HMS Irresistible (1898)
_in_1908.jpg)
HMS Irresistible in 1908
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Irresistible |
| Ordered: | 1897 Programme |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Cost: | £1,112,636 |
| Laid down: | 11 April 1898 |
| Launched: | 15 December 1898 |
| Completed: | October 1901 |
| Commissioned: | 4 February 1902 |
| Fate: | Hit by Turkish artillery then sunk by a mine placed by Turkish minelayer Nusret, on 18 March 1915, near Çanakkale |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 75 ft (22.9 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft 9 in (8.2 m) |
| Installed power: | 15,500 ihp (11,600 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range: | 5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 780 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | |
HMS Irresistible—the fourth British Royal Navy ship of the name—was a Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship. Commissioned in 1902, she initially served with the Mediterranean Fleet until April 1908, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. Now outclassed with the emergence of the dreadnought class of ships, she entered service with the Home Fleet in 1911 following a refit. In 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron.
Following the outbreak of World War I, Irresistible, along with the squadron, was assigned to the Channel Fleet. After operations with the Dover Patrol, she served in the Dardanelles Campaign, taking part in the bombardment of the Turkish forts guarding the Dardanelles. On 18 March 1915, she struck a mine, which caused severe damage and killed around 150 of her crew. Without power, she began to drift into the range of Turkish guns. With attempts to tow her having failed, she was abandoned with most of her crew having been successfully evacuated, and eventually sank.
HMS Irresistible was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 11 April 1898 and launched on 15 December 1898 in a very incomplete state to clear the building ways for the construction of battleship Venerable. Irresistible was completed in October 1901.
Irresistible had the same-calibre armament and was similar in appearance to the Majestic and Canopus classes that preceded her. She and her sister ships are often described as improved Majestics, but in design they were effectively enlarged Canopuses. The Canopus class employed Krupp armour in their construction; this possessed greater strength for a given weight compared to that of the Majestics' Harvey armour, allowing the Canopuses to be lighter and faster without sacrificing protection; however, in Irresistible, Krupp armour was used to improve protection without reducing the size of the ship.Irresistible thus was larger than the ships of the two preceding classes, and enjoyed greater protection than the Majestics and the higher speed of the Canopuses. Irresistible's armour scheme was similar to that of the Canopuses, although the armour belt ran all the way to the stern being 215 ft (66 m) long, 15 ft (4.6 m) deep and 9 in (23 cm) thick. It tapered at the stem to 3 in (7.6 cm) thick and 12 ft (3.7 m) deep, and at the stern to 1.5 in (3.8 cm) thick and 8 ft (2.4 m) deep. The main battery turrets had 10 in (25 cm) of Krupp armour on their sides and 8 in (20 cm) on their backs.
...
Wikipedia