HMS Repulse (1892)

A postcard of Repulse underway
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Repulse
Ordered:	1889 Naval Programme
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard
Cost:	£915,302
Way number:	No. 1
Laid down:	1 January 1890
Launched:	27 February 1892
Completed:	21 April 1894
Commissioned:	25 April 1894
Decommissioned:	February 1911
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 11 July 1911
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Royal Sovereign-class predreadnought battleship
Displacement:	14,150 long tons (14,380 t)
Length:	380 ft (115.8 m) (pp)
Beam:	75 ft (22.9 m)
Draught:	27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power:	11,000 ihp (8,200 kW) 8 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range:	4,720 nmi (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) @ 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	670
Armament:	2 × twin BL 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns 10 × single QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 10 × single QF 6-pdr (2.2 in (57 mm)) Hotchkiss guns 12 × single QF 3-pdr (1.9 in (47 mm)) Hotchkiss guns 7 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Main belt: 14–18 in (356–457 mm) bulkheads: 14–16 in (356–406 mm) Barbettes: 11–17 in (279–432 mm) Casemates: 6 in (152 mm) Conning tower: 14 in (356 mm) Deck: 2.5–3 in (64–76 mm)

HMS Repulse was one of seven Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Assigned to the Channel Fleet, where she often served as a flagship, after commissioning in 1894, the ship participated in a series of annual manoeuvres, and the Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review during the rest of the decade. Repulse was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1902 and remained there until December 1903, when she returned home for an extensive refit. After its completion in 1905, Repulse was assigned to the Reserve Fleet until she was sold for scrap in 1911.

The design of the Royal Sovereign-class ships was derived from that of the Admiral-class ironclad battleships, greatly enlarged to improve seakeeping and to provide space for a secondary armament as in the preceding Trafalgar-class ironclad battleships. The ships displaced 14,150 long tons (14,380 t) at normal load and 15,580 long tons (15,830 t) at deep load. They had a length between perpendiculars of 380 feet (115.8 m) and were 410 feet 6 inches (125.1 m) long overall, a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m), and a draught of 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 m). As a flagship, Repulse's crew consisted of 670 officers and ratings in 1903.