HMS Montagu (1901)

HMS Montagu dressed overall.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Montagu
Namesake:	Ralph Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Boughton, 1st Earl of Montagu
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard
Cost:	£1,046,992
Laid down:	23 November 1899
Launched:	5 March 1901
Christened:	Lady Charles Scott
Commissioned:	28 July 1903
Nickname(s):	The Duncan-class battleships were informally called "The Admirals"
Fate:	Wrecked on Lundy Island, 30 May 1906
Notes:	Salvaged abandoned 1907; scrapped in situ 1907–1922
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 (131.7 m) overall
Beam:	75 ft 6 in (23.0 m)
Draught:	25 ft 9 in (7.8 m)
Propulsion:	24 Belleville water tube boilers 4-cylinder triple expansion 2 shafts 18,000 ihp (13,000 kW)
Speed:	19 kn (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 officers and men
Armament:	4 × BL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk IX guns 12 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk VII guns 10 × QF 12-pounder (76 mm) guns 6 × QF 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 Montagu was a Duncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy. In May 1906 in thick fog, she was wrecked on Lundy Island, fortunately without loss of life. Although she would soon have been obsolescent if she had not been wrecked, this loss of one of its newest battleships was a blow to the Royal Navy, then in the early stages of the naval arms race with Germany.

HMS Montagu was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 23 November 1899, and launched on 5 March 1901, when she was christened by Lady Charles Scott, wife of Lord Charles Scott, Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. She began trials in February 1903.

Montagu and her five sisters of the Duncan class were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programmes, including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian programmes;Montagu and her sisters were designed as smaller, more lightly armoured, and faster versions of the preceding Formidable class. As it turned out, the Russian ships were not as heavily armed as initially feared, and the Montagu and the other Duncans proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and protection.

Montagu had an armour layout similar to that of the preceding London subclass of the Formidable class, with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt.

Montagu and her sisters had machinery of 3,000 indicated horsepower (2,200 kW) more than the Formidables and Londons and were the first British battleships with 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines. They also had a modified hull form to improve speed. The Duncans had a reputation as good steamers, with a designed speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) and an operational speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), good steering at all speeds, and an easy roll. They were the fastest battleships in the Royal Navy when completed, and the fastest pre-dreadnoughts ever built other than the Swiftsure-class HMS Swiftsure and HMS Triumph.

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