Centurion class
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| Builder: | Portsmouth Dockyard Pembroke Dockyard Chatham Dockyard |
| Construction time: | 1890-1897 |
| Period of service: | 1894-1913 |
| Ships planned: | 3 |
| Ships built: | 3 |
| Displacement: | 10,500 tons Centurion / Barfleur 12,350 tons Renown |
| Length: | 110 m Centurion / Barfleur 120 m Renown |
| Width: | 21 m Centurion / Barfleur 22 m Renown |
| Draft: | 7.8 m Centurion / Barfleur 8.2 m Renown |
| Drive: | 2 three-cylinder triple composite steam engines 6 cylinder boilers 2 screws |
| Speed: |
Centurion / Barfleur : 17 kn normal / 18.5 kn increased Renown : 17.5 kn normal / 19.75 kn increased |
| Crew: |
Centurion / Barfleur : 620 Renown : 674 |
| Armament: |
Centurion / Barfleur : (before conversion) Guns:
Torpedo tubes:
Renown :
Torpedo tubes:
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| Armor: |
Centurion / Barfleur :
Renown :
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The Centurion-class was a class of British pre-dreadnought battleships intended for service in distant seas. In favor of a longer range, they were more easily armed than other battleships in the Royal Navy .
history
The construction of the class goes back directly to the Naval Defense Act 1889 . The three ships of the class were intended for service at the China Station and the Pacific Station of the Royal Navy. The reduction of the main caliber to 10 inches (254 mm) enabled larger coal reserves to be bunkered and a higher speed. They were too lightly armed to take on enemy battleships, but their speed and range prevented them from fighting them. They were superior to opposing cruisers . Their draft was designed so that they could pass the Suez Canal and navigate the larger rivers in China . The hull was clad with wood below the waterline and covered with copper sheets (so-called Muntzmetall ) in order to extend the time between docking.
construction
The class included the HMS Centurion and HMS Barfleur, as well as the HMS Renown, which was later built to a modified design. The construction comes from William Henry White . The main armament consisted of four 10-inch (254-mm) cannons mounted in two barbeds. The barbeds were provided with armored domes that were open to the rear. The guns could be reloaded in any position. The secondary armament consisted of ten 4.7-inch (120-mm) cannons and was supplemented by a number of smaller cannons and seven torpedo tubes . The Royal Sovereign class offered the opportunity to compare two forms of construction: on the one hand, the installation of the guns in barbeds, on the other hand, the installation in the older, heavy, turrets. The latter design resulted in a very low freeboard, which made use in the Atlantic or North Sea practically impossible. The Centurion class therefore possessed the superior barbeds and was the first class of British battleships to have these barbeds protected by armored domes. Although entirely designed differently than the older tank turrets, they were also a tower called. Closed on all sides, they subsequently became the standard on battleships.
On the Centurion and Barfleur , in 1901–1903 and 1902–1904, respectively, the 4.7-inch cannons were replaced by 6-inch (152 mm) cannons in armored casemates. The additional weight was compensated for by shortening the masts and removing the five surface torpedo tubes. The converted ships were still slower at 16.75 knots than before the conversion.
The Renown was an enlarged version with improved armor. A Harvey tank was used on it for the first time, which was thinner and therefore lighter than the tanks previously used while providing the same protection. The ship's speed and range were higher, and the secondary armament was reinforced.
All ships were said to have good seaworthiness and a successful machine system. To increase the speed, air could also be blown into the furnace. However, since the boiler was stressed too much, this increase in output was waived.
commitment
As intended, the ships were initially used at the China Station, the Pacific Station and the North America and West Indies Station . Like all pre-dreadnoughts , the Centurion- class was obsolete when the HMS Dreadnought entered service in 1906. They were transferred to the Home Fleet for a short time , immediately transferred to the reserve and broken up before the First World War . None of the ships had any combat contact.
Ships of the class
HMS Centurion
HMS Centurion was launched in 1892 and completed in 1894. It served as a flagship at the China Station from 1894 to 1901 and again from 1903 to 1905. In 1905 it was added to the reserve fleet and remained there until 1907, after which it was used for the Home Fleet until 1909 and was canceled in 1910.
HMS Barfleur
HMS Barfleur was launched in 1892 and completed in 1894. She was kept in the reserve from 1894 to 1895, after which she was with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1898 , 1898–1901 at the China Station, 1904–1906 with the reserve fleet. It was then used by the Home Fleet until 1909 and canceled in 1910.
HMS Renown
HMS Renown was launched in 1895 and completed in 1897. She served briefly in domestic waters, came to the North America and West Indies station as the flagship in 1897 and stayed there until 1899, was with the Mediterranean fleet from 1899 to 1902, mostly as a flagship, and came back to the Mediterranean from 1903 to 1904. After its completion, it was favored as the flagship, as its equipment was specially designed for the care of guests. From 1902 she was occasionally used as a Royal Yacht . She only stayed in the reserve for a short time and became the Royal Yacht again in 1905 . From 1913 it was used to train stokers, decommissioned in 1913 and broken off in 1914.
literature
- RA Burt. British Battleships 1889-1904 . Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988, ISBN 0-87021-061-0 .
- Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York, New York: Mayflower Books Inc., 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4 .
- Gibbons, Tony. The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day . London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1983.
- Gray, Randal, Ed. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-907-3 .
