Talk:HMS Canopus (1897)

The disambiguation page on Canopus (disambiguation) refers to two RN ships of this name. Where is the second? Mark O'Sullivan 15:17, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

The HMS Canopus article was added on 13 August 2005 with this information. -- Curps 14:25, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Minor point but having naval warships and astronomy as interests, could I point out that Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius (and of course the Sun) Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopus_(star)

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The article correctly gives HMS Canopus credit for causing Sharnhorst and Gneisenau to retreat, correctly suggests that the Germans would have won a stunning victory had they continued, and correctly says that the shell richoched.

In my opinion it achieved an absolute miracle. It could even be claimed to have had an effect on both world wars as Churchill's reputation might have been irreparably damaged by sucessive disasters in the opening months of the war.

Could a line "A live shell could not have achieved this as it would probably have exploded before hitting Gneisenau." be added? This is my first post, I hope I've not broken any rules or caused too much offence!

--JRPG 22:48, 28 November 2005 (UTC) JRPG

SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau of 1914 were not the powerhouses of WWII. Sturdee's battlecruisers outclassed them in guns (12" versus 8.2") and speed (25 kt vs 22 kt) so it's hard to see any other outcome.96.54.53.165 (talk) 00:47, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Canopus' Top Speed.

Greetings, my first wiki talk-post.

The general characteristics section shows HMS Canopus' top speed to be 18 knots, typical for pre-dreadnought battleships and in agreement with http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/pre-dreadnought/hms-canopus.html.

In the article however, it is stated: "Canopus 's slow maximum speed of only 12 knots (22 km/h) meant that she was 300 miles (500 km) south of the rest of Cradock's squadron..."

The article does not clarify why the speed is 12 knots, far less than the design's specified maximum speed. I am assuming that the value of 12 knots may have been derived from the distance and coal consumption, under the understanding that a ship burns less coal traveling a given distance if it moves at a slower speed, and therefore to save coal, a ship generally did not approach maximum speed unless in battle. Anyways, I could be wrong (engine troubles? maintanance issues?) and I would love it if the article clearly stated the reason for 12 knots, whatever that reason may be.

Tank 7 (talk) 17:32, 13 February 2008 (UTC)Tank7

I read in a book on warships that steam turbines were a big advance over triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, in spite of lower efficiency, because to fit in the space available in a battleship the reciprocating engines needed to run at such high speeds that they were not reliable operating long at full power. So the 18 knots may have been usable only in battle, even with sufficient coal. The battle cruisers had turbines.

David R. Ingham (talk) 19:10, 13 September 2009 (UTC)