HMS Venerable (1899)

HMS Venerable at Malta in 1915.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Venerable
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	2 January 1899
Launched:	2 November 1899
Completed:	November 1902
Commissioned:	12 November 1902
Decommissioned:	late December 1918
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 4 June 1920
General characteristics
Class and type:	Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	15,000 tons (approx)
Length:	431 ft 9 in (131 m)
Beam:	75 ft (23 m)
Draught:	25 ft 4 in
Propulsion:	Water tube boilers, 2 × vertical triple expansion engines, 2 shafts, 15,500 ihp (11.6 MW)
Speed:	18.0 knots (33 km/h)
Range:	5,500 nautical miles (approx) at 10 knots (18 km/h)
Complement:	760
Armament:	4 × BL 12-inch (304.8 mm) 40-caliber Mk IX guns 12 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) 45-caliber Mk VII guns 16 × 12 pounder quick-firing guns 6 × 3 pounder (1.4 kg) quick-firing guns 2 × machine guns 4 × 18 inch (450 mm) submerged torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt 9 inches (229 mm) Bulkheads 12 -9 inches (305 -229 mm) Barbettes: 12 inches (305 mm), Gunhouses: 10 -8 inches (254 -203 mm) Casemates: 6 inches (152 mm) Conning tower: 14 inches (356 mm) Deck: 1 to 2.5 (25.4–64 mm)
Notes:	Cost £1,159,853

HMS Venerable (1899) was a London-class pre-dreadnought battleship, a sub-class of the Formidable-class battleships, and the third ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. Built at Chatham Dockyard, her keel was laid down in January 1899 and she was launched eleven months later. Her main battery consisted of four 12-inch (305-mm) guns, and she had top speed of 18 knots. Commissioned in November 1902, Venerable served in the Mediterranean Fleet until 1908, and was subsequently recommissioned into the Channel Fleet. Following a major refit in 1909, she served with the Atlantic and Home Fleets. After the outbreak of World War I, she took part in defensive and offensive operations with the Channel Fleet. She saw service in the Dardanelles in 1915, and then in the Adriatic through 1916. That December, she returned to England, and was refitted as a depot ship in 1918. She was sold for scrap in 1921.

HMS Venerable was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 2 January 1899, launched on 2 November 1899, and completed in November 1902

Like the first three Formidable-class ships, Venerable and her four London-class sisters were similar in appearance to and had the same armament as the Majestic and Canopus classes that preceded them. The Formidables and Londons are often described as improved Majestics, but in design they really were enlarged Canopuses; while the Canopus class took advantage of the greater strength of the Krupp armor employed in their construction to allow the ships to remain the same size as the Majestics with increased tonnage devoted higher speed and less to armor without sacrificing protection, in the Formidables' and Londons' Krupp armor was used to improve protection without reducing the size of the ships.