Monmouth Class Cruiser (1901)

The ten armoured cruisers of the Monmouth class were completed in 1903 and 1904. They were sometimes referred to as the Kent class, and sometimes, along with the succeeding Devonshire class, referred to as "County Class" cruisers.

Overview of 10 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Bedford	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan	19 Feb, 1900	31 Aug, 1901	11 Nov, 1903	Sold 21 Aug, 1910
Berwick	William Beardmore & Company, Dalmuir	19 Apr, 1901	1902	9 Dec, 1903	Sold 1920
Cornwall	Pembroke Royal Dockyard	11 Mar, 1901	29 Oct, 1902	1 Dec, 1904	Sold 7 Jun, 1920
Cumberland	London & Glasgow	19 Feb, 1901	16 Dec, 1902	1 Dec, 1904	Sold 9 May, 1921
Donegal	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company	14 Feb, 1901	4 Sep, 1902	5 Nov, 1903	Sold 1 Jul, 1920
Essex	Pembroke Royal Dockyard	1 Jan, 1900	29 Aug, 1901	22 Mar, 1904	Sold 8 Nov, 1921
Kent	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard	12 Feb, 1900	6 Mar, 1901	1 Oct, 1903	Sold Jun, 1920
Lancaster	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company	4 Mar, 1901	22 Mar, 1902	5 Apr, 1904	Sold 3 Mar, 1920
Monmouth	London & Glasgow	29 Aug, 1899	13 Nov, 1901	2 Dec, 1903	Sunk 1 Nov, 1914
Suffolk	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard	25 Mar, 1901	15 Jan, 1903	21 May, 1904	Sold 1 Jul, 1920

Binoculars

In September 1914, the ships were allowed four additional pairs of Pattern 343 Service Binoculars.

Searchlights

In 1907, these ships, along with the Powerful, Drake, Cressy, and Devonshire classes and battleships of the Majestic, Canopus, London, and Duncan classes, were to land their searchlights from their tops and obtain two additional 24-inch models from their dockyards for placement on the shelter or boat deck. These were to be augmented by (or further upgraded to?) a pair of 36-in searchlights when they became available.

Armament

During the war, along with those of other older ships, the six 6-inch guns in lower casemates proved of little use in practical sea states. They were moved to the upper deck in spray shields and their old positions plated up. Six 12-pdr guns so displaced were relocated to the forward casemates and after shelter deck. The alteration greatly improved the sea-keeping qualities of the ships.

Guns

• fourteen 6-in Mark VII or Mark VIII guns (variously) on T. I mountings (Cornwall, Essex, Kent, Suffolk) or T. II mountings (Berwick, Cumberland, Donegal, Lancaster)

In February, 1913, the 6-in mountings, along with many other 4-in and 6-in mountings in various capital ships and cruisers were to have illumination added for their training index racers.

Torpedoes

• two 18-in submerged broadside tubes forward, depressed three degrees and bearing abeam; axis of tube was 7 foot 6 inches below load water line and 1 feet 6 inches above deck.

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.

Fire Control Instruments

By 1909, the 10 ships in this class were evenly split into two different types of fire control equipment.

Bedford, Essex, Kent, Monmouth and Suffolk were fitted with Barr and Stroud Mark II equipment with a few gongs and bells from other sources:

• Combined Range, Order, Deflection: 6 transmitters, 27 receivers
• Group Switches: 3
• Rate: 4 transmitters, 8 receivers
• Bearing: none
• Range: none

Additionally, this class had the following fire control equipment:

• Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
• Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 10 with 4 keys
• Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 16 with 1 key

Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland, Donegal and Lancaster were equipped with Vickers instruments for range, deflection and orders and with Barr and Stroud rate instruments:

• Vickers range transmitters: 6
• Vickers deflection transmitters: 6
• Vickers combined range and deflection receivers: 21
• Vickers C.O.S.: 3
• Vickers Check fire switches: 6
• Barr and Stroud rate transmitters: 4
• Barr and Stroud rate receivers: 8
• Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
• Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 6 with 2 keys
• Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 16 with 1 key

None of the ships had Target Visible or Gun Ready signals.

In mid-1913 it was approved that the nine remaining ships receive a Mark III Dumaresq, Pattern 760. Having been supplied with the Mark III variant, they were to surrender a Mark I instrument.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Friedman, Norman (2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591140684 (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
• McBride, Keith (1988). Grant, Ian. ed. "The First County Class Cruisers of the Royal Navy, Part II: The Devonshires". Warship (Volume XII, Issue 47): pp. 19-23.
• Admiralty, Technical History Section (1920). The Technical History and Index: Alteration in Armaments of H.M. Ships during the War. Vol. 4, Part 34. C.B. 1515 (34) now O.U. 6171/20. At The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1910). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. Copy No. 173 is Ja 345a at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1914). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. G. 01627/14. C.B. 1030. Copy 1235 at The National Archives. ADM 186/191.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.