HMS Venus was an protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.
Eclipse-class second-class protected cruisers were preceded by the shorter s. Venus had a displacement of 5600LT when at normal load. She had a total length of 373feet, a beam of 53feet, a metacentric height of around 3m (10feet), and a draught of 20feet.[1] She was powered by two inverted triple-expansion steam engines which used steam from eight cylindrical boilers. Using normal draught, the boilers were intended to provide the engines with enough steam to generate 8000ihp and to reach a speed of 18.5kn; using forced draft, the equivalent figures were and a speed of . Eclipse-class cruisers carried a maximum of 1075LT of coal and achieved maximum speed of 20kn in sea trials.[2]
She carried five 40-calibre 6adj=onNaNadj=on quick-firing (QF) guns in single mounts protected by gun shields. One gun was mounted on the forecastle, two on the quarterdeck and one pair was abreast the bridge.[3] They fired 100adj=onNaNadj=on shells at a muzzle velocity of 2205ft/s.[4] The secondary armament consisted of six 40-calibre 4.7inches guns; three on each broadside. Their 45adj=onNaNadj=on shells were fired at a muzzle velocity of 2125ft/s.[5] She was fitted with three 18-inch torpedo tubes, one submerged tube on each broadside and one above water in the stern.[6] Her ammunition supply consisted of 200 six-inch rounds per gun, 250 shells for each 4.7-inch gun, 300 rounds per gun for the 12-pounders and 500 for each three-pounder. Venus had ten torpedoes, presumably four for each broadside tube and two for the stern tube.[7]
Venus was launched at Fairfield's Govan shipyard on 5 September 1895.[8] Venus was commissioned by Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne in November 1897, and served at the Mediterranean Station. The ship paid off in March 1901 at Chatham Dockyard.[9] In March 1900 she visited Corfu.[10]
She was recommissioned in early 1903 with the crew of HMS Australia, whose duties as coastguard ship at Southampton she took over.[11] During this period she was also used as a training ship for naval cadets.
During 1906, Venus was frequently used to patrol waters near Alexandria, and was involved in preventing a mutiny at Port Said.[12]
In 1908 Venus attended the Quebec Tercentenary in Canada.[13] She joined the 3rd Fleet at Pembroke in 1913 and went to Portsmouth in 1914. Joined the 11th Cruiser Squadron in Ireland in August 1914; captured two German merchantmen in October and lost her foremast in a gale in November 1914. To Egypt 1916; Singapore March 1917; flagship East Indies 1919 until she returned home in May 1919 to pay off.[14]