Leander-class cruiser (1882)
HMS Leander in 1897
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Leander class |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
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| Preceded by: | Iris class |
| Succeeded by: | Mersey class |
| Built: | 1880 - 1887 |
| In commission: | 1885 - 1919 (as seagoing warship) |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Scrapped: | 4 |
| General characteristics (HMS Leander) | |
| Class and type: | Leander-class second-class partially protected cruiser |
| Displacement: | 4,300 tons (4,400 tonnes) load. |
| Tons burthen: | 3,750 tons (B.O.M.). |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 46 ft (14 m). |
| Draught: |
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| Propulsion: | Sails and screw. Two shafts. Two cylinder horizontal direct acting compound engines, 12 cylindrical boilers, 5,500 IHP. |
| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Complement: | (1885): 275 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
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| Notes: |
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The Leander class was a four-ship cruiser programme ordered by the Admiralty in 1880. The class comprised HMS Leander, HMS Phaeton, HMS Amphion and HMS Arethusa.
"A new and better policy of unarmoured construction was inaugurated by the Admiralty of 1874-80. They began by building the two despatch vessels, Mercury and Iris, with a speed not approached up to that date by any in naval service. In the Mercury and the Iris the speed was obtained by an enormous development of horse-power… The cost per ton was equal to that of the most powerful ironclad, while the fighting power was inconsiderable."
In 1880 the Admiralty Board were divided about next design of cruising ship to lay down. The First Naval Lord, Sir Astley Cooper Key, favoured an enlarged 15 knots (28 km/h) Comus class. Some of the other members of the board preferred an improved Iris class. The First Lord of the Admiralty, William H. Smith, backed the latter. There was a change of government on 23 April 1880;Lord Northbook replaced W.H. Smith as First Lord, though Astley Cooper Key continued as First Naval Lord. "Lord Northbook's board were deeply impressed with the necessity for developing the construction of vessel of the Leander" type. "The first four ships of a large class laid down for the protection of commerce under Lord Northbrook's board were of the Leander type. The Leanders have a displacement of 3,750 tons. Their speed is 17 knots… Their coal supply is 1016 tons. These ships were followed by the four ships of the Mersey type…"
The Leanders were primarily designed for trade protection. In 1881, it was argued that Britain had fallen behind in cruisers to protect Britain's mercantile marine, which at the time was at least half the world total. "Taking 14 knots as the standard of high speed, we have only 11 swift cruisers, counting the Iris and Mercury despatch vessels among them. Fine vessels they are, and no doubt the Shah and the Raleigh, when they have got on board their new armament, will give a good account—a very good account indeed—of any cruiser in the world that is not an iron-clad. But the world is a large place; and eight or ten vessels cannot be everywhere, and the safety of our commerce imperatively demands that the swift cruisers which we have ready at the outbreak of a war shall be enough to clear the seas of privateers. Much use, as a war goes on, may, no doubt, be made of the armed merchantmen on the Admiralty List; but we must have Royal [Navy] cruisers to begin with, A commencement was made last year by the late Board in the Leander and her two consorts, which, with their partially protected machinery, their great speed, and their excellent guns, will be everything that can be desired for the purpose for which they were devised. The present Board have carried this policy farther. We are pushing on the Leanders, and we have laid down a fourth Leander at Pembroke, to occupy the spare time of the 200 extra men who are working on the iron-clads…"
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Wikipedia