Bellerophon-class battleship

Superb at anchor, shortly after commissioning
Class overview
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	HMS Dreadnought
Succeeded by:	St. Vincent class
Built:	1906–1909
In service:	1909–1921
In commission:	1909–1921
Completed:	3
Scrapped:	3
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	18,596 long tons (18,894 t) (normal)
Length:	526 ft (160.3 m) (o/a)
Beam:	82 ft 6 in (25.1 m)
Draught:	27 ft (8.2 m)
Installed power:	23,000 shp (17,000 kW) 18 × water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range:	5,720 nmi (10,590 km; 6,580 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	680–840
Armament:	5 × twin 12-inch (305 mm) guns 16 × single 4-inch (102 mm) guns 3 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 8–10 inches (203–254 mm) Bulkheads: 8 inches (203 mm) Deck: .75–4 inches (19–102 mm) Turrets: 11 inches (279 mm) Barbettes: 5–10 inches (127–254 mm) Conning towers: 8 and 11 in (203 and 279 mm)

The Bellerophon-class battleship was a group of three dreadnought battleships that were built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The sister ships spent most of their careers assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. Aside from participating in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August several months later, their service during the First World War generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

In late 1918, Temeraire and Superb were transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet and supported Allied forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea after the war ended in November. The Bellerophons were deemed obsolete by this time and were reduced to reserve in 1919 and were then used as training ships. Superb was used for gunnery experiments in 1920 and then became a target ship in 1922 before being sold for scrap later that year. Bellerophon and Temeraire were sold in late 1921 and subsequently broken up.

The Admiralty's 1905 draft building plan envisioned four battleships in the 1906–1907 Naval Programme, but the new Liberal government cut one of these ships in mid-1906. The Bellerophon-class design was a slightly larger and improved version of the revolutionary preceding HMS Dreadnought, with better underwater protection and a more powerful secondary armament.