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HMS ''Formidable'', the third of four ships of that name to serve in the Royal Navy, was the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships. Commissioned in 1904, she served initially with the Mediterranean Fleet, transferring to the Channel Fleet in 1908. In 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron, which was stationed at Nore. Following the outbreak of World War I, the squadron conducted operations in the English Channel, and was based at Sheerness to guard against a possible German invasion. Despite reports of submarine activity, early in the morning of 1 January 1915, whilst on exercise in the English Channel, ''Formidable'' sank after being hit by two torpedoes. She was the second British battleship to be sunk by enemy action during the First World War.〔(HMS Formidable's history on the battleships-cruisers.co.uk website ) Retrieved: 6 April 2008〕 ==Technical characteristics== HMS ''Formidable'' was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard on 21 March 1898 and launched on 17 November 1898. She was completed in September 1901, but due to difficulties with machinery contractors her readiness for service was delayed, and she was not commissioned for another three years.〔Burt, p. 162〕 ''Formidable'' had the same-calibre armament and was similar in appearance to the ''Majestic'' and ''Canopus'' classes that preceded her. She and her sister ships are often described as improved ''Majestic''s, but in design they were effectively enlarged ''Canopus''es. The ''Canopus''es employed Krupp armour in their construction, which possessed greater strength for a given weight compared to that of the ''Majestics'' Harvey armour; this allowed the ''Canopus''es to be lighter and faster without sacrificing protection. In ''Formidable'', however, Krupp armour was used to improve protection without reducing the size of the ship.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 36〕 ''Formidable'' thus was larger than the ships of the two preceding classes, and enjoyed greater protection than the ''Majestic''s and the higher speed of the ''Canopus'' class. ''Formidable''s armour scheme was similar to that of the ''Canopus'' class, although the armour belt ran all the way to the stern being long, deep and thick. It tapered at the stem to thick and deep, and at the stern to thick and deep. The main battery turrets had of Krupp armour on their sides and on their backs.〔 ''Formidable'' improved on the main and secondary armament of previous classes, being up-gunned from 35 calibre to 40 guns and from 40 calibre to 45 guns. The guns could be loaded at any bearing and elevation, and had a split hoist with a working chamber beneath the turrets to reduce the chance of a cordite fire spreading from the turrets to the shell and powder handling rooms and to the magazines.〔 ''Formidable'' had an improved hull form that endowed better handling at high speeds than the ''Majestic''s and inward-turning screws which allowed reduced fuel consumption and slightly higher speeds than in previous classes, but at the expense of reduced manoeuvrability at low speeds.〔 With the appearance of the new dreadnought-type battleships and battlecruisers beginning in 1906, predreadnoughts such as ''Formidable'' were outclassed; however, they still performed some front-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 Formidable (1898)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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