Gorgon-class monitor

HMS Gorgon
Class overview
Name:	Gorgon class
Builders:	Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Marshal Ney class
Succeeded by:	M15 class
Cost:	About £640,000
Built:	1913–1918
In service:	1918–1919
In commission:	1918–1919
Completed:	2
Lost:	1
Scrapped:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Monitor
Displacement:	5,746 long tons (5,838 t) at deep load
Length:	310 ft (94 m)
Beam:	73 ft 7 in (22.43 m) at bulge 55 ft (17 m) at main hull
Draught:	16 ft 4 in (4.98 m)
Installed power:	4 Yarrow boilers 4,000 ihp (3,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 shafts; Vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Endurance:	2,700 nmi (5,000 km; 3,110 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement:	305
Armament:	2 × 1 - 9.2-inch (230 mm) Mk XII guns 4 × 1 - BL 6 inch Mk XVIII guns 2 × 1 - QF 3 inch 20 cwt gun anti-aircraft guns 4 × QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss 4 × 2-pounder AA guns
Armour:	Belt: 3–7 in (76–178 mm) Bulkheads: 3–5 in (76–127 mm) Turret faces and barbettes: 8 in (203 mm) Turret sides 6 in (152 mm) Conning tower: 8 in (203 mm) Decks: 1–3.5 in (25–89 mm)

The Gorgon-class monitors were a class of monitors in service with the Royal Navy during World War I. Gorgon and her sister ship Glatton were originally built as coastal defence ships for the Royal Norwegian Navy, as HNoMS Nidaros and HNoMS Bjørgvin respectively but requisitioned for British use. Gorgon commissioned first, in June 1918 and bombarded German positions and other targets in Occupied Flanders. She fired the last shots of the war by the Royal Navy into Belgium on 15 October 1918. She was offered for sale after the war, but was used as a target ship when there were no takers. She was sold for scrap in 1928. Glatton was destroyed by a magazine explosion only days after she was completed in September 1918 while in Dover Harbour. She remained a hazard to shipping until the wreck was partially salvaged and the remains moved out of the way during 1925–26.

The Norwegians ordered two coast defence vessels in January 1913 from the British shipbuilder Armstrong Whitworth for delivery in twenty-four months to supplement the older Eidsvold and Tordenskjold classes of coastal defence ships. Their dimensions were limited to a length overall of 290 feet (88 m) and a beam of 55 feet (17 m) to fit in the drydock at Horten. Armstrong's design was for a ship with a designed displacement of 4,807 long tons (4,884 t) with an armament of two 50-calibre 240-millimetre (9 in) Armstrong guns mounted in single turrets fore and aft. Four 50-calibre 150-millimetre (6 in) guns were also mounted in single turrets; two of which were superfiring over the main turrets and the others were on each side of the superstructure. Anti-torpedo boat defense would be provided by six 100-millimetre (4 in) guns mounted in the superstructure. Two submerged 450-millimetre (18 in) torpedo tubes were also to be mounted. The armour belt protected most of the waterline and was 7 inches (180 mm) thick, but tapered towards the ends. The protective deck was 1–3.5 inches (25–89 mm) thick and ran the full length of the ship.

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