HMS Albemarle (1901)

HMS Albemarle
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Albemarle
NamesakeGeorge Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle.
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid down1 January 1900
Launched5 March 1901
CompletedNovember 1903
Commissioned12 November 1903
DecommissionedApril 1919
FateBroken up, 1920
General characteristics
Class and typeDuncan-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length432 ft (132 m) (loa)
Beam75 ft 6 in (23.01 m)
Draught25 ft 9 in (7.85 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range6,070 nmi (11,240 km; 6,990 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement720
Armament
Armour

HMS Albemarle was a pre-dreadnought Duncan-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle. Built to counter a group of fast Russian battleships, Albemarle and her sister ships were capable of steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), making them the fastest battleships in the world. The Duncan-class battleships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and they were broadly similar to the London-class battleships, though of a slightly reduced displacement and thinner armour layout. As such, they reflected a development of the lighter second-class ships of the Canopus-class battleship. Albemarle was built between her keel laying in January 1900 and her completion in November 1903.

Albemarle had a fairly uneventful career. She spent her first years in service with the Mediterranean Fleet from 1903 to 1905, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. In 1907, she was reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet; in early 1910 she transferred to the Home Fleet, first as part of the 4th Battle Squadron and later the 6th Battle Squadron. She served with the Grand Fleet on the Northern Patrol during the early stages of the First World War. She was later dispatched to Murmansk in Russia for guard and icebreaking duties for most of 1916. On her return to England, she underwent a refit and was in reserve for the remainder of the war. Decommissioned in April 1919, she was scrapped in 1920.