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HMS Venerable (1899) was a ''London''-class pre-dreadnought battleship, a sub-class of the ''Formidable''-class battleships, and the third ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. Built at Chatham Dockyard, her keel was laid down in January 1899 and she was launched eleven months later. Her main battery consisted of four 12-inch (305-mm) guns, and she had top speed of 18 knots. Commissioned in November 1902, ''Venerable'' served in the Mediterranean Fleet until 1908, and was subsequently recommissioned into the Channel Fleet. Following a major refit in 1909, she served with the Atlantic and Home Fleets. After the outbreak of World War I, she took part in defensive and offensive operations with the Channel Fleet. She saw service in the Dardanelles in 1915, and then in the Adriatic through 1916. That December, she returned to England, and was refitted as a depot ship in 1918. She was sold for scrap in 1921. ==Design and construction== HMS ''Venerable'' was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 2 January 1899, launched on 2 November 1899, and completed in November 1902〔Burt, p. 178〕 Like the first three ''Formidable''-class ships, ''Venerable'' 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 they really were enlarged ''Canopus''es; while the ''Canopus'' class took advantage of the greater strength of the Krupp armor employed in their construction to allow the ships to remain the same size as the ''Majestic''s with increased tonnage devoted higher speed and less to armor without sacrificing protection, in the ''Formidable''s' and ''London''s' Krupp armor 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 thus were larger than the two preceding classes, and enjoyed both greater protection than the ''Majestic''s and the higher speed of the ''Canopus'' class. The ''Formidable''s and ''London''s armor scheme was similar to that of the ''Canopus''es, although, unlike in the ''Canopus''es, the armor belt ran all the way to the stern; it was 215 feet (65.5 meters) long and 15 feet (4.8 meters) deep and 9 inches (229 mm) thick, tapering at the stem to 3 inches (76.2 mm) thick and 12 feet (3.7 meters) deep and at the stern to 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) thick and 8 feet (2.4 meters) deep. The main battery turrets had Krupp armor, 10 inches (254 mm) 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 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 ''Venerable'' 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 ''Venerable'' and the other four ''London''s from the first three ships was thinner deck armor and some other detail changes to the armor scheme.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 37〕 Like all predreadnoughts, ''Venerable'' was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906. Like other predreadoughts, however, ''Venerable'' 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 Venerable (1899)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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