HMS Hannibal (1896)

HMS Hannibal
History
United Kingdom
NamesakeHannibal
BuilderPembroke Dock
Laid down1 May 1895
Launched28 April 1896
CompletedApril 1898
CommissionedApril 1898
DecommissionedJanuary 1920
FateSold for scrapping 28 January 1920
General characteristics
Class and typeMajestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement16,060 long tons (16,320 t)
Length421 ft (128 m)
Beam75 ft (23 m)
Draught27 ft (8.2 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement672
Armament
Armour

HMS Hannibal was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy, and the sixth ship to bear the name HMS Hannibal. The ship was laid down at the Pembroke Dock in May 1894, she was launched in April 1896, and commissioned into the fleet in April 1898. She was armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and a secondary battery of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns. The ship had a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

Hannibal served with the Channel Fleet (later reorganised to the Atlantic Fleet) after commissioning in 1898. In 1906 she underwent a refit, which included a conversion from a coal burner to using oil. She was placed in reserve from 1907, only to be mobilised in July 1914 as a precautionary measure prior to the outbreak of the First World War. From August 1914 to February 1915 Hannibal was a guard ship at Scapa Flow. Later that year, her main armament was removed and she was converted to a troopship, serving in this capacity during the Dardanelles campaign. From November 1915 to the end of the war, she served as a depot ship based in Alexandria, Egypt. She was disposed of in 1920 and scrapped later that year.