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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Albion |
| Ordered | 1896 Programme |
| Builder | Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Leamouth, London |
| Laid down | 3 December 1896 |
| Launched | 21 June 1898 |
| Completed | June 1901 |
| Commissioned | 25 June 1901 |
| Decommissioned | August 1919 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping 11 December 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | Full load: 14,300 long tons (14,500 t) |
| Length | 421 ft 6 in (128.5 m) (loa) |
| Beam | 74 ft (22.6 m) |
| Draught | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement | 750 |
| Armament |
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| Armour |
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HMS Albion was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and a member of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Albion and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Albion was laid down in December 1896, launched in June 1898, and commissioned into the fleet in June 1901.
Albion spent the first few years of her career abroad on the China Station from 1901 to 1905, before returning to British waters to serve with the Channel Fleet and later the Atlantic Fleet. After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, she was mobilised and returned to the Channel Fleet, but was quickly sent to the Atlantic to help defend against the possibility of German warships breaking out of the North Sea. In December and January 1915, she supported operations against German Southwest Africa.
The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in January 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She participated in major attacks on the Ottoman coastal fortifications defending the Dardanelles in March 1915, but the British and French fleets proved incapable of forcing the straits. During these operations, Albion was damaged by Ottoman artillery twice. In October 1915, she was transferred to Salonika to support the Allied operations against Bulgaria through then-neutral Greece, but she saw no further action. She was transferred back to Ireland in April 1916 for service as a guard ship, a role she filled until October 1918, when she was reduced to a barracks ship. Albion was sold for scrap in December 1919 and broken up the following year.