HMS Pelorus (1896)
HMS Pelorus was the first of the Pelorus-class cruiser, and was laid down at Sheerness dockyard in 1896. Completed and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 December the same year, she was designed by Sir William White. Construction cost £154,315. The ship was well armed for her size, but was primarily a workhorse for the overseas fleet.[2]
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name: | HMS Pelorus |
Namesake: | Pelorus |
Builder: | Sheerness Dockyard, Kent |
Laid down: | 1896 |
Commissioned: | 15 December 1896 |
Fate: | Sold for scrap, 1920[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Pelorus-class cruiser |
Displacement: | 2,135 long tons (2,169 t) |
Length: | |
Beam: | 36 ft 6 in (11.13 m) |
Draught: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
Propulsion: | Triple expansion engine, 2 shafts, 5,000 ihp (3,728 kW) |
Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement: | 224 |
Armament: |
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Armour: |
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HMS Pelorus displaced 2,135 tons and had a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). She had reciprocating triple expansion engines and Normand water-tube boilers which could give 7,000 horsepower (5,200 kW) for limited periods of time with forced draught, and 5,000 horsepower (3,700 kW) under natural draught. It carried a crew complement of 224 men and it was armed with eight QF 4 inch (102 mm) (25 pounder) guns, eight QF 3 pounder (47-mm) guns, three machine guns, and two 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes.
Service history
Pelorus served in the Channel Fleet under Captain Henry Charles Bertram Hulbert, when in February 1900 she joined the Eastern division of the fleet.[3]
In 1901, the ship was stationed at Gibraltar under the command of Commander Ernest Troubridge. The following year she paid off at Devonport, had her boilers repaired,[4] and in August was towed to Clydebank to be refitted by Messrs J. Brown and Co. in Glasgow.[5]
In 1906, the ship was assigned to the Cape of Good Hope Station under the command of Commander James C. Tancred. In 1908 the captain was Arthur W Craig.
References
- "HMS Pelorus". pbenyon.plus.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- "Pelorus Class". battleships-cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36055). London. 2 February 1900. p. 10.
- "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36767). London. 14 May 1902. p. 12.
- "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36849). London. 18 August 1902. p. 4.
- E E Highams, 'Across a Continent in a Man of War' (Westminster Press, London, 1909)