HMS Immortalité was one of seven armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1880s. She was sold for scrap on 11 January 1907.
Immortalité had a length between perpendiculars of 300feet, a beam of 56feet and a draught of 24feet. Designed to displace 5040LT, all of the Orlando-class ships proved to be overweight and displaced approximately 5535LT. The ship was powered by a pair of three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which were designed to produce a total of 8500ihp and a maximum speed of 18kn using steam provided by four boilers with forced draught. The ship carried a maximum of 900LT of coal which was designed to give her a range of 8000nmi at a speed of . The ship's complement was 484 officers and ratings.[1]
Immortalités main armament consisted of two breech-loading (BL) 9.2adj=onNaNadj=on Mk V guns, one gun fore and aft of the superstructure on pivot mounts. Her secondary armament was ten BL 6adj=onNaNadj=on guns, five on each broadside. Protection against torpedo boats was provided by six quick-firing (QF) 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and ten QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, most of which were mounted on the main deck in broadside positions. The ship was also armed with six 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes: four on the broadside above water and one each in the bow and stern below water.[1]
The ship was protected by a waterline compound armour belt 10inches thick. It covered the middle 200feet of the ship and was 5inchesft6inchesin (ftin) high.[1] Because the ship was overweight, the top of the armour belt was below the waterline when she was fully loaded.[2] The ends of the armour belt were closed off by transverse bulkheads 16inches. The lower deck was 2inches-3inchesin (-in) thick over the full length of the hull. The conning tower was protected by 12inches of armour.[1]
Immortalité, named for the French frigate Immortalité captured in 1798,[3] was laid down on 18 January 1886 by Chatham Royal Dockyard. The ship was launched on 7 June 1887, and completed in July 1889.[4]
In March 1900 she had successful machinery trials in the North Sea, and was transferred to the A division of the Medway Fleet Reserve.[5] She was commissioned at Chatham on 21 May 1901 by Captain Sackville Carden as seagoing tender to the Wildfire, flagship at Sheerness.[6] She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII,[7] and two months later Captain Archibald Peile Stoddart succeeded Carden in command on 16 October 1902.[8]