HMS Undaunted was one of seven armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1880s.
Undaunted 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. During her sea trials, Undaunted reached . 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]
Undaunteds 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]
Undaunted was laid down on 23 April 1885 by Palmers at their shipyard in Jarrow. The ship was launched on 25 November 1886, and completed on 18 September 1890. It was under the command of Captain Lord Charles Bereford, his first command. She served with the Mediterranean fleet under overall command of Sir George Tryon.[3]
On 21 March 1893, Undaunted, under the command of the then Rear Admiral Lord Charles Beresford struck rocks on leaving Alexandria harbour, owing to an error by the ship's navigation officer, who gave the order to turn to Port instead of Starboard. The ship received minor underwater damage in the impact.[4]
She served two commissions on the China Station. On 25 April 1901, she was paid off at Devonport and placed in the Fleet Reserve, where she stayed for a year, until she was prepared to be commissioned as tender to HMS Cambridge, gunnery school ship at the dockyard.[5] Captain Frederick Alexander Warden was appointed in command on her commission as tender on 26 August 1902.[6] [7] She was sold for scrapping on 9 April 1907 to Harris of Bristol.[8]