HMS Mersey (1885)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Mersey
Builder	Chatham Dockyard Machinery by Humphrys, Tennant & Co.
Laid down	9 July 1883
Launched	31 March 1885
Commissioned	June 1887
Fate	Sold for scrapping on 4 April 1905
General characteristics
Class and type	Mersey-class second-class cruiser
Displacement	4,050 tons
Length	315 ft (96 m) oa 300 ft (91 m) pp
Beam	46 ft (14 m)
Draught	19 ft 6 in (6 m)
Propulsion	2-cyl horizontal direct-acting compound expansion 12 cylindrical boilers Twin screws
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h) (4,500 ihp) 18 knots (33 km/h) (6,000 ihp)
Range	900 tons coal 8,750 miles at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement	325
Armament	2 × BL 8-inch (203.2 mm) Mk IV guns 10 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns 3 × QF 6 pounder 3 × 3 pounder QF 9 × machine guns 2 × torpedo tubes
Armour	Deck: 2-inch (50.80 mm) - 4-inch (101.6 mm) Gunshields: 2-inch (50.80 mm) Conning tower: 9-inch (228.6 mm)

HMS Mersey was a Mersey-class second class protected cruiser. They were relatively modern, in that they were the first cruisers that had discarded their sailing rigs in the design, that was synonymous with the old wooden warships, and were now solely steam powered warships. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 31 March 1885, but had a relatively mundane career and was sold for breaking in 1905.