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The Royal Sovereign class was an eight-ship class of pre-Dreadnought battleships of the British Royal Navy.
The ships of the Royal Sovereign class were built under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which provided £21 million for a vast expansion program. The Act was inspired by rumours of a possible Franco-Russian alliance and by perceived shortcomings in naval forces revealed during manoeuvres the year before. In total, ten battleships, forty-two cruisers, and eighteen other vessels were built—an enormous increase. The Act marks the adoption of the two-power standard, whereby the Royal Navy sought to be as large as the next two major naval powers combined.
At the center of the expansion program were the Royal Sovereigns, the largest and fastest capital ships of their time. Like HMS Dreadnought a generation later, this class made all other battleships obsolete. The class would be the template of British battleship design until Dreadnought, being improved upon by the Majestic class ships launched just a few years later.
The Royal Sovereigns were designed by the noted warship designer Sir William White. They were much bigger than the Admiral, Victoria, and Trafalagar classes that had preceded them. They used the same 13.5 inch (343 mm) guns of the Admirals, though the Royal Sovereigns used barbettes instead of turrets, allowing them to have a much higher freeboard than had been previously available, thus making them better seaboats. (One ship of the class, Hood, was equipped with turrets, and consequently had a lower freeboard as well.)
In 1906, the Royal Sovereigns, like every other battleship in the world, were made obsolete with the launch of the revolutionary Dreadnought, the first all-big-gun battleship. They were consigned to less critical duties for the remainder of their service life, only two ships surviving to see the outbreak of war in 1914.
General characteristics
- Displacement: 14,150 tons standard; 15,580 tons full load
- Length: 410 ft 6 in (125.12 m)
- Beam: 75 ft 0 in (22.86 m)
- Draight: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
- Armament: four 13.5 inch (343 mm), ten 6 inch (200 mm), sixteen 6-pounder, twelve 3-pounder guns, seven 18 inch (460 mm) torpedo tubes (five above water, two underwater)
- Propulsion: two Humphreys vertical triple expansion, eight cylindrical boilers, two shafts
- Speed: 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h)
- Complement: 712
Ships
- Royal Sovereign served in a number of fleets of the Royal Navy. Scrapped in 1913.
- Hood served in the Mediterranean, then with the Home Fleet. Sunk as a blockship at Portland harbour in November 1914.
- Empress of India (intended name: Renown) was sunk as a target in 1913.
- Ramillies served in Mediterranean and home waters. Scrapped in 1913.
- Repulse served in the Channel Squadron. Scrapped in 1911.
- Resolution served in the Channel Squadron. Scrapped in 1914.
- Revenge was flagship during the blockade of Crete in 1898. Bombarded the Belgian coast 1914–1915. Renamed Redoubtable in 1915. Scrapped in 1919.
- Royal Oak was part of the Special Flying Squadron, later seeing service in home waters. Scrapped in 1914.
See also
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