HMS Spartan (1891)

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Career (United Kingdom) Royal Navy Ensign
Class and type: Apollo class cruiser
Name: HMS Spartan
Builder: Armstrong Mitchell
Launched: 25 February 1891
Renamed: Defiance II in August 1921
Fate: Sold to breakers on 26 June 1931
General characteristics
Displacement: 3,440 tons
Length: 314 feet (95.7 m)
Beam: 43.5 feet (13.3 m)
Draught: 17.5 feet (5.3 m)
Propulsion: reciprocating 9000 hp, 2 shafts
Speed: 20 knots
Complement: 273 to 300 (Officers and Men)
Armament:

As built:
2 × QF 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns
6 × QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns[1]
8 × 6 pounder guns

2 to 4 × 14-inch torpedo tubes

HMS Spartan was an Apollo class cruiser of the Royal Navy constructed in 1891. The design was a variant of the Marathon class cruiser. The ships had quick firing guns which were effective as a broadside, but less so when attempting to fire fore or aft.

From 1907 she was placed on harbour duty. In 1921 she became part of the Royal Navy torpedo school at Devonport, HMS Defiance, which was based in floating obsolete ships, and named for the first ship which had housed the school. Spartan became Defiance II in August 1921. She was sold for scrapping on 26 June 1931.

Notes

  1. Admiral Percy Scott quotes 6 x 4.7 inch guns on sister ship HMS Scylla in 1899. "Fifty Years in the Royal Navy" published 1919, page 88

References