The Devonshire-class cruiser was a group of six armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. All ships of the class served in World War I. Argyll was wrecked, and Hampshire was sunk by a naval mine. The four survivors were disposed of soon after the war.
Design and description
The Devonshire class was designed as improved versions of the preceding Monmouth class and were also intended for commerce protection. The armament of the new design was made more powerful by the replacement of the twin six-inch turrets and the forward double six-inch casemates by four 7.5-inch single turrets in a diamond arrangement. The ships were designed to displace. They had an overall length of, a beam of and a deep draught of. The Devonshire-class ships were 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 seventeen Yarrow and six cylindrical boilers. They carried a maximum of of coal and their complement consisted of 610 officers and other ranks. The main armament of the Devonshire class consisted of four breech-loading 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. The guns fired their shells to a range of about. Their 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. They had a maximum range of approximately with their shells. The ships also carried 18 quick-firing 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. The ships' waterlinearmour 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.
The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Devonshire class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The 1905 edition costs were compiled before the ships were complete. *** = cost published by Brassey before the ship was complete, i.e. the total cost may have been more than this.
