Mersey-class cruiser

The Mersey-class cruiser was a class of second class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy commissioned in the late 1880s. They were the first cruisers that had discarded their sailing rigs in the design, making them far more modern in design. They had fairly mundane careers.



Design and description
The Mersey-class cruisers were improved versions of the Leander class with more armour and no sailing rig on a smaller displacement. Like their predecessors, they were intended to protect British shipping. The cruisers had a length between perpendiculars of 300 feet (91.4 m), a beam of 46 feet (14.0 m) and a draught of 20 feet 2 inches (6.1 m). They displaced 4,050 long tons (4,110 t). The ships were powered by a pair of two-cylinder horizontal, direct-acting, compound-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which were designed to produce a total of 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) and a maximum speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) using steam provided by a dozen cylindrical boilers with forced draught. The Mersey class carried enough coal to give them a range of 8,750 nautical miles (16,200 km; 10,070 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The ships' complement was 300to 350 officers and ratings.

Their main armament consisted of two breech-loading (BL) 8-inch (203 mm) guns, one each fore and aft on pivot mounts. Their secondary armament was ten BL 6-inch (152 mm) guns, five on each broadside in sponsons. Protection against torpedo boats was provided by three quick-firing (QF) 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and three QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. The ship was also armed with a pair of submerged 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes and carried a pair of 14-inch torpedo carriages. The Mersey-class ships were protected by a lower armoured deck that was 2 inches (51 mm) on the flat and 3 inches (76 mm) on the slope. It sloped down at the bow to reinforce the ram. The armoured sides of the conning tower were 9 inches (229 mm) thick.