Duke of Edinburgh class cruiser

HMS Duke of Edinburgh
Class overview
Name:	Duke of Edinburgh
Preceded by:	Devonshire class cruiser
Succeeded by:	Minotaur class cruiser
Completed:	Six
General characteristics
Type:	first class armoured cruiser
Length:	480 ft (150 m) between perpendiculars 505.3 ft (154.0 m) overall
Beam:	73.5 ft (22.4 m)
Draught:	27.5 ft (8.4 m)
Propulsion:	19 Yarrow boilers Twin 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines two screw propellers 23,500 hp (17.5 MW)
Speed:	23 knots
Range:	10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement:	about 750
Armament:	6 × BL 9.2-inch (233.7 mm) Mk X guns (6 × 1) Duke of Edinburgh and Black Prince: 10 x BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI guns (10 x 1) Warrior subclass 4 × BL 7.5-inch (190.5 mm) Mk II guns (4 × 1) 26 × 3 pdr (26 × 1) (22 x 3 pdr in Duke of Edinburgh and Black Prince) 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, submerged
Armour:	Belt: 6 in (152 mm) barbette: 7in (178 mm) turret faces: 8 in (203 mm) maximum

Warrior class cruiser Brasseys

The Duke of Edinburgh-class was a class of six armoured cruisers built around 1905 for the British Royal Navy. The later four ships were armed differently, and are sometimes considered as a separate class, the Warrior-class.

They were the first ships to come from the new Director of Naval Construction, Philip Watts.

The main armament of six 9.2 inch guns was distributed in two centreline turrets (one fore and one aft with wide angles of fire) and four turrets disposed in the corners about the funnels. The secondary was 5 single gun 6-inch barbettes either side. The remainder was some twenty 3-pounder guns concentrated around the masts – 10 fore and 10 aft.

The Warriors replaced the 6 inch barbettes with four 7.5 inch gun turrets on the same deck as the centre main armament.

Service

Natal blew up in December 1915 due to an internal explosion. Warrior, Duke of Edinburgh and Black Prince were at the Battle of Jutland having joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. Black Prince and Warrior were lost at Jutland. Cochrane and Achilles were in the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. Achilles was undergoing refit and missed Jutland. Cochrane ran aground in the River Mersey in November 1918 and was scrapped. The other survivors of the war were scrapped or sold for scrap by 1921.

Building programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Duke of Edinburgh class. Whilst standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores, the cost quoted in The Naval Annual for this class includes armament.

Ship	Builder	Engine maker	Laid down	Launch date	Completed	Cost according to BNA 1914 [1]
Duke of Edinburgh class
Duke of Edinburgh	Pembroke Dockyard	Hawthorn Leslie	11 Feb 1903	14 Jun 1904	20 Jan 1906	£1,201,687 *
Black Prince	Thames Ironworks, Blackwall	Thames Ironworks	3 Jun 1903	8 Nov 1904	17 Mar 1906	£1,193,414 *
Warrior class
Warrior	Pembroke Dockyard	Wallsend	5 Nov 1903	25 Nov 1905	12 Dec 1906	£1,186,395 *
Cochrane	Fairfield, Govan	Fairfield	24 Mar 1904	20 May 1905	18 Feb 1907	£1,193,121 *
Achilles	Armstrong, Elswick	Hawthorn	22 Feb 1904	17 Jun 1905	22 Apr 1907	£1,191,103 *
Natal	Vickers, Barrow	Vickers	6 Jan 1904	30 Sep 1905	5 Mar 1907	£1,218,244 *

* = estimated cost, including guns

External Links

• The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the Duke of Edinburgh class.
• The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the Warrior class.

Notes and references

1. ^ Brassey's Naval Annual 1914, p192-199

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
• Hythe, Viscount (ed)The Naval Annual 1914