Engineering:Mersey-class cruiser

HMS Mersey
Class overview
Name:	Mersey class
Operators:	Royal Navy South African Navy
Preceded by:	Calypso-class corvette
Succeeded by:	Marathon class
Built:	1883–1888
In commission:	1887–1942
Planned:	4
Completed:	4
Retired:	4
General characteristics
Type:	2nd class protected 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)
Installed power:	12 cylindrical boilers 4,500 ihp
Propulsion:	direct-acting compound expansion Twin screws
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range:	8,750 miles at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	325
Armament:	2 × 8 in (203 mm) guns 10 × 6 in (152 mm) guns 3 × QF 6 pounder 3 × 3 pounder QF 9 × machine guns 2 × torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 2–4 in (51–102 mm) Gunshields: 2 in (51 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

The Mersey-class cruiser was a class of second class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy commissioned in the late 1880s.

Design

Starboard elevation, deck plan and hull section as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual, 1888

Ships

Cruiser HMS Forth

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed
HMS Mersey	Chatham Dockyard	9 July 1883	31 March 1885	June 1887
HMS Severn	Chatham Dockyard	1 January 1884	29 September 1885	February 1888
HMS Thames	Pembroke Dockyard	14 April 1884	3 December 1885	July 1888
HMS Forth	Pembroke Dockyard	1 December 1884	23 October 1886	July 1889

References

• Ross, David (210). Ships Visual Encyclopedia. London: Amber Books Ltd. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-907446-24-5. 
• Friedman, Norman (1912). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-099-4. 
• Winfield, Rif (1904). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.