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HMS ''London'' was a ''Formidable''-class battleship in the British Royal Navy, often considered to be part of the ''London'' class or subclass. Commissioned in June 1902, she served with the Mediterranean Fleet until early 1907. She was assigned to the Nore Division of the Home Fleet for nearly a year before transferring to the Channel Fleet. Rendered obsolete with the emergence of the new dreadnoughts from late 1906 onwards, she underwent an extensive refit in 1909, after which she served with the Atlantic Fleet. She was assigned to the Second Home Fleet in 1912 as part of the 5th Battle Squadron, and was temporarily fitted with a makeshift ramp for experiments with naval aircraft until 1913. Following the outbreak of World War I, the squadron was attached to the Channel Fleet before ''London'' was detached in March 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She remained in the Mediterranean in support of Italian Navy operations in the Adriatic Sea until October 1916. Returning to the United Kingdom, she was inactive until being converted to a minelayer in early 1918, which entailed the removal of her main armament. She served with the Grand Fleet's 1st Minelaying Squadron until the end of the war. Placed in reserve in 1919, she was eventually disposed of in 1920. ==Technical Description== HMS ''London'' was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard on 8 December 1898, launched on 21 September 1899, and completed in June 1902.〔Burt, p. 178〕 Like the first three ''Formidable''-class ships, ''London'' and her four ''London''-class sisters were similar in appearance to the ''Majestic'' and ''Canopus'' classes that preceded them, and had the same armament. The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s are often described as improved ''Majestic''s, but in design they were effectively enlarged ''Canopus''es. While the ''Canopus'' class took advantage of the greater strength of the Krupp armour employed in their construction to allow the ships to remain the same size as the heavier ''Majestic''s, devoting more to higher speed and less to armour without sacrificing protection; the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s Krupp armour was used to improve protection without reducing the size of the ships.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 36〕 The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s were thus larger than the two preceding classes, and enjoyed greater protection than the ''Majestic''s combined with the higher speed of the ''Canopus'' class. The armour scheme of the ''Formidable''s and ''London''s was similar to that of the ''Canopus''es, but the armour belt ran all the way to the stern and measured 215 feet (65.5 m) long, 15 feet (4.8 m) deep and 9 inches (229 mm) thick, tapering at the stem to 12 feet (3.7 m) deep and 3 inches (76.2 mm) thick; and at the stern to 8 feet (2.4 m) deep and 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) thick. The main battery turrets had 10 inches (254 mm) of Krupp armour on their sides and 8 inches (203 mm) on their backs.〔 The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s improved on the main and secondary armament of previous classes, being upgunned from 35-caliber to 40-caliber 12-inch (305 mm) guns, and from 40-caliber to 45-caliber 6-inch (152 mm) guns. The 12-inch guns could be loaded at any bearing and elevation, and a split hoist beneath the turrets with a working chamber beneath the guns 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 endowed better handling 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 ''London'' and the other four ''London''s, which is why they are often 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 from the first three ships was thinner deck armour and other detail changes to the armour scheme.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 37〕 Like all predreadnoughts, ''London'' was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906. Like other predreadoughts, however, ''London'' took on some first-line duties during 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 London (1899)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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