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Warrior Class. The most noticeable difference from their half sisters of the duke of Edinburgh class was the single 7.5 inch gun turrets abreast the funnels in place of the 6 inch guns. These were 22 feet above the waterline (at load displacement) as opposed to 14 feet of the 6 inch guns they replaced making them useable in heavy seas. |
HMS Warrior
Built Pembroke Dockyard, laid down November 1903, completed December 1906.
HMS Cochrane
Built Fairfield, Govan, laid down March 1904, completed February 1907.
HMS Natal
Built Vickers, Barrow, laid down January 1904, completed March 1907.
HMS Achilles
Built Armstrong, Elswick, laid down February 1904, completed April 1907.
Average cost £1,180,000.
Size:
Length 480 feet pp 505 feet 4 inches overall, beam 73 feet 6 inches, draught 25 feet, displacement 13,550 tons load.
Propulsion:
2 shaft triple expansion engines, 23,000 ihp, 23 knots
Trials:
Natal 23,344 ihp = 22.9 knots
Achilles 23,968 ihp = 23.27 knots
Armour:
6-3in belt, 6in barbettes, 7.5in turret faces, 1.5-0.5in decks
Armament:
6 x 9.2in Mk IX (6 x 1), 4 x 7.5in Mk II (4 x 1), 26 x 3pounder (26 x 1), 3 x 18in TT
Comments:
Development of the Duke of Edinburgh class with a heavier and weather resistant secondary armament.
Protection was very similar with a slight reduction in deck thickness. Crew 712.
World War 1 Service:
Warrior
1st Cruiser Squadron Mediterranean Fleet.
August 1914 involved in hunt for SMS Goeben and Breslau.
November 1914 Sierra Leone.
December 1914 onwards 2nd Cruiser Squadron Grand Fleet.
1 June 1916 Sunk at the Battle of Jutland.
Cochrane
2nd Cruiser Squadron Grand Fleet.
31 May 1916 present at the Battle of Jutland.
1917 West Indies and North America Station.
May-September 1918 Archangel.
14 November 1918 ran aground and wrecked in the Mersey estuary.
Natal
2nd Cruiser Squadron Grand Fleet.
30 December 1915 destroyed by internal explosion at Cromarty, thought to be faulty cordite.
Achilles
2nd Cruiser Squadron Grand Fleet.
November 1914 Suffered accidental gun explosion.
Under refit at the time of Jutland.
16 March 1917 Along with armed boarding steamer Dundee sank the German raider SMS Leopard.
1917 used for escort duties.
1918 training ship.
1920 Sold for scrap.
| HMS Achilles, the only ship of the class not to come to a violent end. The 7.5 inch turrets increased top weight making them excellent sea boats and very steady gun platforms and by many in the Royal Navy were considered the finest cruisers in the service. |
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