Orlando-class cruiser

File:HMS Orlando Class.jpg

On 2 December 1884, the Secretary to the Admiralty stated, "The present Board have been gradually developing, and, as I would venture to say, in an effective manner, our resources for the protection of commerce. The late Board of Admiralty laid down an admirable type for the purpose in the {{sclass|Leander|cruiser (1882)|4}}. We have followed in their footsteps by producing the {{sclass|Mersey|cruiser|5}} type, and we now propose to go a step further in the same direction, by laying down vessels of the Mersey class, but protected by a belt in lieu of an armoured deck. The belt will, I think, be approved by my hon. Friend who sits behind me (Sir Edward J. Reed)."[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1884/dec/02/motion-for-a-paper#S3V0294P0_18841202_HOC_84 Hansard HC Deb 02 December 1884 vol 294 c455] House of Commons, the Secretary to the Admiralty, Sir Thomas Brassey. These belted cruisers were the Orlando class.

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Orlando class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores.Note that the costs quoted in the 1895 edition and the 1903 edition are not the same. There seems to have been a revision of the costs quoted for British warships in The Naval Annual between the 1902 and 1903 editions, and a further revision between the 1905 and 1906 editions. (The 1906 edition costs cannot be quoted for the Orlando class because the class is not listed in the 1906 edition.) In the table:

• Machinery meant "propelling machinery".
• Hull included "hydraulic machinery, gun mountings, etc."The Naval Annual 1895, p192-200

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File:HMS Aurora Symonds and Co Collection Q20982.jpg|HMS Aurora

File:HMS Australia (1886) in the 1890s.jpg|HMS Australia

File:HMSGalatea1897.jpg|HMS Galatea

• Infanta Maria Teresa-class cruiser: a spanish class armored cruiser inspired design by Orlando class

{{reflist}}

• Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1895
• Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1903
• {{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, UK|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|name-list-style=amp|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Cruisers of the Victorian Era|year=2012|publisher=Seaforth|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK|isbn=978-1-59114-068-9}}
• {{cite book|last1=Lyon|first1=David|last2=Winfield|first2=Rif|title=The Sail & Steam Navy List|year=2004|publisher=Chatham Publishing|location=London|isbn=1-86176-032-9}}
• {{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|Orlando class cruiser}}

{{Orlando class cruiser}}

Category:Cruiser classes