The Drake class was a four-ship class of armoured cruisers built around 1900 for the Royal Navy.
Design and description
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The Drake class were enlarged and improved versions of the designed by Sir William White, Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, to counter the new French armoured cruiser . The ships had an overall length of , a beam of and a deep draught of . They displaced and proved to be good seaboats in service. They carried a maximum of of coal.
The main armament of the Drake-class ships consisted of two breech-loading (BL) Mk X guns in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. The ships' secondary armament of sixteen BL 6-inch Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Eight of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather. They had a maximum range of approximately with their shells. A dozen quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder 12 cwt guns were fitted for defence against torpedo boats. Two additional 12-pounder 8 cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore. The ships also carried three 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged British 18 inch torpedo| torpedo tubes.
! scope="col" align = center | (BNA 1906)
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|align=center | HM Dockyard, Pembroke
|align=center | 24 Apr 1899
|align=center | 5 Mar 1901
|align=center| 13 Jan 1902
|align=center|£1,050,625
|align=center|£1,002,977
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| scope="row"| <br> (ex-Africa)
|align=center | Fairfield Shipping and Engineering, Govan
|align=center| 11 Sep 1899
|align=center| 21 Feb 1901
|align=center| 8 Nov 1902
|align=center|£1,023,629
|align=center| £990,759
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|align=center | Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Barrow-in-Furness
|align=center| 11 Aug 1899
|align=center| 28 Oct 1901
|align=center| 22 Dec 1903
|align=center|£1,013,772
|align=center| £978,125
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|align=center | John Brown, Clydebank
|align=center| 30 Nov 1899
|align=center| 3 Jul 1901
|align=center| 16 Jun 1903
|align=center|£1,043,097
|align=center|£1,012,959
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Service history
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The ships served in the First World War with only two surviving it. Good Hope was sunk at the Battle of Coronel in 1914 and Drake was torpedoed in 1917. Drake was also used to ferry Russian bullion (gold) in October 1914 from Arkhangelsk. The gold (equivalent of $39 million) was security for western loans. The transfer took place at high seas, 30 miles off the coast in the dead of night.
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1905
- Leyland, J. and Brassey, T.A. (ed.) The Naval Annual 1906[https://archive.org/details/rusiandbrasseys00studgoog]
External links
- The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the ships.