The
Powerful class were first-class
protected cruisers built for the
British
Royal Navy in the 1890s. There
were only two ships in the
Powerful class, the lead ship
Powerful and the
Terrible.
Design
They were designed for hunting down
commerce raiders such as the Russian
armoured cruiser Rurik and
numerous French
armoured cruisers
of the era.
Both ships were laid down in 1894 and launched in 1895.
Powerful was completed first in 1897 and
Terrible
the following year.
They were large and expensive ships. According to
Brassey's Naval Annual 1906, the
building costs for the
Powerful was £705,335 and for the
Terrible £708,619.
They were also criticised for their apparently small armament.
However they had excellent sea keeping and proved valuable as troop
transports.
Trials
This trial data comes from
Janes Fighting Ships 1900.
| Ship |
Date |
4 hours
forced draught
|
30 hours
natural draught
|
| Powerful |
1896 |
25,866 ihp
21.8 knots
bad weather
|
20.6 knots
|
| Terrible |
1895 |
22.4 knots |
20.96 knots |
Careers
Both ships
served in the China Station and
provided landing parties which fought in the relief of the Siege of
Ladysmith
in the Second Boer
War in South Africa. This
event inspired the
Field gun
competition. Crews from the two ships also took part in
suppressing the
Boxer Rebellion in
China. After 1904 they were laid up as an economy measure. During
the
First World War, they had most of
their armament removed and served as
troop transports and later accommodation
ships.
Notes
- Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to
exclude armament and stores. As with the
Diadems that followed them
Brassey's Naval Annual gave costs for these ships that were on
average £34,000 greater in the 1904 edition than in the 1906 and
subsequent editions.
References
- Anthony
Preston - World's Worst Warships, 2002 Conway's Maritime Press
- ISBN 0-85177-754-6
- 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
- Jane, Fred T (Ed.) Jane's Fighting
Ships 1900
- Brassey's Naval Annual
1904
- Brassey's Naval Annual 1906
See also
Wikis
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