:HMS Anson (1886)

The Admiral class was built in response to French ironclad battleships of the {{ship|French ironclad|Hoche||2}} and {{sclass|Marceau|ironclad|4}}es.Parkes, p. 316 Anson and her sister ship, {{HMS|Camperdown|1885|2}}, were enlarged and improved versions of the previous pair of Admirals, {{HMS|Rodney|1884|2}} and {{HMS|Howe|1885|2}}. The sisters had a length between perpendiculars of {{convert|330|ft|m|1}}, a beam of {{convert|68|ft|6|in|m|1}}, and a draught of {{convert|27|ft|10|in|m|1}} at deep load. They displaced {{convert|10600|LT|t|lk=on}} at normal load, some {{convert|300|LT|t|0}} heavier than Howe and Rodney and {{convert|1100|LT|t|0}} heavier than the first ship of the class, {{HMS|Collingwood|1882|2}}.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 29 The ships had a complement of 525–536 officers and ratings.Parkes, p. 317

Anson was powered by two 3-cylinder inverted compound-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller. The Humphreys engines produced a total of {{convert|7500|ihp|lk=in}} at normal draught and {{convert|11500|ihp|abbr=on}} with forced draught, using steam provided by a dozen cylindrical boilers. The sisters were designed to reach a speed of {{convert|16|kn|lk=in}} at normal draught and Anson reached {{convert|17.4|kn}} on her sea trials using forced draught. The ships carried a maximum of {{convert|1200|LT|t|0}} of coal that gave {{convert|7200|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}.Winfield & Lyon, p. 259

Unlike Collingwood, the later four Admiral-class ships had a main armament of 30-calibre rifled breech-loading (BL) BL 13.5 inch naval gun Mk I – IV, rather than the {{convert|12|in|mm|adj=on|0}} guns in the earlier ship. The four guns were mounted in two twin-gun, pear-shaped barbettes, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. The barbettes were open, without hoods or gun shields, and the guns were fully exposed. The {{convert|1250|lb|kg|adj=on}} shells fired by these guns were credited with the ability to penetrate {{convert|28|in|mm|0}} of wrought iron at {{convert|1000|yd|m}} using a charge of {{convert|630|lb|kg}} of smokeless brown cocoa (SBC).Parkes, pp. 316–17 At maximum elevation, the guns had a range of around {{convert|11950|yd|m}} with SBC; later a charge of {{convert|187|lb|kg}} of cordite was substituted for the SBC which extended the range to about {{convert|12620|yd|m}}.Campbell 1981, p. 96 There were significant delays in the production of the heavy guns for this ship and her sisters, due to cracking in the innermost layer of the guns, that significantly delayed the delivery of these ships.Parkes, p. 319

The secondary armament of the Admirals consisted of six 26-calibre BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun on single mounts positioned on the upper deck amidships, three on each broadside. They fired {{convert|100|lb|kg|adj=on}} shells that were credited with the ability to penetrate {{convert|10.5|in|mm|0}} of wrought iron at 1000 yards. They had a range of {{convert|8830|yd|m}} at an elevation of +15° using prismatic black powder. Beginning around 1895 all of these guns were converted into quick-firing guns (QF) with a much faster rate of fire. Using cordite extended their range to {{convert|9275|yd|m}}.Campbell 1983, pp. 171–72 For defence against torpedo boats the ships carried a dozen QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss Hotchkiss guns and 10 QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss Hotchkiss guns.

They also mounted five {{convert|14|in|adj=on|0}} above-water torpedo tubes, one in the bow and four on the broadside.

The armour scheme of Anson and Camperdown was virtually identical to that of Collingwood, although the thickness of the armour plate on the barbettes was increased as was the length of the waterline armour belt. To accommodate these changes without an increase in draught, these later two ships were lengthened by {{convert|5|ft|m|1}}, and had their beam increased by 6 inches over their earlier sisters. The compound armour belt extended across the middle of the ships between the rear of each barbette for a length of {{convert|150|ft|m|1}}. It had a total height of {{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|1}} deep of which {{convert|6|ft|6|in|m|1}} was below water and {{convert|1|ft|m|1}} above at normal load; at deep load, their draught increased by another 6 inches. The upper {{convert|4|ft|m|1}} of the belt armour was {{convert|18|in|mm|0}} thick and the plates tapered to {{convert|8|in|mm|0}} at the bottom edge. Lateral bulkheads at the ends of the belt connected it to the barbettes; they were {{convert|16|in|mm|0}} thick at main deck level and {{convert|7|in|mm|0}} below.Parkes, pp. 303, 317–18

The barbettes ranged in thickness from {{convert|14|to|12|in|0}} with the main ammunition hoists protected by armoured tubes with walls 12 inches thick. The conning towers also had walls of that thickness as well as roofs {{convert|2|in|0}} thick. The deck of the central armoured citadel had a thickness of {{convert|3|in}} and the lower deck was {{convert|2.5|in|0}} thick from the ends of the belt to the bow and stern.

File:Sinking of SS Utopia 1891.jpg

File:Wreck of the SS Utopia in Gibraltar Harbour.jpg]]

Anson, named after Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty, George Anson, 1st Baron Anson,Silverstone, p. 210 was the sixth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy.Colledge, p. 15 The ship was laid down at Pembroke Dockyard on 24 April 1883, launched on 17 February 1886 and was delivered at Portsmouth in March 1887, complete except for her main armament, at a cost of £662,582. She was finally commissioned on 28 May 1889 as the flagship of the second-in-command of the Channel Fleet.Parkes, pp. 317, 320 On 17 March 1891, the passenger steamer {{SS|Utopia}} was accidentally blown onto the ram of the anchored Anson during a strong gale in the Bay of Gibraltar. 562 of Utopia{{'}}s passengers and crew and two rescuers from the armoured cruiser {{HMS|Immortalité|1887|2}} were killed in the accident. Anson did not report any injuries or damage.{{cite news|title=The Dead of the Utopia|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/03/20/103299622.pdf|access-date=10 April 2016|work=The New York Times|date=20 March 1891}}

In September 1893, Anson was transferred to the Mediterranean, where she served until January 1900, with a refit at Malta in 1896. She returned home and paid off at Devonport in January 1901, re-commissioning for the newly formed Home Fleet in March of the same year. She served as guard ship at Queensferry under Captain William Fisher in 1902,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval and Military intelligence|date=7 April 1902 |page=8 |issue=36735}} and took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Coronation - Naval Review |date=13 August 1902 |page=4 |issue=36845}} In May 1904, Anson finally paid off into reserve, where she remained until she was sold for scrap on 13 July 1909. The ship was sold for £21,200Parkes, p. 320 and subsequently broken up at Upnor.

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|editor=Roberts, John|title=Warship V|year=1981|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-244-7|last=Campbell|first=N.J.M.|chapter=British Naval Guns 1880–1945 No. 2|pages=96–97}}
• {{cite book|year=1983|title=Warship VII|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|editor=Roberts, John|location=London|isbn=0-85177-630-2|last=Campbell|first=N.J.M.|chapter=British Naval Guns 1880–1945 No. 10|pages=170–72}}
• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|name-list-style=amp|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
• {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Norman |title=British Battleships of the Victorian Era |date=2018 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=978-1-68247-329-0|author-link=Norman Friedman}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lyon |first1=David |last2=Winfield |first2=Rif |title=The Sail & Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889 |date=2004 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-86176-032-9|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book |last=Parkes |first=Oscar |title=British Battleships |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |year=1990 |orig-year=1957 |isbn=1-55750-075-4|author-link=Oscar Parkes}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}

{{Commons category|HMS Anson (ship, 1889)|HMS Anson}}

• [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/battleships/hms_anson_1889.htm MaritimeQuest HMS Anson Pages]

{{Admiral class battleship}}

{{1891 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anson (1886)}}

Category:Admiral-class battleships

Category:Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom

Category:Ships built in Pembroke Dock

Category:1886 ships

Category:Maritime incidents in 1891