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HMS ''Bulwark'' belonged to a sub-class of the ''Formidable''-class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy known as the ''London'' class. Entering service with the Royal Navy in 1902, she sailed with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1907. She then served with the Home Fleet, for a time under Captain Robert Falcon Scott. After a refit in 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron. Following the outbreak of the First World War, ''Bulwark'', along with the rest of the squadron was attached to the Channel Fleet, conducting patrols in the English Channel. On 26 November 1914, while anchored near Sheerness, she was destroyed by a large internal explosion with the loss of 736 men. Two of the 14 survivors died later in hospital. The explosion was likely to have been caused by the overheating of cordite charges that had been placed adjacent to a boiler room bulkhead. ==Technical description== HMS ''Bulwark'' was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 20 March 1899 and launched on 18 October 1899. She began trials in May 1901 and was completed in March 1902.〔Burt, p. 178〕 Like the first three ''Formidable''-class ships, ''Bulwark'' and her four ''London''-class sisters were similar in appearance to and had the same armament as the ''Majestic'' and ''Canopus'' classes that preceded them. The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s are often described as improved ''Majestic''s, but in design were essentially enlarged ''Canopus''es; while the ''Canopus''es took advantage of the greater strength of the Krupp armour so they could remain the same size as the ''Majestic''s, with increased tonnage devoted to speed and less to armour without sacrificing protection, the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s used Krupp armour to improve protection without reducing their size.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 36〕 The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s thus were larger than the two preceding classes, and enjoyed both greater protection than the ''Majestic''s and the higher speed of the ''Canopus''es. The armour scheme of the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s was similar to that of the ''Canopus''es, although – unlike in the ''Canopus''es – the armour belt ran all the way to the stern; it was long and deep and thick, tapering at the stem to thick and deep and at the stern to thick and deep. The main battery turrets had Krupp armour, on their sides and on their backs.〔 The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s improved on the main and secondary armament of previous classes, being upgunned from 35-calibre to 40-calibre guns and from 40-calibre to 45-calibre guns. The guns could be loaded at any bearing and elevation, and beneath the turrets the ships had a split hoist with a working chamber beneath the guns that reduced the chance of a cordite fire spreading from the turret to the shell and powder handling rooms and to the magazines.〔 The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s had an improved hull form that made them handier at high speeds than the ''Majestic''s. They also had inward-turning screws, which allowed reduced fuel consumption and slightly higher speeds than in previous classes but at the expense of less manoeuvrability at low speeds.〔 A change in design from that of the first three ''Formidable''s occurred in ''Bulwark'' and the other four ''London''s, which is why the ''London''s often are considered a separate class.〔For example, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 37, and Burt, pp. 175–194, refer to the ''London''s as a separate class while Gibbons, p. 151, lists them all as part of the ''Formidable'' class. Burt refers to the ''London''s as the ''Bulwark'' class.〕 The main difference in the ''Bulwarks'' and the other four ''London''s from the first three ships was thinner deck armour and some other detail changes to the armour scheme.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 37〕 Like all pre-dreadnoughts, ''Bulwark'' was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906. Like other pre-dreadoughts, however, ''Bulwark'' took on some first-line duties during the early part of the First World War. 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 Bulwark (1899)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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