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The ''Duncan'' class was a class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy. From 1889, Britain's “rank as a first-class power was bound up with its Mediterranean position”〔(【引用サイトリンク】author=Geoffrey Miller )〕 and these lightly armoured fast ships were intended to help meet combined Russian and French threats. Their period of maximum operational significance was short. By 1904, Britain had formed the Entente cordiale with France whilst Russia was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tsushima the following year. This battle led to the design of launched 1906 which eclipsed the ''Duncan''s and all previous ships. ==Technical Description== The ''Duncan''-class battleships were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programmes,〔 including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian programme;〔Gibbons, p. 159〕 they were designed as smaller, more lightly armoured, and faster versions of the preceding ''Formidable'' class.〔 As it turned out, the Russian ships were not as heavily armed as initially feared, and the ''Duncan''s proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and protection.〔 Although they were designed before the ships of the ''London'' subclass of the ''Formidable'' class, the first two ''London''s were laid down before the first ''Duncan''.〔 The armour layout was similar to that of ''London'', with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt.〔 The ''Duncan''s had machinery of more than the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s and were the first British battleships with 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines. They also had a modified hull form to improve speed. The ships had a reputation as good steamers, with a designed speed of and an operational speed of ,〔 good steering at all speeds, and an easy roll. They were the fastest battleships in the Royal Navy when completed, and the second fastest pre-dreadnoughts ever built after the and .〔Burt, p. 202〕 They had the same armament as and a smaller displacement than the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s.〔 The ships of the class were named after famous admirals of the Royal Navy and were informally known as "the Admirals".〔 Like all pre-dreadnoughts, they were outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906, but they nonetheless continued to perform frontline duties up through the early part of World War I. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Duncan-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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