HMS Empress of India (1891)

Empress of India at anchor, 1906
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Empress of India
Namesake:	Regnal title of Queen Victoria
Ordered:	1889 Naval Progamme
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard
Cost:	£912,612
Laid down:	9 July 1889
Launched:	7 May 1891
Completed:	August 1893
Commissioned:	11 September 1893
Out of service:	Early 1912
Fate:	Sunk as target, 4 November 1913
Status:	Diveable wreck
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Royal Sovereign-class predreadnought battleship
Displacement:	14,150 long tons (14,380 t) (normal)
Length:	380 ft (115.8 m) (pp)
Beam:	75 ft (22.9 m)
Draught:	27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power:	11,000 ihp (8,200 kW) 8 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range:	4,720 nmi (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) @ 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	692 (as flagship, 1903)
Armament:	2 × twin BL 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns 10 × single QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 10 × single QF 6-pdr (2.2 in (57 mm)) Hotchkiss guns 12 × single QF 3-pdr (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss guns 7 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Main belt: 14–18 in (356–457 mm) bulkheads: 14–16 in (356–406 mm) Barbettes: 11–17 in (279–432 mm) Casemates: 6 in (152 mm) Conning tower: 14 in (356 mm) Deck: 2.5–3 in (64–76 mm)

HMS Empress of India was one of seven Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy during the 1890s. The ship was commissioned in 1893 and served as the flagship of the second-in-command of the Channel Fleet for two years. She was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1897, during which time Empress of India was assigned to the International Squadron blockading Crete during the uprising there. She returned home in 1901 and was briefly assigned as a coast guard ship in Ireland before she became the second flagship of the Home Fleet. The ship was reduced to reserve in 1905 and accidentally collided with the submarine HMS A10 the following year. Empress of India was taken out of service in early 1912 and accidentally struck a German sailing ship while under tow. She was sunk as a target ship in 1913.

The design of the Royal Sovereign-class ships was derived from that of the Admiral-class ironclad battleships, greatly enlarged to improve seakeeping and to provide space for a secondary armament as in the preceding Trafalgar-class ironclad battleships. The ships displaced 14,150 long tons (14,380 t) at normal load and 15,580 long tons (15,830 t) at deep load. They had a length between perpendiculars of 380 feet (115.8 m) and an overall length of 410 feet 6 inches (125.1 m), a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m), and a draught of 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 m). As a flagship, Empress of India's crew consisted of 692 officers and ratings in 1903.