HMS Doris (1896)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Doris.

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Doris
Builder	Naval Construction & Armaments Co., Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down	29 August 1894
Launched	3 March 1896
Completed	18 November 1897
Reclassified	As depot ship, 1917
Fate	Sold for scrap, 2 February 1919
General characteristics
Displacement	5,600 long tons (5,690 t)
Length	350 ft (106.7 m)
Beam	53 ft 6 in (16.3 m)
Draught	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Installed power	9,600 ihp (7,200 kW) 8 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 Inverted triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph)
Complement	450
Armament	As built: 5 × QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 6 × QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns 6 × 3-pounder QF guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes After 1905: 11 × six-inch QF guns 9 × 12-pounder QF guns 7 × 3-pounder QF guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes
Armour	Gun shields: 3 in (76 mm) Engine hatch: 6 in (152 mm) Decks: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) Conning tower: 6 in (152 mm)

HMS Doris was an Eclipse-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.

One of Doris' guns on the march to Bloemfontein

In 1899 at least one of HMS Doris's QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns was mounted on an improvised field carriage and used as a field gun in the Second Boer War. The gun used at Magersfontein was known as Joe Chamberlain. Her captain at this time was Captain Prothero, known as 'Prothero the Bad', a man of violent temper who terrified his officers and crew alike.

When the First World War began in August 1914, Doris was serving with the 11th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet. On 5 August, Doris captured a German merchant ship.

References

• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• McBride, Keith (2012). "The Cruiser Family Talbot". In John Jordan (ed.). Warship 2012. London: Conway. pp. 136–41. ISBN 978-1-84486-156-9.