Swiftsure-class
Lord Nelson-class
Laid down as the Constitución for Chilean account at Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick on 26 February 1902, launched on 12 January 1903, completed in June 1904, commissioned on 21 June 1904, laid up in reserve 7 October 1908-6 April 1909, refitted September 1912-March 1913, paid off at Chatham and added to the reserve for providing seamen for crewing anti submarine vessels. Refitted mid 1917, accommodation ship until February 1918, disarmed and stripped to be used as blockship in the Belgian harbour Ostend in 1918, became target ship, on sale list in March 1920 and sold to be broken up on 18 June 1920 to the Stanlee Shipbreaking Company. Building costs without armament 846.596 pond sterling.
Of the Swiftsure-class consisting of the Swiftsure and the Triumph, preceded by the King Edward VII-class and succeeded by the Lord Nelson-class. The battleships were ordered by Chile as a result of a disturbed relation with Argentina as a countermeasure against the two armoured cruisers (1) to be built for Argentina. For this reason were bother ships smaller as most of the contemporarily battleships and lighter armed and regarded as 2nd class battleships conform British standards. Their dimensions depended on the limits of the graving dock at Talcahuano, Chile. The ships were acquired on 3 December 1903 for 2.430.000 pond sterling by the British government to prevent that Russia would buy them as preparations for a probably armed conflict with Japan.
General technical class specifications. With a displacement of 12.370 (normal)-14.060 (deep load) tons and as dimensions 144,9 (over all) x 21,7 x 8,3 metres or 475.3 x 71.1 x 27.4 feet. The 2-4cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines and 12 Yarrow boilers supplied via 2 shafts 12.500 ihp a speed of 19 knots and with 10 knots a range of 6,210 nautical miles. Their crew numbered 803 men. The armament consisted of 2x2-25,4cm/10” breech loading guns, 14x1-7,5” breech loading guns, 14x1-14pd quick firing guns, 4x1-5pd quick firing guns and 2x1-45cm/18” submerged torpedo tubes. The armament consisted of a 7,6-17,8cm/3-7” thick belt, 5,1-15,2cm/2-6” thick bulkheads, 2,5-7,6cm/1-3” thick decks with the conning tower, greets, barbettes and casemates protected by respectively 27,9cm/11”, 20,3-25,4cm/8-10”, 5,1-25,4cm2-1) and 17,8cm/7”.
Note
1. Argentina sold both armoured cruisers named Rivadavia and Moreno and built in Italy at Japan.
