HMS Blake (1889)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Blake
Namesake	Admiral Robert Blake
Builder	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down	July 1888
Launched	23 November 1889
Reclassified	Destroyer depot ship, 1907
Fate	Sold for breaking up 9 June 1922
General characteristics
Class and type	Blake-class protected cruiser
Displacement	9,150 tons
Length	375 ft (114.3 m) (p.p.)[1] 399 ft 9 in (121.8 m) (o/a)[2]
Beam	65 ft (19.8 m)
Draught	24 ft (7.3 m) (normal)[2] 25 ft (7.6 m) (maximum)[1]
Installed power	20,000 ihp (14,910 kW)
Propulsion	4 × triple-expansion steam engines (2 main, 2 cruising)[2] 6 × boilers 2 × screws
Speed	22 kn (25.3 mph; 40.7 km/h)
Capacity	As Destroyer Depot Ship: Coal: 624 short tons (566 t) (normal internal fuel)[1] 650 short tons (590 t) (carried in 1-cwt bags for destroyers)[1]
Complement	570[2]
Armament	As Built: 2 × BL 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns 10 × QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 16 × 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 4 × 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes[2] As Destroyer Depot Ship:*[1] 4 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns 2 × 4-inch (102 mm) guns
Armour	Deck: 3–6 in (7.6–15.2 cm)[2] Casemates: 6 in (15.2 cm)[2]

HMS Blake, named in honour of Admiral Robert Blake, was the lead ship of her class of protected cruiser that served in the Royal Navy from 1889 to 1922.

She was launched on 23 November 1889 at Chatham Dockyard, but not completed until 2 February 1892.

After service as the flagship of the North America and West Indies Squadron from 1892 to 1895, Blake served in the Channel Fleet.

In October 1900 she was employed as a temporary transport ship. She arrived at Plymouth on 2 January 1901 with the relieved crew of HMS Empress of India and invalids and prisoners from the Mediterranean Station.^[3] Later the same month she was sent to Australia with Captain Thomas Philip Walker and a crew, to relieve the crew on HMS Royal Arthur, flagship of the Australia Station.^[4] She returned to Plymouth with the former crew of Royal Arthur in June 1901,^[5] and was paid off at Devonport on 15 July 1901 to be refitted.^[6]

She was later converted to a destroyer depot ship in 1907, serving through World War I as depot ship to the 11th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet, and was finally sold for scrapping on 9 June 1922.

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5
• F.J. Dittmar & J. J. Colledge, British Warships 1914–1919, (Ian Allan, London, 1972), ISBN 0-7110-0380-7
• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Random House Group, Ltd. 2001. p. 89. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.
• Ford, Roger; Gibbons, Tony; Hewson, Rob; Jackson, Bob; Ross, David (2001). The Encyclopedia of Ships. London: Amber Books, Ltd. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-905704-43-9.

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