HMS Kent (1901)

Kent leaving Portsmouth
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Kent
Namesake:	Kent
Builder:	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard
Laid down:	12 February 1900
Launched:	6 March 1901
Christened:	Lady Hotham
Completed:	1 October 1903
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 20 June 1920
General characteristics
Class and type:	Monmouth-class armoured cruiser
Displacement:	9,800 long tons (10,000 t) (normal)
Length:	463 ft 6 in (141.3 m) (o/a)
Beam:	66 ft (20.1 m)
Draught:	25 ft (7.6 m)
Installed power:	22,000 ihp (16,000 kW) 31 water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts 2 × 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Complement:	678
Armament:	2 × twin, 10 × single BL 6-inch Mk VII guns 10 × single QF 12-pdr 12 cwt guns 3 × QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns 2 × single 18-inch torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 2–4 in (51–102 mm) Decks: .75–2 in (19–51 mm) Barbettes: 5 in (127 mm) Turrets: 5 in (130 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm) Bulkheads: 5 in (127 mm)

HMS Kent was one of 10 Monmouth-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was placed in reserve when completed in 1903, but was recommissioned for the China Station in 1906. She remained there until she returned home in 1913 for a lengthy refit.

At the beginning of World War I in August 1914, she was still refitting. In October Kent was ordered to the South Atlantic to join Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock's squadron in their search for the German East Asia Squadron, but arrived at the Falkland Islands after the British squadron had been destroyed in the Battle of Coronel. During the subsequent Battle of the Falkland Islands, the ship sank a German light cruiser. Several months later she discovered the sole surviving German ship from that battle and forced Dresden to scuttle herself in the Battle of Más a Tierra. She was briefly assigned to the China Station in mid-1915, but returned home several months later to begin convoy escort duties until mid-1918 when she returned to the China Station. In early 1919 the ship was deployed to Vladivostok to support the Siberian Intervention during the Russian Civil War. Kent was sold for scrap in 1920.

Kent was designed to displace 9,800 long tons (10,000 t). The ship had an overall length of 463 feet 6 inches (141.3 m), a beam of 66 feet (20.1 m) and a deep draught of 25 feet (7.6 m). She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 22,000 indicated horsepower (16,000 kW) designed to give a maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). Kent, however, was one of three of the Monmouths that failed to meet her designed speed. The engines were powered by 31 Belleville boilers. She carried a maximum of 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) of coal and her complement consisted of 678 officers and enlisted men.