HMS Andromeda (1897)

Andromeda at anchor at Weihaiwei, China, 1904.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Andromeda
Namesake:	Andromeda
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard
Laid down:	2 December 1895
Launched:	30 April 1897
Completed:	5 September 1899
Renamed:	Powerful II, 23 September 1913 Impregnable II November 1919 Defiance 20 January 1931
Reclassified:	As a training ship, 23 September 1913
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1956
General characteristics
Class and type:	Diadem-class protected cruiser
Displacement:	11,000 long tons (11,177 t)
Length:	435 ft (132.6 m) (p/p)
Beam:	69 ft (21.0 m)
Draught:	25 ft 6 in (7.8 m)
Installed power:	16,500 ihp (12,300 kW) 30 × Belleville boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts 2 × Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	20.5 kn (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Complement:	677
Armament:	16 × single QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 12 × single QF 12-pdr 3 in (76 mm) 12-cwt guns 3 × single QF 3-pdr (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss guns 2 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	6 in (152 mm) casemates 4.5–2 in (114–51 mm) decks

HMS Andromeda was one of eight Diadem-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Upon completion in 1899, the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet where she helped to escort a royal yacht during its cruise through the Mediterranean Sea. After a refit, she was assigned to the China Station in 1904 and returned home three years later to be reduced to reserve. Andromeda was converted into a training ship in 1913 and remained in that role under various names until 1956. That year she was sold for scrap and broken up in Belgium, the last Pembroke-built ship still afloat.

The Diadem class was designed to protect British merchant shipping from fast cruisers like the Russian Rurik and were smaller versions of the Powerful class. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 435 feet (132.6 m), a beam of 69 feet (21.0 m) and a draught of 25 feet 6 inches (7.8 m). They displaced 11,000 long tons (11,000 t). The first batch of Diadems were powered by a pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which were designed to produce a total of 16,500 indicated horsepower (12,300 kW) and a maximum speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) using steam provided by 30 Belleville boilers. They carried a maximum of 1,900 long tons (1,930 t) of coal and their hulls were sheathed with copper to reduce biofouling. Their complement numbered 677 officers and ratings.