HMS Prince of Wales (1902)
_in_1912_2.jpg)
HMS Prince of Wales underway, 1912
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Prince of Wales |
| Namesake: | Prince of Wales |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Cost: | £1,185,744 |
| Laid down: | 20 March 1901 |
| Launched: | 25 March 1902 |
| Christened: | HRH the Princess of Wales |
| Completed: | March 1904 |
| Commissioned: | 18 May 1904 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 November 1919 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 12 April 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Formidable-, London-, or Queen-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: | 14,140 tonnes (13,920 long tons) |
| Length: | 431 ft 9 in (131.60 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 75 ft (22.9 m) |
| Draught: | 27 ft 3 in (8.3 m) (mean) |
| Installed power: |
|
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed: | 26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph) |
| Range: | 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 747 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: |
|
HMS Prince of Wales was a Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was one of two ships of the London- or Queen sub-class. Shortly after completion the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and then to the Atlantic in 1909 and Home Fleets three year later. Prince of Wales often served as a flagship during her career.
The ship was assigned to the Channel Fleet after the beginning of the First World War in August 1914 and ferried Royal Marines to Belgium that same month. In early 1915, she was ordered to the Mediterranean to support Allied forces in the Dardanelles Campaign, but Prince of Wales only remained there briefly before she ordered to the Adriatic reinforce Italian forces there in case of an attack by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The ship was ordered home in early 1917 and reduced to reserve upon her arrival. Prince of Wales served as an accommodation ship until she was listed for sale in late 1919. The ship was sold for scrap in mid-1920 and broken up thereafter.
The Director of Naval Construction, Sir William White, proposed a further pair of Formidables to round out a tactical squadron of eight ships for the 1900 Naval Programme. After some hesitation, the Admiralty agreed, despite the on-going construction of the smaller and faster Duncan class. A controversy engendered by Rear-Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet, about the retention of obsolete ironclads in the fleet in mid-1900 was largely responsible for the decision. The two ships were virtually identical to the preceding London sub-class of the Formidables and are generally considered part of the Formidable or London class, but the difference in the distribution of their 12-pounder 3 inches (76 mm) guns, their lower displacement, and their later construction than the Duncans lead some authors to view them as constituting a Queen class separate from the Formidable and London classes.
...
Wikipedia