Nelson-class cruiser
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HMS Nelson anchored in Hobart, 1884
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Nelson |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
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| Preceded by: | HMS Shannon |
| Succeeded by: | Imperieuse-class cruiser |
| Built: | 1874–81 |
| In service: | 1878–1910 |
| In commission: | 1878–1904 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Scrapped: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Armoured cruiser |
| Displacement: | 7,473–7,630 long tons (7,593–7,752 t) |
| Length: | 280 ft (85 m) (p/p) |
| Beam: | 60 ft (18 m) |
| Draught: | 25 ft 9 in (7.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts, 2 compound-expansion steam engines |
| Sail plan: | Barque-rigged |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: | 560 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | Belt: 6–9 in (152–229 mm) |
The Nelson-class cruisers were a pair of armoured cruisers built in the 1870s for the Royal Navy.
The Nelson-class ships were designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, as enlarged and improved versions of HMS Shannon to counter the threat of enemy armoured ships encountered abroad. The ships were not much liked in service as they were deemed too weakly armoured to fight ironclad battleships and not fast enough to catch commerce-raiding cruisers. They were laid out as central battery ironclads with the armament concentrated amidships.
The Nelsons had a length between perpendiculars of 280 feet (85.3 m), a beam of 60 feet (18.3 m) and a deep draught of 25 feet 9 inches (7.8 m). The ships displaced 7,473–7,630 long tons (7,593–7,752 t), about 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) more than Shannon. The steel-hulled ships were fitted with a ram and their crew numbered approximately 560 officers and other ranks.
The ships had two 3-cylinder, inverted compound steam engines, each driving a single two-bladed, 18-foot (5.5 m) propeller, using steam provided by 10 oval boilers. They generated a working pressure of 60 psi (414 kPa; 4 kgf/cm2) so that the engines produced 6,624 indicated horsepower (4,940 kW) (Nelson) or 6,073 ihp (4,529 kW) (Northampton). The cylinders of the latter's engines could be adjusted in volume to optimize steam production depending on the demand. They were troublesome throughout the ship's life and she was always about 1 knot (1.9 km/h; 1.2 mph) slower than her sister despite repeated efforts to improve her speed. On their sea trials, Nelson reached her designed speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), but Northampton could only reach 13.17 knots (24.39 km/h; 15.16 mph).
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