Devonshire-class cruiser (1903)

The Devonshire-class cruiser was a group of six armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. All ships of the class served in World War I. Argyll was wrecked, and Hampshire was sunk by a naval mine. The four survivors were disposed of soon after the war.

Design and description
The Devonshire class was designed as improved versions of the preceding Monmouth-class cruiser and were also intended for commerce protection. The armament of the new design was made more powerful by the replacement of the twin six-inch (152 mm) turrets and the forward double six-inch casemates by four 7.5-inch (190 mm) single turrets in a diamond arrangement. The ships were designed to displace 10850 LT. They had an overall length of 473 ft, a beam of 68 ft and a deep draught of 24 ft. The Devonshire-class ships were powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 21000 ihp and gave a maximum speed of 22 kn. The engines were powered by seventeen Yarrow and six cylindrical boilers. They carried a maximum of 1033 LT of coal and their complement consisted of 610 officers and other ranks.

The main armament of the Devonshire class consisted of four breech-loading (BL) 7.5-inch Mk I guns mounted in four single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and one on each side. The guns fired their 200 lb shells to a range of about 13800 yd. Their secondary armament of six BL 6-inch Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Four of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather. They had a maximum range of approximately 12200 yd with their 100 lb shells. The ships also carried 18 quick-firing (QF) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. Her two 12-pounder 8-cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore.

At some point in the war, the main deck six-inch guns of the Devonshire-class ships were moved to the upper deck and given gun shields. Their casemates were plated over to improve seakeeping and the four 3-pounder guns displaced by the transfer were landed.

The ships' waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of 6 in and was closed off by 5 in transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets was also five inches thick whilst that of their barbettes was six inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from .75 - 2 in and the conning tower was protected by 12 in of armour.

Ships

 * Antrim, launched on 8 October 1903, sold for breaking up on 19 December 1922.
 * Argyll, launched on 3 March 1904, wrecked on 28 October 1915.
 * Carnarvon, launched on 7 October 1903, sold for breaking up on 8 November 1921.
 * Devonshire, launched on 30 April 1904, sold for breaking up on 9 May 1921.
 * Hampshire, launched on 4 September 1903, sunk by a naval mine on 5 June 1916.
 * Roxburgh, launched on 19 January 1904, sold on 8 November 1921.

Building Programme
The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Devonshire class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The 1905 edition costs were compiled before the ships were complete.

*** = cost published by Brassey before the ship was complete, i.e. the total cost may have been more than this.