron-mates had shared a brutal death.
Adm. Sir Jack Fisher was fond of saying that when Sir William White designed the Monmouth class he forgot the guns. Diminutive versions of the Drakes intended primarily for commerce protection, these ten ships mounted nothing heavier than 6" guns, carried in electrically-trained twin turrets fore and aft, and in sided casemates. The 6" turrets were never satisfactory and there was talk of changing them out for single 7.5" mounts, but the plans were never consummated. Worse, because the lower deck 6" casemate guns were "washed out" in all but millpond-like seas, the Monmouths could only bring four to six 6" guns to bear in broadside -- a crippling condition in the Battle of Coronel. Envisioned as fulfilling colonial duty, the Monmouths had nominal armor protection, with a maximum thickness of 4"-5" Krupp plate, compared to the 6"-8" on the first-string Drake class.
HMS Cornwall was among the County class cruisers accompanying the revenge squadron sent to hunt down and sink von Spee's cruises after Coronel. In the Battle of the Falklands, they fully avenged the Coronel defeat, sinking all but one of the German ships; that one escapee, the light cruiser Dresden, was in turn cornered and scuttled early in 1915. HMS Kent, Cornwall's County class sister, participated in the rout, chasing down and dispatching the light cruiser Nürnburg.
Bedford of the class was wrecked on the China Station in 1910; Monmouth was sunk in November 1914, as detailed above. The remaining eight County class ships survived the First World War and were scrapped in the early Twenties.
Specifications for the Monmouth class:
Dimensions: 440' x 66' x 24'6" Length OA: 448' Displacement: 9,800 tons std. Armament: (14) 6"/45 Mk. VII QF, (8) 12-pdr 8 cwt, and (3) 3-pdr guns; (2) submerged 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp type. 4"/2" belt; 10" CT; 5" turrets, barbettes, and aft bulkheads; 4" casemates; 2" deck. Fuel capacity: 800 tons coal std, 1,600 maximum; 400 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: Coal-fired water-tube boilers (see Note). Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl inverted vertical triple expansion engines developing 22,200 hp (22,881 in Cornwall), shafted to twin screw. Speed: 24 kts (24.7 Suffolk.) Crew: 678. Cost: £775,000 at 1900 valuation.
Ships in class: Kent · Essex · Monmouth · Lancaster · Bedford · Berwick · Donegal · Cornwall · Cumberland · Suffolk
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 134m x 20.12m x 7.47m Length OA: 136.6m Displacement: 9,800 tons std. Armament: (14) 152 mm/45 Mk. VII QF, (8) 12-pdr 8 cwt, and (3) 3-pdr guns; (2) submerged 45 cm torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp type. 102/51 mm belt; 254 mm CT; 127 mm turrets, barbettes, and aft bulkheads; 102 mm casemates; 51 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 800 tons coal std, 1,600 maximum; 400 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: Coal-fired water-tube boilers (see Note). Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl inverted vertical triple expansion engines developing 16,500 kW (17,062 in Cornwall), shafted to twin screw. Speed: 44.5 km/hr (45.7 Suffolk.). Crew: 678. Cost: £775,000 at 1900 valuation.
Boilers were various in the class. Kent, Essex, Monmouth, Lancaster, Donegal, and Cumberland had Bellevilles; Suffolk and Berwick, Niclausse; and Cornwall, B&W.
The Devonshire class at 10,000 tons were compact second-class cruisers with a speed of 22-23 kts and armament of four 7.5" and six 6" guns. Carnavon took part in the Battle of the Falklands, but the most famous of the class was the unfortunate HMS Hampshire, now a protected war grave in shallow waters near Scapa Flow where she sank in 1916.
HMS Hampshire, the armored coffin of Lord Kitchener and 643 crewmen, was lost less than a week after the inconclusive Battle of Jutland. She hit a mine and sank rapidly in stormy weather at the outset of a mission to Russia (12 survived the sinking). At the time Jutland was being played in the press as a sweeping German triumph, which it was not; but there was no rebuttal, thanks to the reticence of Adm. Sir John Jellicoe and the inexplicable silence of HM's propaganda wallahs. Public confidence in the Royal Navy never quite recovered from this shattering one-two blow, following several "insult bombardments" in which German battlecruisers slipped across the North Sea and shelled British coastal towns with impunity, because the Grand Fleet was kept in remote bases in Scotland to keep the great ships safe from submarine attack. After each of these coastal raids, the press howled, "Where Was the Navy?" Not without reason, considering the British taxpayer had been nicked hundreds of millions to pay for the naval buildup, not to mention the high cost of naval operations during the War. In reality, the Navy had been at sea in three out of four of the occasions and missed the Germans twice in mist and rain squalls. On the fourth, Beatty's battlecruisers pounced, and the result was the Battle of Dogger Bank.
Specifications for the Devonshire class:
Dimensions: 473'6" x 68'6" x 25'6" Displacement: 10,850 tons std. Armament: (4) 7.5"/40 QF, (6) 6"/45 Mk VII QF, 12-pdr 12 cwt, (2) 12-pdr 8-cwt, and (3) 3-pdr guns; (5) MG; (2) 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 6"/4½"/2½" belt; 4½"aft bulkheads; 10" conn, 7½"/4"turrets; 6" barbettes; 6" casemates, 4"/2" deck. Fuel capacity: 800 tons coal std, 1,750 maximum; 250 tons bunker oil (Carnarvon only). Steam plant: 17 coal-fired Belleville water-tube boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 20,500 hp (22,200 in Carnarvon), shafted to twin screw. Speed: 22.25 kts forced draft. Crew: 655. Cost: £850,000 at 1900 valuation.
Ships in class: Devonshire · Hampshire · Argyll · Roxburgh · Antrim · Carnarvon
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 144.3m x 20.9m x 7.8m Displacement: 10,850 tons std. Armament: (4) 190 mm/40 QF, (6) 152 mm/45 Mk VII QF, 12-pdr 12 cwt, (2) 12-pdr 8-cwt, and (3) 3-pdr guns; (5) MG; (2) 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 6"/4½"/2½" belt; 4½"aft bulkheads; 10" conn, 7½"/4"turrets; 6" barbettes; 6" casemates, 4"/2" deck. Fuel capacity: 800 tons coal std, 1,750 maximum; 250 tons bunker oil (Carnarvon only). Steam plant: 17 coal-fired Belleville water-tube boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 15,287 kW (16,555 in Carnarvon), shafted to twin screw. Speed: 22.25 kts forced draft. Crew: 655. Cost: £850,000 at 1900 valuation.
Another new variation on the British armored-cruiser theme, the maiden effort of new DNC Sir Philip Watts, was the 2-ship Duke of Edinburgh class. In attempting to address the problem of wash-out for the lower tier guns in the double-decker casemates used in previous designs by White, this group had the unfortunate distinction of having its entire secondary armament disabled by virtue of its design. This was due to having the entire 6" armament mounted on the shelter deck, to compensate for the great weight of six single-turret 9.2" mounts mounted on the weather deck (the bow gun perched on the forecastle head). The ships' 6" guns were unusable in anything but a flat calm and were seldom used for anything more military than saluting. To add to this disadvantage, the class was known as mediocre sea-boats at best. The Duke was built at Pembroke DY, and considered the better steamer of the two; the Prince was made by Thames IW. Both ships fought at Jutland; the Black Prince lost her way and blundered into the van of the German battleship fleet after dark. Searchlights zeroed in on her. In less time than it takes to tell, the bright beams were followed by dead-on salvos of 5.9-, 11- and 12-inch shell. Almost immediately the doomed ship sprouted flames and blew up, sinking with all hands in the small hours of June 1, 1916 (below).
Specifications for the Duke of Edinburgh class:
Dimensions: 480' x 73'6" x 27'6" Displacement: 13,350 tons std. Armament: (6) 9.2"/45 Mk IX (6x1), (10) 6"/50 Mk XI, and (20) 3-pdr semi-automatic guns; (3) submerged 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 6"/4"/3" belt; 8"/4" turrets; 7" barbettes; 6" casemates, 1½"/¾" deck. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons coal std, 2,000 maximum; 600 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: 20 coal-fired B&W boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 23,500 hp, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 23.3 kts. Crew: 704. Cost: £1,150,000 at 1904 valuation.
Ships in class: Duke of Edinburgh · Black Prince
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 473'6" x 68'6" x 25'6" Displacement: 10,850 tons std. Armament: (6) 234mm/45 Mk IX, (4) 190 mm/40 QF, (6) 152 mm/45 Mk VII QF, 12-pdr 12 cwt, (2) 12-pdr 8-cwt, and (3) 3-pdr guns; (5) MG; (2) 45 cm torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 152/114/63.5 mm belt; 114 mm aft bulkheads; 254 mm conn, 190/100 mm turrets; 152 mm barbettes; 152 mm casemates, 100/51 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons coal std, 2,000 maximum; 600 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: 20 coal-fired B&W water-tube boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 17,524 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 41.2 km/hr forced draft. Crew: 704. Cost: £1,150,000 at 1904 valuation.
HMS Warrior of 1907 (right) marked a notable improvement over the previous class, though she was rather over-gunned with six 9.2" and four 7.5". Continuing the trend to battleship-like armament layout, she had a secondary armament of four 7.5" guns all mounted in single turrets on the weather deck, and single 9.2s in a hex disposition (the bow gun being on the raised forecastle head as in the Edinburgh class). At nearly 500 feet long and 13,500 tons, these cruisers were indeed the size of small battleships, though protected by only 6" armor in a belt 300 feet long. Originally slated to be sisters of the problematic Duke of Edinburgh class, they went back to the drawing boards before being laid down, with the happy result that all the shortcomings of the previous class were answered. When new the Warriors could all make about 23 knots, though the designers had hoped for 24. Just for an idea of the muscle-power and mineral investment it took to keep these monarchs of the ocean moving along, their boiler-room furnaces demanded 15 tons of coal an hour for cruising speed (21 kts) and about 23½ tons an hour at full power. Over all these were the most successful of the later British armored cruisers, with plenty of power in the engine room and plenty more in the gunnery department where it counted. With a self-satisfied air, Jane's of 1914 noted, "These ships are singularly successful sea-boats, and are held by all who have served in them to be the best cruisers ever turned out." (p. 56)
With the Warrior and Minotaur classes, Britain was reaching the limits of pre-dreadnought technology, both in terms of firepower and engine power. The logical next step was the battlecruiser, initiated by HMS Indomitable in 1908 -- the same year the Minotaur completed. In all respects, the turbine-engined, 27-knot Invincibles were superior ships, sounding the knell for the armored cruiser type, as indeed they were designed to do.
All of these ships fought at Jutland. There the Warrior was hit 13 times by German shells and suffered from severe fire and flooding damage. Desperate hours of damage control could not save the ship. At first her engines kept beating despite broken steam mains and severe inundations of seawater. An engineering officer aboard the ship wrote: "Ï perceived what appeared to be Niagara, though whether the sheet of water was rising up from below or pouring down from above I couldn't be sure at the time. A blast of steam on my face warned me that I hadn't long to think about it, and I soon made up my mind . . . that the only thing to do was to get the men out. . . With [a blazing inferno] ahead of me and the roar of steam behind me, I felt like a trapped rat, for there seemed no possibility of lifting the heavy armour hatches overhead, and a spasm of sheer terror came over me; but just then I realised a man was calling my attention to a glimmer of light above, and the next minute I found myself climbing out through a rent torn in the deck."
During the night Warrior struggled on, under tow by the little seaplane carrier Engadine, a converted Channel ferry, once her engines stopped. In the morning after 0700, the Warrior's survivors were taken off by Engadine. In an impressive show of discipline, the men waited patiently on the slanting decks while the wounded were transferred on stretchers. At 0800 the two ships parted company and the shattered cruiser later foundered. Of the four armored cruisers in her squadron -- the First Cruiser Squadron -- three had made the supreme sacrifice at Jutland.
Specifications for the 1907 Warrior class:
Dimensions: 480' x 73'6" x 27'6" Displacement: 13,350 tons std. Armament: (6) 9.2"/45 Mk IX (6x1), (4) 7.5"/50 Mk II (4x1), and (24) 3-pdr semi-automatic guns; (4) Maxim MG; (3) submerged 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 6"/4"/3" belt; 4½" aft bulkheads; 8"/4" turrets; 7" barbettes; 1½"/¾" deck. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons coal std, 2,000 maximum; 400 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: (19) coal-fired Yarrow large-tube boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 23,500 hp, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 22.8 - 23.3 kts. Crew: 704. Cost: £1,180,000 at 1905 valuation.
Ships in class: Warrior · Achilles · Cochrane · Natal
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 146.3m x 22.4m x 8.4m Displacement: 13,350 tons std. Armament: (6) 234 mm/45 Mk IX (6x1), (4) 190 mm/50 Mk II (4x1), and (24) 3-pdr semi-automatic guns; (4) Maxim MG; (3) submerged 45 cm torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 152/101/76 mm belt; 203/101 mm turrets; 178 mm barbettes; 38/19 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons coal std, 2,000 maximum; 400 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: (19) coal-fired Yarrow large-tube boilers and 6 cylindrical boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 17,524 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 42.23 - 43.2 km/hr. Crew: 704. Cost: £1,180,000 at 1905 valuation.
HMS Minotaur of 1908, the ultimate armoured cruiser. Photo above (1909); gunnery plan below. The ship's concept is quite similar to that of her contemporary, the battleship Lord Nelson, with the gun calibres down-sized and the hull built for more speed. This is no idle comparison, for both ships were designed by White's successor as Director of Naval Construction, Sir Philip Watts, and at 14,500 tons the armored cruisers were very nearly the size of the 16,000-ton battleships in the Nelson class. Note also the clean, uncluttered lines of the Minotaur and Defence's upper works, and their lower profile, an immediate mark of distinction between Watts' designs and those of his predecessor, Sir William White. But these ships were 22-knot cruisers, not battleships. Their main purpose was to outgun the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and Defence and Minotaur were stationed in the Far East for that express purpose. It is said there was a sporting agreement that in a duel with von Spee's squadron, the British would hold fire from their 7.5" batteries in order to make it a fair fight.
HMS Defence of the Minotaur class was one of the most advanced armored cruisers in the Royal Navy at the outbreak of war in 1914. The entire class was built with short funnels like this, which were lengthened 15 feet in 1909 to provide better draft to the boilers. Click here for enlarged view. Unimaginative use of Defence's great power and speed contributed to the escape of the Goeben and Breslau from the Adriatic in the first days of the war, to the court-martial of her commanding officer for cowardice, and indirectly to Turkey's entrance into the War as an ally of the Kaiser. Reckless handling and bad luck later led to the ship's loss at Jutland. She was unintentionally but fatally exposed to 12" shellfire from the German High Seas Fleet on May 31, 1916. In full view of some 50 ships of both fleets, Rear Adm. Sir Robert Arbuthnot and his ship's company of 900 perished in a colossal fireball. As seen in the deck level view below, Defence's dying burst, fourth from left, is as a mere firecracker in Jutland's reverberating twilight.
Specifications for the 1908 Minotaur class:
Dimensions: 520' x 74'6" x 28' Displacement: 14,600 tons std. Armament: (4) 9.2"/50 Mk XI (2x2), (10) 7.5"/50 Mk II QF (10x1), (14) 12-pdr 12 cwt, (2) 12-pdr 8-cwt field guns, and (7) MG; (5) submerged 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 6"/4"/3" belt; 10" conn; 8"/6" turrets; 7" barbettes; 1½"/¾" deck. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons coal std, 2,000 maximum; 400 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: Coal-fired Yarrow or Babcock water-tube boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 27,000 hp (28,100 in Shannon), shafted to twin screw. Speed: 22.4 - 23.1 kts; 21.5 Shannon forced draft. Crew: 755. Cost: £1,410,000 at 1910 valuation.
Ships in class: Minotaur · Defence · Shannon
NOTE: HMS Shannon had one foot more beam and a foot less draft for the same displacement.
She was a good knot slower than her sisters. She also carried 50 tons less coal than the others.
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 158.5m x 22.7m x 8.53m Displacement: 14,600 tons std. Armament: (4) 234 mm/50 Mk XI (2x2), (10) 190 mm/50 Mk II QF (10x1), (14) 12-pdr 12-cwt, (2) 12-pdr 8-cwt field guns, and (7) MG; (5) submerged 45 cm torpedo tubes. Armor: Krupp throughout. 152/101/76 mm belt; 254 mm conn; 203/152 mm turrets; 178 mm barbettes; 38/19 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 1,000 tons coal std, 2,000 maximum; 400 tons bunker oil. Steam plant: Coal-fired Yarrow or Babcock water-tube boilers. Propulsion: (2) 4-cyl vertical inverted triple expansion engines developing 20,133 kW (20,954 in Shannon), shafted to twin screw. Speed: 41.8 - 42.8 km/hr; 39.8 Shannon forced draft. Crew: 755. Cost: £1,410,000 at 1910 valuation.
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