Name HMS Pelorus Laid down 1896 Fate Sold for scrap, 1920 Length 96 m Draft 4.9 m | Namesake Pelorus Commissioned 15 December 1896 Class and type Pelorus-class cruiser Construction started 1896 Builder Kent | |
 | ||
HMS Pelorus was the first of the Pelorus-class cruiser, and was laid down at Sheerness dockyard in 1896. Completed and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 December the same year, she was designed by Sir William White. Construction cost £154,315. The ship was well armed for her size, but was primarily a workhorse for the overseas fleet.
HMS Pelorus displaced 2,135 tons and had a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). She had reciprocating triple expansion engines and Normand water-tube boilers which could give 7,000 horsepower (5,200 kW) for limited periods of time with forced draught, and 5,000 horsepower (3,700 kW) under natural draught. It carried a crew complement of 224 men and it was armed with eight QF 4 inch (102 mm) (25 pounder) guns, eight QF 3 pounder (47-mm) guns, three machine guns, and two 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes.
Service history
Pelorus served in the Channel Fleet under Captain Henry Charles Bertram Hulbert, when in February 1900 she joined the Eastern division of the fleet.
In 1901, the ship was stationed at Gibraltar under the command of Commander Ernest Troubridge. The following year her boilers were repaired.
In 1906, the ship was assigned to the Cape of Good Hope Station under the command of Commander James C. Tancred. In 1908 the captain was Arthur W Craig.