Monmouth-class cruiser

File:Monmouth class cruiser diagrams Janes 1914.jpg 1914}}]]

File:HMS Berwick aft port 6 inch gun casemates.jpg

Expected only to fight light cruisers and armed merchant ships, the class was armed with fourteen 6-inch guns at a time when most British armoured cruisers also carried at least a pair of 9.2-inch guns: Four of the guns were mounted in two twin turrets at a good height, the remaining ten were installed in hull-mounted casemates, five on each side. The lower casemate guns were just a few feet above water, making them impossible to use in heavy seas. Sir John Fisher commented that "Sir William White designed the County class but forgot the guns."{{cite book|title=Castles of Steel |first=Robert K. |last=Massie |date=2004 |publisher=Balantine Books |isbn=0-345-40878-0}} On the other hand, they were relatively fast ships for their time.

{{clear left}}

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Monmouth class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The compilers of The Naval Annual revised costs quoted for British ships between the 1905 and 1906 editions. The reasons for the differences are unclear.The 1906 figure for Monmouth is particularly high. but is as quoted in the original. The 1914 edition also quotes £979,591 as the cost of Monmouth.

File:HMS Donegal at HM Dockyard Bermuda circa 1918.jpg in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda circa 1918.]]

File:HMS Cornwall at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda circa 1918.jpg

Upon completion, the ships served briefly in home waters before being assigned to various oversea stations (the China Station and the North America and West Indies Station). During this time HMS Bedford was wrecked in the East China Sea in 1910 and scrapped.

Following the outbreak of World War I, the ships were primarily tasked with combating German commerce raiders, patrolling in both the North and South Atlantic. HMS Monmouth was assigned to Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock's squadron, and was sunk at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914. HMS Kent was also assigned to Cradock's squadron, but failed to join in time; she remained at the Falkland Islands and joined Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee's squadron, which also included HMS Cornwall. In the ensuing Battle of the Falklands in December 1914, HMS Kent pursued and sank the light cruiser {{SMS|Nürnberg|1906|2}}, while HMS Cornwall pursued and sank the light cruiser {{SMS|Leipzig|1905|2}}. HMS Kent continued the pursuit of the light cruiser {{SMS|Dresden|1907|2}}, eventually locating her and forcing her to be scuttled at the Battle of Más a Tierra. In 1915, HMS Cornwall participated in the blockade of the light cruiser {{SMS|Königsberg|1905|2}} in the Rufiji River.

After World War I, several of the ships served briefly as training ships. All soon were withdrawn from service and scrapped in 1920 and 1921.

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1905
• {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Corbett|title=Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands|edition=2nd|year=1997|orig-year= 1938|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|volume=I|publisher=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=0-89839-256-X}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Cruisers of the Victorian Era|year=2012 |publisher=Seaforth |location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-59114-068-9 |author-link=Norman Friedman}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory|publisher= Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley, UK |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84832-100-7}}
• Leyland, J. and Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1906
• {{cite book|title=Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea |last=Massie |first=Robert K. |author-link=Robert K. Massie|publisher=Random House|year=2003|location= New York |isbn=0-679-45671-6|ref=Massie|title-link=Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea}}
• {{cite journal|last1=McBride|first1=K. D.|year=1998 |title=Re: HMS Kent (1914–1915)|journal=Warship International|volume=XXXV |issue=4 |pages=334–341 |issn=0043-0374}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gray|editor1-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1985 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-85177-245-5 |chapter=Great Britain and Empire Forces|first1=Antony|last1=Preston|author-link=Antony Preston|pages=1–104}}
• {{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|Monmouth class cruiser}}

• [http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Monmouth_Class_Cruiser_(1901) The Dreadnought Project] Technical details of the ships.

{{Monmouth class cruiser}}

{{WWI British ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monmouth Class Cruiser}}

Category:Cruiser classes

Category:Ship classes of the Royal Navy

de:HMS Monmouth (1901)#Die Schiffe der Monmouth- oder County-Klasse