HMS Eclipse (1894)

HMS Eclipse was an Eclipse-class cruiser protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.

Design
Eclipse-class second-class protected cruisers were preceded by the shorter Astraea-class cruisers. Eclipse had a displacement of 5600 LT when at normal load. It had a total length of 373 ft, a beam of 53 ft, a metacentric height of around 3 m, and a draught of 20 ft. It was powered by two inverted triple-expansion steam engines which used steam from eight cylindrical boilers. Using normal draught, the boilers were intended to provide the engines with enough steam to generate 8000 ihp and to reach a speed of 18.5 kn; using forced draft, the equivalent figures were 9600 ihp and a speed of 19.5 kn. Eclipse-class cruisers carried a maximum of 1075 LT of coal and achieved maximum speed of 20 kn in sea trials.

It carried five 40-calibre 6 in quick-firing (QF) guns in single mounts protected by gun shields. One gun was mounted on the forecastle, two on the quarterdeck and one pair was abreast the bridge. They fired 100 lb shells at a muzzle velocity of 2205 ft/s. The secondary armament consisted of six 40-calibre 4.7 in guns; three on each broadside. Their 45 lb shells were fired at a muzzle velocity of 2125 ft/s. It was fitted with three 18-inch torpedo tubes, one submerged tube on each broadside and one above water in the stern. Its ammunition supply consisted of 200 six-inch rounds per gun, 250 shells for each 4.7-inch gun, 300 rounds per gun for the 76 mms and 500 for each three-pounder. Eclipse had ten torpedoes, presumably four for each broadside tube and two for the stern tube.

Service
HMS Eclipse was launched in 1894 and completed in 1897. In 1899 she served in the Indian Ocean as the flagship of the East Indies Squadron.

She was commissioned at Chatham dockyard in late May 1901, with a crew of 450 officers and men to relieve HMS Hermione on the China Station.

On the outbreak of the First World War she formed part of the 12th Cruiser Squadron, which patrolled at the Western end of the English Channel, with particular duties to stop suspicious vessels and prevent disguised minelayers from interfering with cross-Channel traffic.