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HMS ''Devonshire'' was the lead ship of her class of six armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Channel Fleet upon completion in 1905 and was transferred to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet in 1907. She was assigned to the reserve Third Fleet in 1909 and then to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron of the reserve Second Fleet in 1913. Upon mobilisation in mid-1914 her squadron was assigned to the Grand Fleet; ''Devonshire'' did not see combat before she was transferred to the Nore in 1916. At the end of that year she was assigned to the North America and West Indies Station and spent the rest of the war escorting convoys. She was sold for scrap in 1921. ==Design and description== ''Devonshire'' was designed to displace . The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a deep draught of . She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The engines were powered by fifteen Niclausse and six cylindrical boilers.〔Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 71〕 She carried a maximum of of coal and her complement consisted of 610 officers and enlisted men.〔Friedman 2012, p. 336〕 Her main armament consisted of four breech-loading (BL) 7.5-inch Mk I guns mounted in four single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and one on each side.〔Friedman 2012, p. 256〕 The guns fired their shells to a range of about .〔Friedman 2011, pp. 75–76〕 Her secondary armament of six BL 6-inch Mk VII guns was arranged in casemates amidships. Four of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather.〔Friedman 2012, pp. 256, 260–61〕 They had a maximum range of approximately with their shells.〔Friedman 2011, pp. 80–81〕 ''Devonshire'' also carried 18 quick-firing (QF) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes.〔 Her two 12-pounder 8 cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore.〔 At some point in the war, the main deck six-inch guns of the ''Devonshire''-class ships were moved to the upper deck and given gun shields. Their casemates were plated over to improve seakeeping and the four 3-pounder guns displaced by the transfer were landed.〔Friedman 2012, p. 280〕 The ship's waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of and was closed off by transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets was also five inches thick whilst that of their barbettes was six inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from and the conning tower was protected by of armour.〔 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 Devonshire (1904)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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