Diadem Class Cruiser (1896)
From The Dreadnought Project
The eight protected cruisers of the Diadem Class were completed between 1898 and 1903.
| Overview of 8 vessels | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citations for this data available on individual ship pages | |||||
| Name | Builder | Laid Down | Launched | Completed | Fate |
| Amphitrite | Vickers, Barrow | 8 Dec, 1896 | 5 Jan, 1898 | 17 Sep, 1901 | Sold 12 Apr, 1920 |
| Andromeda | Pembroke Dockyard | 2 Dec, 1895 | 30 Apr, 1897 | 5 Sep, 1899 | Sold Aug, 1956 |
| Argonaut | Fairfield, Govan | 23 Nov, 1896 | 24 Jan, 1898 | 19 Apr, 1900 | Sold 18 May, 1920 |
| Ariadne | Thompson, Clydebank | 29 Oct, 1896 | 22 Apr, 1898 | 5 Jun, 1902 | Torpedoed 26 Jul, 1917 |
| Diadem | Fairfield, Govan | 23 Jan, 1896 | 21 Oct, 1896 | 19 Jul, 1898 | Sold 9 May, 1921 |
| Europa | Thompson, Clydebank | 10 Jan, 1896 | 20 Mar, 1897 | 23 Nov, 1899 | Sold 15 Sep, 1920 |
| Niobe | Vickers, Barrow | 16 Dec, 1895 | 20 Feb, 1897 | 6 Dec, 1898 | Broken up 1922 |
| Spartiate | Pembroke Dockyard | 10 May, 1897 | 27 Oct, 1898 | 17 Mar, 1903 | Sold Jul, 1932 |
Contents
Binoculars
In September 1914, the ships were allowed four additional pairs of Pattern 343 Service Binoculars.[1]
Armament
Guns
Secondary Battery
Other Guns
Torpedoes
- two 18-in submerged broadside tubes forward, depressed three degrees and bearing abeam; axis of tube was 6 foot 6 inches below load water line and 1 feet 6 inches above deck.[2]
Fire Control
Dreyer Table
These ships had no fire control tables.[3]
Fire Control Instruments
The Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909 lists the Barr and Stroud Mark II equipment on this class as:[4]
- Combined Range, Order, Deflection: 4 transmitters, 26 receivers
- Group Switches: 2
- Rate: 4 transmitters, 4 receivers
- Bearing: none
- Range: none
Additionally, this class had the following Siemens fire control equipment:[5]
- Turret fire gongs: none
- Fire Gongs: 16 with 4 keys
- Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 18 with 1 key
None of the ships had Target Visible or Gun Ready signals.[6]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Admiralty Weekly Order No. 331 of 8 Sep, 1914.
- ↑ Torpedo Manual, Vol. III, 1909. p. 265.
- ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. p. 58.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. p. 58.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. p. 11.
Bibliography
- 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.
- Brooks, John (2005). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 0714657026. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1917). The Director Firing Handbook. O.U. 6125 (late C.B. 1259). Copy No. 322 at The National Archives. ADM 186/227.
- 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.
- Keith McBride. The Diadem Class Cruisers in Warship, Volume XI Issue 44.
| Diadem Class First Class Protected Cruiser | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amphitrite | Andromeda | Argonaut | Ariadne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diadem | Europa | Niobe | Spartiate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| <– | Powerful Class | Major Cruisers (UK) | Cressy Class | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
