NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Liverpool 1911

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Glasgow		467	Fairfield, Govan	25.3.1909	30.9.1909	9.1910	sold for BU 4.1927
Gloucester	58, 68	495	Beardmore, Dalmuir	15.4.1909	28.10.1909	10.1910	sold for BU 5.1921
Liverpool	44, 80	389	Vickers, Barrow	17.2.1909	30.10.1909	10.1910	sold for BU 5.1921
Newcastle		820	Armstrong, Elswick	14.4.1909	25.11.1909	9.1910	sold for BU 5.1921
Bristol	99, 20	390	John Brown, Clydebank	23.3.1909	23.2.1910	12.1910	sold for BU 5.1921

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	4800
Displacement full, t	5300
Length, m	138.1
Breadth, m	14.3
Draught, m	4.70
No of shafts	Bristol: 2 others: 4
Machinery	Bristol: 2 Brown-Curtis steam turbines, 12 Yarrow boilers others: 4 Parsons steam turbines, 12 Yarrow boilers
Power, h. p.	22000
Max speed, kts	25
Fuel, t	coal 1350 + oil 250
Endurance, nm(kts)	5070(16)
Armour, mm	deck: 51 - 19, CT: 51, gun shields: 102
Armament	2 x 1 - 152/50 BL Mk XI, 10 x 1 - 102/50 BL Mk VII, 4 x 1 - 47/40 3pdr Hotchkiss Mk I, 2 - 450 TT (beam)
Complement	480

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

The Bristol class were the first true cruisers built for the RN since the turn of the century, for the big armoured cruisers had in reality been 2nd class battleships, with little thought given to the main roles of scouting and patrol work normally done by cruisers. To make matters worse Fisher had decreed that large destroyers like the Swift could perform the cruiser role, and only when it became painfully obvious that this was impossible did the Admiralty resume the design and construction of medium-sized cruisers. The original design was to have been armed with unshielded 102mm guns but with the German 3rd class cruisers very much in mind the Board decreed that two 152mm guns should be added. The guns were logically disposed, two shielded 152mm forward and aft, and five shielded 102mm p&s in the waist.

The main drawbacks of the design proved to be the large metacentric height needed to preserve stability in the damaged state, and the cramped accommodation. The high metacentre made them very lively gun-platforms, while Fisher's insistence on placing officers' accommodation forward, however sound in the tactical sense, encroached on the ratings' already limited recreation space. After the ships were well advanced, firing trials against the old turret ship Edinburgh showed that such thin armoured decks by themselves offered no protection against modem high-explosive shells, as they could riddle the sides easily, and if they burst above the deck could send lethal splinters down through holes in the deck. These criticisms notwithstanding, the Bristol class gave a good account of themselves in service and provided the starting point for some of the most successful cruisers ever built for the RN. As the five ships spent so much time on foreign stations during the war and because they were comparatively cramped they never received the alterations given to later 'Town' classes.

Ship protection

For protection against shellfire they were given 51mm plating over the magazines and machinery spaces, thinning to 19mm elsewhere. The machinery spaces had additional protection from coal bunkers.

Modernizations

1915 - 1916, all: + 1 x 1 - 76/45 20cwt QF Mk I

Naval service

Bristol ran aground at Plymouth 22.12.1912, salvaged this month, paid off in June 1919. Glasgow sank German light cruiser Dresden at Juan Fernandez Island 14.3.1915, paid off in 1920 and served as drill ship for stokers in 1921 - 3.1926. She was disarmed in 1.1925. Gloucester was paid off in April 1919. Liverpool went to reserve in June 1919. Newcastle was decommissioned in February 1920.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.