HMS Forte (1893)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Forte.

The Royal Navy 1899 - 1902 Q115146
HMS Forte leaving Simonstown, South Africa, c1900 (IWM Q115146)
History
RN EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Forte
OperatorRoyal Navy
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Launched9 December 1893
Commissioned5 November 1895[1]
Decommissioned1913
FateSold 2 April 1914 for breaking up
General characteristics
Class and typeAstraea-class cruiser
Displacement4,360 tons loaded
Length
  • 320 ft (97.5 m) (pp)
  • 339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) (oa)
Beam49 ft 6 in (15.09 m)
Draught19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 shaft, 3 cycle TE, 8 cylinder boilers
  • 7500 hp natural draught; 9500 hp forced draught
  • Coal 1000 tons maximum load
Speed
  • 18 knots (33 km/h) natural draught
  • 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) forced draught
Range7,000 nautical miles
Complement44
Armament
  • 2 × QF 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns
  • 8 × QF 4.7 inch (120mm) guns
  • 1 × 3 pounder (47 mm) quick firing gun
  • 4 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour

HMS Forte was an Astraea class cruiser of the Royal Navy launched on 9 December 1893.[2] She was constructed under the Naval Defence Act of 1889 along with several other Astraea class cruisers.[3] Forte was eventually decommissioned in 1913.

History[]

Officers of HMS Forte, Zanzibar, 1901-1902 (IWM Q115147)

HMS Forte served on the Cape and West African stations.

Captain Robert Copland Sparkes was in command when she visited Sierra Leone and The Gambia in early January 1901.[4]

In 1908, the ship delivered such a terrible result in a gunlayer's test that a Court of Inquiry was convened, leading to the determination that Captain John Green and his officers had failed to provide sufficient training, as they had not appreciated the difficulty of the test procedure. In 1910 Green ran the cruiser aground, eliciting Their Lordships "severe displeasure for failure to comply with King's Regulations for unseamanlike manner in which the ship was navigated."[5]

Disposal[]

In 1913 Forte was placed on the sale list and sold on 2 April 1914 for scrapping. She was the only ship of her class not to see service in the First World War.

References[]

  1. ^ The Navy List, (March 1896), p.224
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Historyofwar.org
  4. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36343. London. 4 January 1901. p. 4.
  5. ^ The Dreadnought Project page on Forte.

External links[]

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