HMS Exmouth (1901)

HMS Exmouth in Weymouth Bay ca. 1906
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Exmouth
Namesake:	Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Builder:	Laird Brothers, Birkenhead
Cost:	£1,098,159
Laid down:	10 August 1899
Launched:	31 August 1901
Christened:	Lady Alice Stanley
Completed:	May 1903
Commissioned:	2 June 1903
Decommissioned:	April 1919
Nickname(s):	The Duncan-class battleships were known informally as "The Admirals"
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 15 January 1920
General characteristics
Class and type:	Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	13,270 to 13,745 tons load 14,900 to 15,200 tons deep
Length:	432 ft (132 m)
Beam:	75 ft 6 in (23.01 m)
Draught:	25 ft 9 in (7.85 m)
Installed power:	18,000 ihp (13,000 kW)
Propulsion:	24 Belleville water tube boilers 4-cylinder triple expansion 2 shafts
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range:	7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	720
Armament:	2 × 2 BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) Mk IX guns 12 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) 45-caliber Mk VII guns 10 × 12-pounder (76 mm) guns 6 × 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 2 × machine guns 4 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged)
Armour:	Belt: 7 in (178 mm) Bulkheads: 11–7 in (279–178 mm) Decks: 2–1 in (51–25 mm) Gun houses: 10–8 in (254–203 mm) Barbettes: 11–4 in (279–102 mm) Casemates: 6 in (152 mm) Conning tower: 12 in (305 mm)

HMS Exmouth was a Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. Exmouth was laid down by Laird Brothers at Birkenhead in August 1899, launched in August 1901 and completed in May 1903. She served as a flagship for various fleets including the Mediterranean Fleet, the Channel Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet from her commissioning in 1903 until the start of the First World War in 1914. During this time she underwent several refits, two of which occurred in Malta. Originally she was to join the 6th Battle Squadron and serve in the Channel Fleet, but this squadron was temporarily disbanded and she joined the 3rd Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow instead. Exmouth was then moved to the newly reformed 6th Squadron in late 1914. Throughout the First World War Exmouth moved between various squadrons before finishing her career in the East Indies Station starting in March 1917. She performed convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean between Colombo and Bombay before returning to the United Kingdom, calling at The Cape and Sierra Leone. She arrived at Devonport in August 1917, and paid off to provide crews for antisubmarine vessels. Exmouth remained in reserve at Devonport until April 1919, and was used as an accommodation ship beginning in January 1918. She was placed on the sale list in April 1919 and sold for scrapping to Forth Shipbreaking Company on 15 January 1920.