Devonshire-class cruiser (1903) explained

The Devonshire-class cruiser was a group of six armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. All ships of the class served in World War I. Argyll was wrecked, and Hampshire was sunk by a naval mine. The four survivors were disposed of soon after the war.

Design and description

The Devonshire class was designed as improved versions of the preceding and were also intended for commerce protection. The armament of the new design was made more powerful by the replacement of the twin six-inch (152 mm) turrets and the forward double six-inch casemates by four 7.5-inch (190 mm) single turrets in a diamond arrangement. The ships were designed to displace 10850LT. They had an overall length of 473feet, a beam of 68feet and a deep draught of 24feet. The Devonshire-class ships were powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 21000ihp and gave a maximum speed of 22kn. The engines were powered by seventeen Yarrow and six cylindrical boilers.[1] They carried a maximum of 1033LT of coal and their complement consisted of 610 officers and other ranks.[2]

The main armament of the Devonshire class consisted of four breech-loading (BL) 7.5-inch Mk I guns mounted in four single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and one on each side.[3] The guns fired their 200lb shells to a range of about .[4] Their secondary armament of six BL 6-inch Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Four of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather.[5] They had a maximum range of approximately with their 100lb shells.[6] The ships also carried 18 quick-firing (QF) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.[1] Her two 12-pounder 8-cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore.[3]

At some point in the war, the main deck six-inch guns of the Devonshire-class ships were moved to the upper deck and given gun shields. Their casemates were plated over to improve seakeeping and the four 3-pounder guns displaced by the transfer were landed.[7]

The ships' waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of 6inches and was closed off by 50NaN0 transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets was also five inches thick whilst that of their barbettes was six inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from 0.75- and the conning tower was protected by 12inches of armour.[1]

Ships

Building Programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Devonshire class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The 1905 edition costs were compiled before the ships were complete.

Ship! scope="col" align = center rowspan=2
BuilderDate ofCost according to
align = center scope="col" Laid downalign = center scope="col" Launchalign = center scope="col" Completion(BNA 1905)[8] (BNA 1906)[9]
Devonshirealign=center HM Dockyard, Chathamalign=right 25 Mar 1902align=right 30 Apr 1904align=right 24 Aug 1905align=right £900,792 ***align=right £818,167
Antrimalign=center John Brown, Clydebankalign=right 27 Aug 1902align=right 8 Oct 1903align=right 23 Jun 1905align=right £899,050 ***align=right £873,625
Argyllalign=center Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering, Greenockalign=right 1 Sep 1902align=right 3 Mar 1904align=right December 1905align=right £912,588 ***align=right £873,598
Carnarvonalign=center William Beardmore & Company, Dalmuiralign=right 1 Oct 1902align=right 17 Oct 1903align=right 29 May 1905align=right £899,465 ***align=right £858,130
Hampshirealign=center Armstrong Whitworth, Elswickalign=right 1 Sep 1902align=right 24 Sep 1903align=right 15 Jul 1905align=right £872,327 ***align=right £833,817
Roxburghalign=center London & Glasgow Shipbuilding, Govanalign=right 13 Jun 1902align=right 9 Jan 1904align=right 5 Sep 1905align=right £866,199 ***align=right £829,327
*** = cost published by Brassey before the ship was complete, i.e. the total cost may have been more than this.

Bibliography

. Julian Corbett. Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. 2nd, reprint of the 1938. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. I. Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. London and Nashville, Tennessee. 0-89839-256-X.

. Castles of Steel

Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea

. Robert K. Massie. Jonathan Cape. 2004. London. 0-224-04092-8.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 71
  2. Friedman 2012, p. 336
  3. Friedman 2012, p. 256
  4. Friedman 2011, pp. 75–76
  5. Friedman 2012, pp. 256, 260–61
  6. Friedman 2011, pp. 80–81
  7. Friedman 2012, p. 280
  8. Brassey's Naval Annual 1905, pp. 234–43
  9. Brassey's Naval Annual 1906, pp. 208–15

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