HMS Pegasus (1897)

HMS Pegasus
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Pegasus
Ordered	1893
Builder	Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Yard number	718[1]
Laid down	May 1896 at Jarrow
Launched	4 March 1897
Commissioned	17 January 1899
Motto	"Excelsior"
Fate	Sunk by SMS Königsberg in Zanzibar harbour, 20 September 1914
General characteristics
Class and type	Pelorus-class protected cruiser
Displacement	2,135 long tons (2,169 t) (normal) 2,740 long tons (2,780 t) (full load)
Length	300 ft (91.4 m)
Beam	36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draught	17 ft (5.2 m)
Installed power	7,000 ihp (5,220 kW)
Propulsion	8 × Reed water tube boilers[2] 2 × triple expansion steam engines 2 × screws
Speed	20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Complement	224
Armament	8 × QF 4 in (102 mm) guns 8 × QF 3-pounder guns 2 × 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	0.25in (gun shields) 2-1.5in (decks)

HMS Pegasus was one of 11 Pelorus-class protected cruisers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1893 under the Spencer Program and based on the earlier Pearl class. The class were fitted with a variety of different boilers, most of which were not entirely satisfactory, and by 1914, four ships had been withdrawn. They had all been condemned in 1904 but were reprieved and remained in service, with scrapping proposed in 1915.