HMS Revenge (1892)

Revenge at anchor, about 1897
History
United Kingdom
NameRevenge
BuilderPalmers
Cost£954,825
Laid down12 February 1891
Launched3 November 1892
Completed22 March 1894
Commissioned14 January 1896
DecommissionedOctober 1915
RenamedRedoubtable, 2 August 1915
FateSold for scrap, 6 November 1919
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeRoyal Sovereign-class predreadnought battleship
Displacement14,150 long tons (14,380 t) (normal)
Length380 ft (115.8 m) (pp)
Beam75 ft (22.9 m)
Draught27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range4,720 nmi (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) @ 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement695 (as flagship, 1903)
Armament
Armour

HMS Revenge was one of seven Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy during the 1890s. She spent much of her early career as a flagship for the Flying Squadron and in the Mediterranean, Home and Channel Fleets. Revenge was assigned to the International Squadron blockading Crete during the 1897–1898 revolt there against the Ottoman Empire. She was placed in reserve upon her return home in 1900, and was then briefly assigned as a coast guard ship before she joined the Home Fleet in 1902. The ship became a gunnery training ship in 1906 until she was paid off in 1913.

Revenge was recommissioned the following year, after the start of World War I, to bombard the coast of Flanders as part of the Dover Patrol, during which she was hit four times, but was not seriously damaged. She had anti-torpedo bulges fitted in early 1915, the first ship to be fitted with them operationally.[1] The ship was renamed Redoubtable later that year and was refitted as an accommodation ship by the end of the year. The last surviving member of her class, the ship was sold for scrap in November 1919.

  1. ^ Burt, pp. 87, 90