HMS Forte (1893)

HMS Forte leaving Simonstown, South Africa, c1900 (IWM Q115146)
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Forte
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Launched:	9 December 1893
Commissioned:	5 November 1895
Decommissioned:	1913
Fate:	Sold 2 April 1914 for breaking up
General characteristics
Class and type:	Astraea-class cruiser
Displacement:	4,360 tons loaded
Length:	320 feet
Beam:	49 ft 6 in
Draught:	19 ft
Propulsion:	2 shaft, 3 cycle TE, 8 cylinder boilers 7500 hp natural draught; 9500 hp forced draught Coal 1000 tons maximum load
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h) natural draught 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) forced draught
Range:	7,000 nautical miles
Complement:	44
Armament:	2 × QF 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns 8 × QF 4.7 inch (120mm) guns 1 × 3 pounder (47 mm) quick firing gun 4 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck 2 inch Conning tower 3 inch Gunshields 4.5 inch engine hatch 5 inch

HMS Forte was an Astraea class cruiser of the Royal Navy launched on 9 December 1893. She was constructed under the Naval Defence Act of 1889 along with several other Astraea class cruisers.Forte was eventually decommissioned in 1913.

HMS Forte served on the Cape and West African stations. In 1908, Forte delivered such a terrible result in a gunlayer's test that a Court of Inquiry was convened, leading to the determination that Captain John Green and his officers had failed to provide sufficient training, as they had not appreciated the difficulty of the test procedure. In 1910 the cruiser ran aground and Their Lordships expressed "severe displeasure [with Green] for failure to comply with King's Regulations for unseamanlike manner in which the ship was navigated."

In 1913 Forte was placed on the sale list and sold on 2 April 1914 for scrapping. She was the only ship of her class not to see service in the First World War.