Monmouth Class Cruiser (1901)

The ten armoured cruisers of the Monmouth class were completed in 1903 and 1904. They were sometimes referred to as the Kent class, and sometimes, along with the succeeding Devonshire class, referred to as "County Class" cruisers.

Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Pendant Numbers			Fate
					1914	September, 1915	January, 1918
Berwick	Beardmore		20 Sept., 1902		36	P.74	P.08	Sold, 1 July, 1920
Cornwall	Pembroke		29 October, 1902		D.31	P.04	P.84	Sold, 7 June, 1920
Cumberland	L. & G.		16 December, 1902		D.37	P.76	P.86	Sold, 9 May, 1921
Donegal	Fairfield		4 September, 1902		9C		55	Sold, 1 July, 1920
Essex	Pembroke		29 August, 1901		51		62	Sold, 8 November, 1921
Kent	Portsmouth		6 March, 1901		P.27	P.80	P.99	Sold, June, 1920
Lancaster	Armstrong's		22 March, 1902		71		78	Sold, 3 March, 1920
Monmouth	L. & G.		13 November, 1901		D.28			Sunk, 1 November, 1914
Suffolk	Portsmouth		15 January, 1903		20	P.87	P.A5	Sold, 1 July, 1920

Searchlights

In 1907, these ships, along with the Powerful, Drake, Cressy, and Devonshire classes and battleships of the Majestic, Canopus, London, and Duncan classes, were to land their searchlights from their tops and obtain two additional 24-inch models from their dockyards for placement on the shelter or boat deck. These were to be augmented by (or further upgraded to?) a pair of 36-in searchlights when they became available.

Armament

During the war, along with those of other older ships, the six 6-inch guns in lower casemates proved of little use in practical sea states. They were moved to the upper deck in spray shields and their old positions plated up. Six 12-pdr guns so displaced were relocated to the forward casemates and after shelter deck. The alteration greatly improved the sea-keeping qualities of the ships.

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.

Fire Control Instruments

By 1909, the 10 ships in this class were evenly split into two different types of fire control equipment.

Bedford, Essex, Kent, Monmouth and Suffolk were fitted with Barr and Stroud Mark II equipment with a few gongs and bells from other sources:

• Combined Range, Order, Deflection: 6 transmitters, 27 receivers
• Group Switches: 3
• Rate: 4 transmitters, 8 receivers
• Bearing: none
• Range: none

Additionally, this class had the following fire control equipment:

• Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
• Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 10 with 4 keys
• Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 16 with 1 key

Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland, Donegal and Lancaster were equipped with Vickers, Son and Maxim instruments for range, deflection and orders and with Barr and Stroud rate instruments:

• Vickers range transmitters: 6
• Vickers deflection transmitters: 6
• Vickers combined range and deflection receivers: 21
• Vickers C.O.S.: 3
• Vickers Check fire switches: 6
• Barr and Stroud rate transmitters: 4
• Barr and Stroud rate receivers: 8
• Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
• Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 6 with 2 keys
• Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 16 with 1 key

None of the ships had Target Visible or Gun Ready signals.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Template:BibFriedmanBritishCruisersVictorian
• Template:BibMcBrideCountiesII
• Template:BibUKTHVol4Part34
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1910). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. Copy No. 173 is Ja 345a at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1914). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. G. 01627/14. C.B. 1030. Copy 1235 at The National Archives. ADM 186/191.
• Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918