View source for Sans Pareil Class Battleship (1887)

The '''''Sans Pareil'' Class''' of two battleships was constructed for the [[Royal Navy]] in the 1880s.  They were the last British battleships to mount their main armament in one turret, and the first to have triple-expansion engines.  {{UK-Victoria}} famously [[Loss of H.M.S. Victoria|sank]] after collision with another battleship in 1893, and {{UK-SansPareil}} had an uneventful career, being shortly rendered obsolescent by other battleships coming into service.

<div name=fredbot:ships>
{| class="wikitable collapsible" border=2 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 style="margin: 0 0 1em 0.5em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse;" align=center;
|-
! colspan=6 align=left|Overview of 2 vessels
|-
| colspan=6 align=left|<small>Citations for this data available on individual ship pages</small>
|-
! align=center | Name 
! align=center | Builder 
! align=center | Laid Down 
! align=center | Launched 
! align=center | Completed 
! align=center | Fate
|- align=left
| {{Template:UK-SansPareil}}
|[[Thames Ironworks, Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]]
|21 Apr, 1885
|9 May, 1887
|8 Jul, 1891
|Sold 9 Apr, 1907
|- align=left
| {{Template:UK-Victoria}}
|[[Armstrong, Whitworth & Company]], Elswick
|23 Apr, 1885
|9 Apr, 1887
|Mar, 1890
|Rammed 22 Jun, 1893
|}
</div name=fredbot:ships>
==Design History==
As noted by naval architect and historian D. K. Brown, the design history of this class is "obscure."<ref>Brown.  p. 99.  However, in the Admiralty Library, Portsmouth is, "A file of draft manuscript and printed papers of 2 memoranda written by Admiral Sir
Arthur Hood (1824-1901) as First Sea Lord in support of proposals to build two new improved battleships, July-August 1885."  MSS 171.</ref>  [[Oscar Parkes|Parkes]] suggests that the [[Director of Naval Construction (Royal Navy)|Director of Naval Construction]], Nathaniel Barnaby, had little input into the designs and worked from instructions issued by the [[Board of Admiralty]].<ref>Parkes.  p. 331.</ref>  Brown comments that this is somewhat strange since the [[First Sea Lord|First Naval Lord]], [[Astley Cooper Key|Sir Astley Cooper Key]], was an advocate of the layout of the [[Admiral Class Battleship (1884)|"Admiral" class]], which the ''Sans Pareil'' and her sister contradicted with their single turret arranged for end-on fire.<ref>Brown.  Loc. cit.</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{ParkesBritishBattleships}}
{{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sans Pareil}}

{{CatClassSecondClassBattleship|UK}}

{{Footer Sans Pareil Class Battleship (1887)}}


<!-- data

nat=UK
cat=SecondClassBattleship
type=second class battleship

chain=Battleships

{ship
name=Sans Pareil
pend=
builder=[[Thames Ironworks, Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]]{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
order=
laid=21 Apr, 1885{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
launch=9 May, 1887{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
comm=8 Jul, 1891{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
fate=Sold
fate2=Scrapped
fatedate=9 Apr, 1907
}

{ship
name=Victoria
pend=
builder=[[Armstrong, Whitworth & Company]], Elswick{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
order=
laid=23 Apr, 1885{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
launch=9 Apr, 1887{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
comm=Mar, 1890{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
fate=Rammed
fate2=by {{UK-Camperdown}}
fatedate=22 Jun, 1893{{Conways1860|p. 30}}
}



data -->