- Monmouth class cruiser
-
HMS Monmouth, on postcardClass overview Name: Monmouth Preceded by: Drake class cruiser Succeeded by: Devonshire class cruiser Completed: 10 Lost: 2 General characteristics Type: armoured cruiser Displacement: 9,800 tons Length: 463 ft 6 in (141.27 m) overall Beam: 66 ft (20 m) Draught: 25 ft (7.6 m) Propulsion: 4-cylinder triple-extension steam engines
two shafts
31 Belleville (majority of class), Niclausse (Berwick and Suffolk), or Babcock (Cornwall) boilers
22,000 hp (16,400 kW)Speed: approximately 23 knots (43.6 km/h)
24 knots (44.4 km/h) in Lancaster and 24.7 knots (45.7 km/h) in SuffolkComplement: 678 Armament: 14 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk VII guns (2 x 2, 10 × 1)
2 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, submerged
10 x QF 12-pounder (76-mm) guns (10 x 1)
3 × QF 3-pounder (47-mm) guns (3 × 1)Armour: 4 in (102 mm) belt
5 in (127 mm) barbette
5 in (127 mm) turretThe Monmouth-class was a ten-ship class of 10,000 ton armoured cruisers built around 1901 to 1903 for the Royal Navy and designed specifically for commerce protection. The ships were also referred to as County-class cruisers as they carried the names of British counties.
Contents
Design
Left elevation and deck plan as depicted in Jane's Fighting Ships 1914 Aft port casemate guns on HMS Berwick, illustrating the unfortunate positioning Expected only to fight light cruisers and armed merchant ships, they were armed with fourteen 6-inch guns at a time when most British armoured cruisers also carried at least a pair of 9.2 inch guns: Four of the guns were mounted in two twin turrets at a good height, the remaining ten were installed in hull-mounted casemates, 5 on each side. The lower casemate guns were just a few feet above water, making them impossible to use in heavy seas. Sir John Fisher commented that "Sir William White designed the County class but forgot the guns."[1]. On the other hand, they were relatively fast ships for their time.
Building programme
The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Monmouth class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The compilers of The Naval Annual revised costs quoted for British ships between the 1905 and 1906 editions. The reasons for the differences are unclear.[2]
Ship Builder Engine
MakerDate of Cost according to Laid Down Launch Completion (BNA 1905)[3] (BNA 1906)[4] Monmouth London and Glasgow Shipping Company London & Glasgow
Shipping Company29 Aug 1899 13 Nov 1901 2 Dec 1903 £709,085 £979,591 Bedford Fairfield, Govan Fairfield 19 Feb 1900 31 Aug 1901 11 Nov 1903 £734,330 £706,020 Essex Pembroke Dockyard J Brown 1 Jan 1900 29 Aug 1901 22 Mar 1903 £770,325 £736,557 Kent Portsmouth Dockyard Hawthorn 12 Feb 1900 6 Mar 1900 1 Oct 1903 £733,940 £700,283 Berwick W. Beardmore
& CompanyHumphrys 19 Apr 1901 20 Sept 1902 9 Dec 1903 £776,868 £750,984 Cornwall Pembroke Dockyard Hawthorne 11 Mar 1901 29 Oct 1902 1 Dec 1905 £789,421 £756,274 Cumberland London & Glasgow
Shipping Company, GlasgowLondon & Glasgow
Shipping Company19 Feb 1901 16 Dec 1902 1 Dec 1904 £751,508 £718,168 Donegal Fairfield, Govan Fairfield 14 Feb 1901 4 Sep 1902 5 Nov 1903 £752,964 £715,947 Lancaster Armstrongs, Elswick Hawthorn 4 Mar 1901 22 Mar 1903 5 Apr 1904 £763,084 £732,858 Suffolk Portsmouth Dockyard Humphrys 25 Mar 1901 15 Jan 1903 21 May 1904 £783,054 £722,681 Service
Notes and references
- ^ 'Castles of Steel, Robert K. Massie, 2004, Balantine Books, ISBN 0345408780
- ^ The 1906 figure for Monmouth is particularly high. but is as quoted in the original. The 1914 edition also quotes £979,591 as the cost of Monmouth.
- ^ Brassey's Naval Annual 1905, p234-243
- ^ Brassey's Naval Annual 1906, p208-215
Bibliography
- Chesnau, Roger and Kolesnik, Eugene (Ed.) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-83170-302-4
- Brassey, T.A. (ed)The Naval Annual 1905
- Leyland, J. and Brassey, T.A. (ed)The Naval Annual 1906
External links
- The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the ships.
Monmouth-class cruiserPreceded by: Drake class · Followed by: Devonshire class
List of cruisers of the Royal NavyCategories:- Cruiser classes
- Monmouth class cruisers
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.