Formidable class battleship
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HMS_Implacable_(pre-dreadnought_battleship).jpg
The Royal Navy's Formidable class of battleships were an eight-ship class of pre-Dreadnoughts built in the late 1890s. They were similar in appearance and boasted the same amount of armament as the Majestic and Canopus classes, though the Formidables were smaller than them, indeed they were 30 feet smaller than the Canopus class. They, unlike the other two battleship classes, had no deck or barbette armour, but the class did have belt and turret armour, with the latter being increased from the 6-inches that the other two classes had, to 9-inches.
The last five ships of the class, starting with London, varied slightly from the first three and are sometimes referred to as the London class but are in effect merely a sub-class of the Formidable class. The main difference was thinner deck armour and the consequent smaller displacement.
The last two ships of the class, Prince of Wales and Queen, were not commissioned until 1904, and were soon to become completely obsolete with the launching of the Dreadnought, the first all big gun battleship. The Formidables became relics, consigned to menial jobs for much of World War I.
Ships
- Formidable - Torpedoed by U-24 off Portland Bill January 1, 1915 while on patrol. Tragically, 547 of her 750 crew perished.
- Irresistible - Served in WWI. She hit a mine during the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915, and subsequently sank three hours later.
- Implacable - Served in WWI, in which she survived to be sold for scrap in 1921.
- London - Served in WWI and took part in the Dardanelles Campaign. She was later converted to a minelayer.
- Bulwark - Suffered an internal explosion in November 1914 at Sheerness. Just 12 out of her 750 crew survived.
- Venerable - Served in WWI, being broken up in 1920.
- Queen - Served in WWI, and like other ships of the class took part in the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915. She was broken in 1920.
- Prince of Wales - Served in WWI, taking part in the Dardanelles Campaign. She was broken up in 1921.
Formidable Class Statistics
- Displacement: 15,800 tons (15,700 tons London-class)
- Length: 431 ft
- Beam: 75 ft
- Draught: 25 ft 11 in (26 ft London-class)
- Complement: 780 (750 London-class)
- Armament:
- 4 x 12-inch guns
- 12 x 6-inch guns
- 16 x 12-pounder guns
- 6 x 3-pounder guns
- 4 x 18-inch submerged torpedo tubes
- Armour: 9 in belt, 12 in barbettes, 10 in gun houses, 3-1 in deck (2.5-1 in London-class)
- Speed: 18.0 knots
- Propulsion: Water tube boilers, 2 x vertical triple expansion, 2 shafts, 15,500ihp
| Formidable-class battleship |
| Formidable | Irresistible | Implacable | London | Bulwark | Venerable | Queen | Prince of Wales |
| List of battleships of the Royal Navy |