HMS Canopus

1897 CANOPUS At the head of a class of six first class battleships launched in the last three years of the 19th century, Canopus was built in response to the threat posed to the British Empire in Asia by Japan.

THE CANOPUS CLASS

The class was funded from the 1896/97 Naval Estimates, and were similar in their overall design to the Majestics which were then being completed, though both lighter (thanks to the use of Krupp armour) and more powerful, due to the adoption of more efficient water tube boilers, the first British battleships to be so fitted. Canopus was actually the third ship laid down (on 4 November, 1896, the same day as Goliath), but the first to be launched, at Portsmouth Dockyard, on 12 October 1897. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 5 December 1899, at a total cost of 921,316, including her guns. She was paid off in 1918 and was sold for scrap in 1920.

HMS CANOPUS IN ACTION

The main feature which set Canopus and all the ships which followed her apart from her predecessors was the use of Krupp cemented armour in place of that produced by Harvey; the German nickel-steel was six inches thick and had the strength of eight inches of the older metal. Thus, with almost identical dimensions, Canopus displaced almost 2000 tons less at deep load than Majestic. When combined with the 12 per cent more power her Belleville boilers produced than the cylindrical boilers of the earlier ships, this gave her two knots more on her top speed a very considerable increase. A further innovation was the mounting of her main deck 6in (152mm) guns in sponsons, which allowed the forward and after guns to fire directly ahead and astern respectively.

TECHNICAL DATA
Type: First class battleship
Machinery: 2-shafts each with 3 cylinder triple-expansion engine giving a total of 1 3,500ihp
Dimensions (overall): Length, 1 28.5m (421 .5ft); beam, 22.6m (74ft)
Displacement: 1 2,950t standard, 1 4,320t deep load
Draught: 8m (26.2ft)
Complement: 682