HMS Swiftsure (1903)

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Career Royal Navy Ensign
Builder: Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick
Laid down: March 1902
Launched: January 12, 1903
Acquired: December 3, 1903
Commissioned: 1904
Status: Sold June 18, 1920 and broken up
General Characteristics
Displacement: 11,800 tons
Length: 458 ft (139.6 m) waterline, 470 ft (143.3 m) overall
Beam: 71 ft (21.6 m)
Draught: 24.5 ft (7.5 m)
Propulsion: Triple expansion (4 cyl.) 2 screws, 14,000 ihp
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 700
Armament: 4 × 10 in (2 × 2), 14 × 7.5 in (14 × 1), 14 × 14 pdr (14 × 1); 2 × 18 in torpedo tubes
Armour: Main belt 7 in (amidships), 3 in (ends), deck 3 in, turrets 10 in

HMS Swiftsure, launched 1903, was the lead ship of her class of pre-Dreadnought battleships. She had one sister ship, Triumph. The two ships had been built for the Chilean Navy as Libertad and Constitucion, but were bought by the Admiralty after fears that they would, upon delivery to the Chilean Navy, be sold on to Russia. Swiftsure was launched in 1903 and completed the following year.

She served in the Mediterranean in World War I and was broken up in 1920.

See HMS Swiftsure for other ships of the same name.


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