HMS Pelorus (1896)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HMS Pelorus was the first of the Pelorus class cruisers, laid down at Sheerness dockyard in 1896. Completed and commissioned into the Royal Navy on December 15 of the same year, it was designed by Sir William White. The ship was well armed for its size, but was primarily a workhorse for the overseas fleet.^[1]

HMS Pelorus displaced 2,135 tons and had a top speed of 20 knots. It had reciprocating triple expansion engines and Normand water-tube boilers which could give 7,000 horsepower for limited periods of time with forced draught, and 5,000 horsepower under natural draught. It carried a crew complement of 224 men and it was armed with eight 4 inch (102 mm) (25 pounder) guns, eight 3 pounder guns, 3 machine guns, and two 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes.