Drake-class cruiser

HMS Good Hope
Class overview
Name	Drake
Preceded by	Cressy class
Succeeded by	Monmouth class
Completed	4
General characteristics
Type	armoured cruiser
Displacement	14,150 tons
Length	533.5 ft (162.6 m) overall
Beam	71.3 ft (21.7 m)
Draught	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion	4-cylinder triple-extension steam engines, two shafts, 43 Belleville boilers, 30,000 hp
Speed	23 knots (24.11 knots, Drake on trials)
Complement	900
Armament	2 × BL 9.2-inch (233.7 mm) Mk X guns (2 x 1) 16 x BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk VII guns (16 x 1) 14 × 3 -inch (12 pounder) (14 × 1) QF 3 × 3 pounder QF (3 × 1) 2 × 18 in (450 mm) torpedo tubes, submerged
Armour	6 in (254 mm) belt 12 in (304.8 mm) conning tower 6 in (254 mm) turret 2 1/2 in (63.5 mm) deck

The Drake-class was a four-ship class of armoured cruisers built around 1900 for the Royal Navy as enlarged versions of the Cressy class.

The ships served in the First World War, only half of them surviving it. Drake was torpedoed in 1917, and Good Hope was sunk at the Battle of Coronel.

Ships of the Class

• HMS Drake
• HMS Good Hope (originally to be HMS Africa)
• HMS King Alfred
• HMS Leviathan

Building Programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Drake class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The compilers of The Naval Annual revised costs quoted for British ships between the 1905 and 1906 editions. The reasons for the differences are unclear.

Ship	Builder	Engine Maker	Date of			Cost according to
			Laid Down	Launch	Completion	( BNA 1905)	( BNA 1906)
HMS Drake	Pembroke Dockyard	Humphrys	24 Apr 1899	5 Mar 1901	13 Jan 1902	£1,050,625	£1,002,977
HMS Good Hope ex-Africa	Fairfield, Govan	Fairfield	11 Sep 1899	21 Feb 1901	8 Nov 1902	£1,023,629	£990,759
HMS King Alfred	Vickers, Barrow	Vickers	11 Aug 1899	28 Oct 1901	22 Dec 1903	£1,013,772	£978,125
HMS Leviathan	J Brown Clydebank	J Brown	30 Nov 1899	3 Jul 1901	16 Jun 1903	£1,043,097	£1,012,959

References

• Chesnau, Roger and Kolesnik, Eugene (Ed.) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-83170-302-4
• Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1905
• Leyland, J. and Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1906