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HMS ''Albemarle'' was a pre-dreadnought of the Royal Navy, named after George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle. She was amongst the fastest battleships of her time when she was commissioned, but she became superseded by the new dreadnoughts which began entering service from 1906. Despite this, she served with the Grand Fleet on the Northern Patrol during the early stages of World War I. She was dispatched to Murmansk in Russia for guard and icebreaking duties for most of 1916. On her return to England, she underwent a refit and was in reserve for the remainder of the war. Decommissioned in April 1919, she was scrapped in 1920. ==Technical Description== HMS ''Albemarle'' was laid down on 1 January 1900 at Chatham Dockyard, and launched on 5 March 1901, when Lady Kennedy, wife of Admiral Sir William Kennedy, Commander-in-Chief of the Nore, performed the christening. She was completed in November 1903.〔 ''Albemarle'' and her five sisters of the ''Duncan''-class were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programmes,〔 including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian programme;〔Gibbons 1983, p. 159〕 they were designed as smaller, more lightly armored, and faster versions of the preceding .〔 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 , with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt.〔 ''Albemarle'' and her sisters had machinery capable 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. ''Albemarle'' and her sister 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 fastest pre-dreadnoughts ever built other than the and .〔Burt 1988, p. 202〕 ''Albemarle'' herself was viewed as the best steamer under service conditions among the ''Duncan''s.〔 ''Albemarle'' and her sisters had the same armament as and a smaller displacement than the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s.〔 Like all pre-dreadnoughts, ''Albemarle'' was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906, but she nonetheless continued to perform front-line 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「HMS Albemarle (1901)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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