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HMS ''Drake'' was the lead ship of her class of armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy around 1900. She was assigned to several different cruiser squadrons in home waters upon completion, sometimes as flagship, until 1911 when she became the flagship of the Australia Station. Upon her return home, she was assigned to the 6th Cruiser Squadron of the 2nd Fleet and became the squadron's flagship when the fleet was incorporated into the Grand Fleet upon the outbreak of the First World War. She remained with the Grand Fleet until refitted in late 1915, when she was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station for convoy escort duties. In 1916 she participated in the unsuccessful search for the German commerce raider . In late 1917 ''Drake'' was torpedoed by a German submarine off Northern Ireland and sank in shallow water with the loss of eighteen lives. The wreck was partly salvaged, beginning in 1920; a fishing trawler collided with remainder of the wreck in 1962 and sank the next day. The wrecks of the two ships were demolished during the 1970s, but their remnants remain a popular dive site. ==Design and description== ''Drake'' 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 43 Belleville boilers. On her sea trials ''Drake'' reached a speed of .〔Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 69〕 She carried a maximum of of coal and her complement consisted of 900 officers and enlisted men.〔Friedman 2012, p. 336〕 Her main armament consisted of two breech-loading (BL) BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX - X guns (234mm L/46.7) in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.〔 They fired shells to a range of .〔Friedman 2011, pp. 71–72〕 Her secondary armament of sixteen BL 6-inch Mk VII guns (152mm L/45) was arranged in casemates amidships. Eight of these were mounted on the lower deck and were only usable in calm weather.〔Friedman 2012, pp. 243, 260–61〕 They had a maximum range of approximately with their shells.〔Friedman 2011, pp. 80–81〕 A dozen quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder 12 cwt guns (76mm L/39) were fitted for defence against torpedo boats. Two additional 12-pounder 8 cwt guns (76mm L/28) could be dismounted for service ashore.〔Friedman 2012, pp. 250, 336〕 ''Drake'' also carried three 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns (47mm / L40) and two submerged torpedo tubes.〔 By February 1916, all of the lower casemates for her six-inch guns had been plated over and six of them had been remounted on the upper deck so they could be used in heavy weather. Several twelve-pounders were removed to make room for the six-inch guns.〔Friedman 2012, p. 247〕 The ship's waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of and was closed off by transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets and their barbettes was 6 inches thick while the casemate armour was 5 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 Drake (1901)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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