Agamemnon ship. Unusual armadillos and funny cases with them. Squadron battleship "Agamemnon"

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Agamemnon.

Career (UK)General Features

HMS Agamemnon
Name:	HMS Agamemnon
Builder:	William Beardmore and Dalmuir Company
Price:	?1652347
Laid down:	15 May 1905
Launched:	June 23, 1906
Supported by:	Countess of Aberdeen
Completed:	June 1908
Commissioning:	June 25, 1908
Decommissioned:	March 20, 1919
Reclassified:	Target ship in 1921; radio controlled target ship 1923-1926
Fate:	Sold for scrap January 24, 1927
Notes:	The last surviving British predreadnought when scrapped
Class and type:	Lord Nelson-Class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	16,500 long tons (16,800 t) 17,683 long tons (17,967 t) deep load
Length:	443 ft 6 in (135.2 m)
Width:	79 ft 6 in (24.2 m)
Draft:	26 ft 9 in (8.2 m)
Installed power:	16750 MGP (12490 kW)
Power point:	2 shafts, two 4-cylinder, vertical triple expansion steam engines15 coal and water-tube fuel oil boilers
Speed:	18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range:	9,180 nmi (17,000 km; 10,560 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Addition:	800-817
Weapons:	2? 2 - BL 12-inch (305 mm) Mk X guns4? 2, 2? 1 - BL 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mk XI gun24? 1-QF 12 pounder (76 mm) 18 CWT gun 5 x loaded 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 12 in (305 mm) Deck: 1-4 in (25-102 mm) Barbets: 3-12 in (76-305 mm) Primary gun turrets: 12-13.5 in (305-343 mm) Secondary gun turrets: 3-7 in (76-178 mm) Cabin: 12 in (305 mm) Partitions: 8 in (203 mm)

HMS Agamemnon was one of two Lord Nelson-class pre-dreadnought battleships launched in 1906 and completed in 1908. She was the second to the last Royal Navy pre-dreadnought battleship to be built, followed by her sister ship, Lord Nelson. She was assigned to the Channel Fleet when the First World War began in 1914. The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean with Lord Nelson in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles campaign. She made a series of bombing raids against Turkish fortifications and in support of British troops. Agamemnon remained in the Mediterranean after the conclusion of this campaign to prevent the German cruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau from breaking out into the Mediterranean. Agamemnon was shot down by a German Zeppelin LZ85 during a combat mission over Thessaloniki in 1916. On October 30, 1918, the Ottoman Empire signed the Truce of Mudros aboard the ship while she was anchored at Lemnos in the northern Aegean Sea. She was converted to a radio-controlled target ship upon her return to the United Kingdom in March 1919 and began service in 1921. Agamemnon was replaced by Centurion in late 1926 and sold for scrap in January 1927, the last pre-dreadnought in Royal Navy service.

1 Construction and description 2 Service
2.1 Dardanelles campaign, 1915-1916 2.2 Mediterranean operations, 1916-1918

3 Post-World War II War Service 4 Notes 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 External Links

Construction and description

Profile drawing of HMS Agamemnon as she was in 1908.

HMS Agamemnon was ordered in 1904 and was the first warship built by William Beardmore and the Dalmuir Naval Construction Society. She was laid down on May 15, 1905 and launched on June 23, 1906 before the shipyards themselves were ready. Her completion was greatly delayed by strikes and the diversion of the 12-inch (305 mm) guns intended for her to speed up the completion of HMS Dreadnought, and she was never finally completed until June 1908, six months before her sister Lord Nelson.

Agamemnon moved 17,683 long tons (17,967 t) at deep load, built, with a length of 443 ft 6 in (135.2 m), a beam of 79 ft 6 in (24.2 m) and a draft of 26 ft 9 in (8. 2 m). She was powered by two inverted vertical triple expansion four-cylinder steam engines, which developed a total of 16,750 specified horsepower (12,490 kW) and gave a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

The ship was armed with four BL 12-inch Mk X guns, arranged in two single gun turrets, one each bow and stern. Her medium armament consisted of ten BL 9.2-inch Mk XI guns, in two gun turrets at each corner of the superstructure, and one gun turret between them, and 24 QF 12-pounder 18 CWT guns. She also installed five submerged 17.7-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes, for which 23 torpedoes were stowed on board.

Agamemnon had an armor belt on her waterline that was 12 inches (305 mm) thick, as were the faces and sides of her gun turrets.

Service

HMS Agamemnon commissioned 25 June 1908 from Chatham Dockyard into service at the Nore Department of the Home Fleet. On 11 February 1911, she struck an uncharted rock in the harbor at Ferrol, Spain and damaged her bottom. She was temporarily attached in September 1913 to the 4th Battle Squadron.

After World War I began in August 1914, Agamemnon was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron of the Channel Fleet and was based in Portland. With other ships, she was covered for safe transport by the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Sir John French, to France. On 14 November 1914 she transferred to Sheerness to guard the English coast against the possibility of a German invasion. She returned to Portland on 30 December 1914 and was used in the defense of England's southern ports and English Channel patrols until February 1915.

Dardanelles campaign, 1915-1916

Agamemnon fires her 9.2 in (234 mm) guns at the Ottoman Turkish forts at Sedd El Bahr on 4 March 1915. Map of the Dardanelles and its defenses

In February 1915, Agamemnon was ordered to participate in the Dardanelles campaign. She departed Portland on 9 February 1915 and joined the British Dardanelles Squadron at Mudros on 19 February 1915. This was the second day of the opening bombardment of the Ottoman Turkish fortresses guarding the entrance to the Dardanelles and the ship immediately joined the attack. She also took part in the subsequent bombardment of the inner forts later in February. Agamemnon was hit by seven 240 mm (9.4 in) shells in ten minutes on 25 February 1915 and was holed above the waterline, suffering three dead.

She supported small amphibious landings on 4 March 1915 and participated in another bombardment on 6 March 1915. She came under heavy fire from Fort Hamidieh on 7 March 1915 with eight hits from heavy shells, one of them, believed to be a 14-inch (356 mm) round, which blew a large hole in her stern and destroyed the cabin and the room where hunting rifles were stored. She also took several hits with her light shells that day, and although she caused damage to her superstructure, her fighting and smoking capabilities were not seriously impaired.

The ship also took part in the main attack on the Dardanelles forts on 18 March 1915. This time a 6-inch (152 mm) battery of howitzers opened fire on Agamemnon and hit her 12 times in 25 minutes, five of them hit her armor and did no damage, but seven that struck outside her armor protection did significant structural damage and temporarily place one of its 12-inch (305 mm) guns out of action.

On 25 April 1915, Agamemnon supported the main landings as part of the 5th Squadron, and thereafter it patrolled to protect Allied minesweeping and netlaying ships operating in the Dardanelles. In action against Ottoman field batteries, she took two hits between 28 April 1915 and 30 April 1915, and she provided fire support for Allied forces during the Turkish counter-offensive on 1 May 1915. Agamemnon was bombarded by Ottoman artillery batteries on 6 May 1915 before the Second Battle of Krithia.

Agamemnon was taken to Malta in May to undergo repairs and returned to the Dardanelles in June. On 2 December 1915, the ship engaged the protected cruiser Endymion and Monitor M33 in a bombardment of the Kavak bridge, destroying several spans of it and cutting off Ottoman communications to the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Mediterranean operations, 1916-1918

With the end of the Dardanelles Campaign in January 1916, British naval forces in the area were reorganized, and Agamemnon became part of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was re-assigned to the Aegean Squadron in August 1917. In both names, the squadron was scattered throughout the area to protect the Allied-held islands, support the British army at Thessaloniki, and guard against any attempts at a breakout from the Dardanelles by the Germans of Goeben and Breslau. Agamemnon spent the rest of the war based at Thessaloniki and Mudros, alternating between the two foundings with his sister Lord Nelson; Agamemnon was based mainly on Mudros, Lord Nelson mainly in Thessaloniki. While carrying out these duties, Agamemnon damaged a German Zeppelin LZ85 on 5 May 1917, Thessaloniki with a 12-pounder shell and forced it to crash-land.

Of all the duties, given the two ships, the most important is to guard the Eastern Mediterranean against a breakthrough along the Goeben. When Goeben and Breslau finally made their breakthrough attempt on 20 January 1918, Lord Nelson was away in Thessaloniki and Agamemnon could not gain steam before Mudros was sent in time to participate in the resulting Battle of Imbros; After both German ships were hit by mines, Breslau sank and Goeben returned to the Dardanelles before Agamemnon could arrive on the scene.

Agamemnon underwent repairs in Malta in 1918. On October 30, 1918, the Ottoman Empire signed the Truce of Mudros aboard the Agamemnon while she was anchored at Lemnos in the northern Aegean Sea.

Message world service war

Agamemnon was part of the English squadron that went to Constantinople in November 1918 after the armistice. She returned to Britain in March 1919, where she paid off at Chatham Dockyard and went into reserve on 20 March 1919.

In September 1918, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet Admiral David Beatty, called for a large goal to be presented that would allow realistic gunnery practice for the battleships of the Grand Fleet, which had seen little action since the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Tests against armor plate in 1919 showed that firing 15-inch (381 mm) weapons on any pre-dreadnought would sink it quickly, but using the earlier dreadnought as a target and testing guns of 6-inch caliber or smaller seemed practical. On the first pre-dreadnought Hibernia was proposed for target duties, but ultimately Agamemnon became available and was chosen instead.

She was changed to Chatham Dockyard for use as a target ship between 6 December 1920 and 8 April 1921 [Note 1] The ship was rewired for radio control and stripped; That the 12-inch turrets remained on board, but all her guns and their equipment were removed, and there were her torpedo equipment, flight deck, sea cabins, main derrick and cutter equipment, below deckhouse, masts and yards, most of her crew amenities and other unnecessary equipment. Unneeded hatches, coamings, portholes, and elevators were removed and covered over, and she was ballasted differently than she was as a battleship. She was not intended to sink her, so she was assigned a crew of 153 to maintain and operate her when she was not under fire.

Agamemnon in 1924-1925 during her work as a target ship.

Agamemnon's first target service took place before her modifications were completed. On March 19, 1921, she was exposed to a cloud of poisonous gas to determine the effect of the gas on the battleship. It was determined that the gas could penetrate the ship through her various openings, but the ship was not isolated from the gas pending trial and no precise results applicable to the order of the battleship could be obtained. On 21 September, she was subjected to machine gun fire by aircraft. These tests showed that such strafe could pursue a battleship, but could not disrupt her fighting or cooking capabilities, and helped determine protection for bridge personnel.

Agamemnon was also used to test the vulnerability of battleships to 6-inch (152 mm), 5.5-inch (140 mm) and 4.7-inch (120 mm) rounds fired at it on ships such as battlecruisers Slava and Otpor while she maneuvered under radio control. These tests showed that ships protected as well as Agamemnon, such as later dreadnoughts, would suffer severe damage to their upper works when such shells collided, but would not have their steam or combat effectiveness seriously degraded by even numerous smaller caliber hits.

Agamemnon was released as a target ship by the dreadnought Centurion in December 1926. By then the last British pre-dreadnought battleship in existence, she was sold to J Cashmore of Newport, South Wales on 24 January 1927 for scrap, and departed Portsmouth Dockyard on 1 March 1927 to be broken up at Newport.

Notes

Most sources say that Agamemnon served as a target ship from 1923 to 1926, and Burt, p. 298, says that she underwent transformations into a radio-controlled target ship from September 1922 to April 1923. However, Burt, p. 295, provides specifics regarding its use as a radio-controlled target ship in 1920-1921, as well as specifics regarding its use as a target in 1921. It is possible that the transformation took place in 1920-1921 and is often confused with the 1922-1923 renovation.

Notes

a b c Bert, p. 282 McBride, p. 72 Burt, p. 288 a b c g e e gram h i J k l Bert, p. 298 Gardiner and Gray, p. 10 a b c d e Bert, p. 295

The article has been automatically translated.

While the King Edward VII series of ships were being built, the Council was carefully considering the characteristics of the next battleship. A huge number of alternative options were developed, differing from each other in the composition and quantity of artillery, armor protection, and speed. At the same time, the new inspector, Sir William May, carried out a comprehensive study of the relationship between firepower and armor of battleships of various classes, resulting in the compilation of charts and graphs, from which it followed that:

1) it is required to extend the armor protection over a much larger area, while simultaneously increasing its thickness;

2) in a naval battle, the value of auxiliary artillery is extremely small, since all of it will inevitably be swept away by the fire of heavy guns even before approaching the distance of its effective fire.

From all this the conclusion followed - the armament of the battleship of the future should consist only of heavy guns capable of penetrating thick armor, and rapid-fire small-caliber guns to repel destroyers.

Mention has already been made of the radically improved project presented to the Council in 1903 - the following year it formed the basis of Lord Nelson - which, it should be directly emphasized, was drawn up precisely taking into account the requirements of the new concept. All this time, the other naval powers were engaged in modifying the artillery scheme of the King Edward VII, however, without much success, so the new British development had no principal competitors. Watte began work on detailing the project in completely new conditions than those that existed in White's era. Now the initiative has passed into the hands of the Council. From now on, the new ships were not just supposed to be slightly superior to their foreign opponents, but had an overwhelming superiority over them already at the drawing board stage. The idea of ​​the Dreadnought hung in the air. Even before the final design of the Lord Nelson was approved, Narbeth presented another alternative sketch, in which May's ideas were embodied in their extreme form - the ship was armed with 12 12" guns. However, at that moment the Council was not yet ready to such a radical replacement for the 9.2" guns that had become familiar.()

"Lord Nelson"

(2 units, budget 1904-1905)

Builder Laid out Launched Put into operation Cost, f. Art.*

* guns for each 400 pounds. Art.

Dimensions m 125.0 (135.2 full) x 24.2 x 7.69/8.23

Displacement, t design - 16500 "Lord Nelson": loaded - 16090, fully loaded - 17820 "Agamemnon": loaded - 15925, fully loaded - 17683

Armament 4 12745 (80 rounds per gun) 10 9.2750 (100 rounds per gun) 24 76 mm (12 pounder, 230 rounds per gun), 8 landing guns, 5 457 mm underwater torpedo tubes (23 spare torpedoes), 6 356 mm torpedoes for standard boats.

Armor, mm Belt 305 (in the middle) – 102 (at the ends), traverse in the stern 203, upper belt 203, barbettes 305-76, turrets 305 (12" guns), 178 (9.2" guns), glacis 152, decks : middle 38 (in the bow), lower 102-25, cockpit 76-25, conning tower 305, communication well 152. (total armor weight 4200 tons, without rotating turret armor)

Mechanisms Two sets of vertical triple expansion (supplied by Palmers and Hawthorne-Leslie companies) Power 16,750 hp, 125 rpm, speed 18 knots Boilers: 15 Yarrow (Agamemnon) and Bab kok/U systems Illcox ("Lord Nelson"); pressure 19.34 atm.

Fuel reserve, t 900 -2171 coal, 1090 oil

Range, miles 9181 10 knots

Crew, people 800-817

Constructor J. Narbeth

"Lord Nelson" and "Agamemnon" became the last British battleships with a mixed main battery, the first without 6" guns since the time of the former "Agamemnon" and the first battleships with solid bulkheads. According to the original design, they did not have any bridges at all and became the last British battleships with piston machines.

The result of the acquisition of Swiftsure and Triumph was that only two ships were included in the request to Parliament for the construction of battleships under the 1904 program instead of three, as previously assumed.

All the first projects of heavy ships created by Watts after his confirmation as chief builder (armored cruisers of the Duke of Edinburgh, Warrior and Minotaur series) carried powerful weapons from 9.2" guns, which were used in the fleet at that time special love, and he initially created the project for a new battleship for 12 such guns (in six turrets on the sides).However, the inspector put forward a condition on the possibility of placing the battleships in Dock No. 9 of Chatham and Dock No. 5 of Devonport - the first limited the width, and the second the length of the project. This condition can only be regarded as unfortunate and unnecessary: ​​unsuccessful, since it required a reduction in length by 3.3 m compared to the Edwards and a reduction in width to 24.2 m and unnecessary, because by the time the new ships would have been ready, new, more spacious docks would have already appeared at all state-owned shipyards. The width limitation led to the fact that the Council indicated to have an average 9.2" single tower. Watt was very sensitive to the prospect of losing two guns and, after negotiations with May, nevertheless gave the order to complete the project with the full number of 9.2 "guns. However, the Council's point of view prevailed - after submitting the drawings for approval, a peremptory order was received to rework the project under 10 9.2" guns, as stated before.

Another result of the width limitation was that the 9.2" ammunition magazines could not be carried deep into the hull and they alternated with the side coal pits. Here they were at particular risk in the event of a torpedo explosion or a shell hit at a roll of 10° - although on a wave they were unusually stable and the chances of such a hit were very small. However, during the period of fine-tuning the project, this became a headache for its creators for some time. In fact, the Lord Nelson did receive a hit below the waterline during the attack on the straits on March 7, 1915. , resulting in the flooding of two coal pits.

"Lord Nelson". Diagram of boiler rooms

Contours

Since with a design displacement of 150 tons greater than that of the King Edward VII, the length was 4.5 m less and the width was 0.3 m greater, when developing the hull shape necessary to develop the required stroke of 18 knots [at a given shaft power] encountered certain difficulties. The person responsible for the project solved this problem by undertaking a bold experiment. He made the sides of the midship frame strictly vertical and parallel to the contour of the entrance gate of the Chatham dock, and the bottom of the hull completely flat; this gave a cross-section of considerable fullness, allowing the payload of the hull to be maximized to the greatest extent. Based on this, they tried to make the waterlines as narrow as possible in the bow and stern, and this was crowned with such significant success that both Nelsons not only easily reached the design speed, but also turned out to be unusually well-controlled and stable ships.

Case weight

Being 360 tons heavier than the King Edward VII and carrying more armor, the proportion of the load allocated to the Lord Nelson's hull was only 5720 tons, i.e. 180 tons less than its predecessor. However, careful weight savings during the construction process gave a brilliant result: the displacement of the finished ship was 16,090 tons instead of the design 16,500 tons. This included a reserve of 100 tons, which was not used, so the net savings amounted to 310 tons.

Bulkheads

As the experience of the Russian “Tsesarevich”, “Bayan” and “Pallada” has shown, the hull needs to be subdivided with solid bulkheads. Each of the resulting large compartments was equipped with an individual drainage, bypass and ventilation system, as well as elevators. Such bulkheads guaranteed the safety of the remaining compartments in the event of flooding of any of them, but brought enormous inconvenience to the service, especially when it was necessary to move from one compartment of the engine installation to another - such considerations outweighed over time, and solid bulkheads were abandoned during the design of the Neptune. four years later. It is interesting that the cooling system for the Nelson cellars was first installed while the ships were still on the slipway.

Superstructure

A spacious hanging deck was allocated to accommodate numerous 76-mm guns and searchlights. Above it, on the rostra, rested all the watercraft, the launching of which was carried out by mast arrows. All this required a significant amount of weight and, taking into account the close to rectangular cross-section of the hull, greatly reduced roll. This design was so highly appreciated by the navy that even the fact of increasing the silhouette of the ship and, accordingly, its size as a target was considered insignificant.

Conning tower

Several senior naval officers stubbornly defended the conning tower, the view from which in all directions was unobstructed by any obstacles, so the traditional bridge on the Nelsons was set aside, and all navigational instruments were placed directly inside the conning tower. However, due to the fact that the very first commanders of both battleships abdicated all responsibility for the safety of navigation in such conditions, after the first tests both ships received suspended bridges with traditional wings, and on the Lord Nelson they went even further, installing chart room.

Armament

The offensive power of the new battleships increased in comparison with their predecessors due to more advanced models of guns, the relative length of which was 5 calibers longer.

Initial speed, m/s Penetration K q of armor plate in caliber, m

King Edward VII 12740 796 4400

Lord Nelson 12745 831 6900

"King Edward VII" 9.2740 839 4150

Lord Nelson 9.2745 876 ​​4730

"Lord Nelson." Installation of two 12" guns. Longitudinal section

"Lord Nelson." External view of the ship at the time of entry into service, 1908

The height of the axles of the 12" guns above the waterline was 8.23 ​​m at the bow and 6.70 m at the stern. The dense placement of eight towers on the upper deck forced the most careful measures to be taken to minimize the impact of muzzle gases from guns of neighboring installations on each other each other, to allow them not to interfere with each other, allowing at the same time to operate in the widest sectors of fire. Since the simplest limiters were impractical, a system of tower alarms was introduced, triggered by contacts on rotating drums and feed devices - it included a loud buzzer in the tower, which could cause damage to the neighboring one and blocked its directress. After turning away from a dangerous angle, the whistle was turned off. Such a device turned out to be extremely successful and has since been reproduced on all subsequent ships.

The anti-mine battery, consisting of 24 76-mm guns, was the most powerful of all those previously used. The guns were freely scattered across the superstructures and the overhead deck. During the war, when there was a strong need for 76 mm guns to equip new ships, their number was reduced to 18.

"Lord Nelson." Armor protection distribution diagram

"Agamemnon." The appearance of the ship as of 1915 (during the Dardanelles operation)

Booking

Although the total weight of the Lord Nelson's armor exceeded that of the King Edward VII by only 25 tons, the required increase in protection in the necessary areas was achieved - mainly due to careful space saving in the placement of artillery. The diameter of the barbette was reduced compared to the King Edward VII by 1.5 m and amounted to 8.84 m, as a result of which the total weight of the barbette armor was 800 tons versus 825 on the predecessor and 1210 on the Majestic. The length of the citadel was also reduced by 10.6 m and amounted to 57.9 m. The upper side armor of 203 mm, covering the bases of the 9.2" towers, then extended inside the hull to the 12" towers, covering them as well. The thickness of the belt increased in the middle part by 76 mm, in the stern by 25 mm, and the belt itself extended deeper down. The thickness of the armored deck at the bevels was 25 mm greater.

When fully loaded, when taking on board a full supply of oil, the displacement reached 18910 tons, the draft was 9.22 m. The difference in the depth between the normal displacement and the full one was 1.17 m, the waterline belt of 305 mm was completely submerged. Maintaining buoyancy in this case depended entirely on the 203 mm armor strip, but, as William Beardmore [head of the company awarded the contract for the construction of the Agamemnon, noted. – Ed.] when the ship was launched, this armor was equivalent to 305 mm armor four years ago, so the protection remained much better than the numbers suggested.

Seaworthiness

With a metacentric height of 1.04 m (versus 1.62 m for the King Edward VII), combined with a significant moment of inertia from the weight of eight heavy turrets with their armor, plus rolling resistance from an almost rectangular hull in cross-section with wide zygomatic keels, The Nelsons turned out to be good seaworthy ships and stable gun platforms, and also had excellent maneuverability. Their tactical circulation diameter at 12 knots with the rudder on board up to 35° was 360 m - compared to 420 m for the Eduards - so, in naval parlance, they were able to “spin on their heels.”

Machine installation

They became the last British battleships with piston engines and a twin-shaft installation. The results of sea trials were as follows:

"Lord Nelson" 17445 hp 18.7 kt

"Agamemnon" 17270 hp 18.5 kt

Agamemnon became the first British ship to use a forced lubrication system for the main mechanisms.

General

Due to the presence of an extensive overhang deck, which prevented the installation of traditional support for masts with shrouds, three-legged masts were used on the Nelsons, which also served as the basis for jib boat cranes - from that moment on, the fashion for such a mast was firmly established in the Royal Navy.

Fisher's mania for the complete reduction of the silhouette of the ship as a target led to short smokestacks on the Warriors, Minotaurs and Nelsons, the height of which did not exceed the level of the bridge. This extremely inconvenient state of affairs was corrected on the cruisers a little over a year later, but both battleships remained with their short funnels until 1917 and, after appropriate alterations, became difficult to recognize in the eyes of sailors who had managed to get used to their traditional profile.

"Agamemnon." The appearance of the ship as of 1923

During the war, searchlight platforms were installed on the supporting legs of the masts, and the searchlight, which had previously stood under the fore-mars, was lowered to the level of the chimney cut. The wheelhouse on the Lord Nelson was dismantled, so that both ships differed from each other only in that the Agamemnon had two hanging bridges, while her brother did not.

After the war, the Agamemnon, stripped of its turrets and many devices, was converted into the first radio-controlled target ship. In this capacity he was involved in solving many new artillery problems, and also as a guide for aircraft, whose actions then showed that aerial bombing needed significant improvement in accuracy before it could pose a real threat to a ship underway at full speed.

"Agamemnon"

Built by the Beardmore Company between May 1905 and June 1908. Entered service on June 25, 1908 and was included in the Norsk Division of the Home Fleet, from May 1911 in the 2nd Division. Received significant damage to the bottom and frames, having stumbled upon a rock not marked on the map when entering Ferrol on February 11, 1911. In September 1913, it was temporarily assigned to the IV linear squadron. At the beginning of the war he was in the V linear squadron of the Canal Fleet. In February 1915 he moved to the Mediterranean Sea to participate in the Dardanelles operation. He took part in the preliminary bombardment of forts on February 19 and 25, 1915, as well as further in all actions of the campaign, during which he received over 50 hits from shells of various calibers, including 14" (did not explode). On May 5, 1916, the ship's anti-aircraft gunners shot down a Zeppelin L-85 off Thessaloniki. When the battleships were withdrawn from supporting operations offshore, she was based at Mudra or Thessaloniki in readiness to prevent a possible breakthrough of the Goeben into the Mediterranean. An armistice was signed with Turkey on board the Agamemnon. The ship returned to Chatham in February 1919 and remained there until conversion to a radio-controlled target vessel, completed in April 1923. Served in the new capacity in the Mediterranean and in domestic waters until decommissioned (after being replaced by Centurion) on 31 December 1926 at Portsmouth , after which it was sold for scrap.

"Lord Nelson"

Built by Palmers from May 1905 to October 1908. Commissioned in December 1908, assigned to the Norse Division of the Home Fleet with the main crew. In January 1909, he received a full command staff, and in April he was included in the 1st Division of the Home Fleet. From January 1911 in the 2nd division of the Metropolitan Fleet, from May 1912 in the II linear squadron, in September 1913 it was temporarily assigned to the IV linear squadron. At the beginning of the war she was the flagship of the Canal Fleet. Covered the transportation of troops to France and was involved in the defense system of southern ports. In February 1915 he received an order to go to the Dardanelles. Flagship of Vice Admiral Wester-Weymiss until December 1915, then Vice Admiral John de Robecado on June 19, 1916. Subsequently, flagship of the formation in the Eastern Mediterranean (in the Aegean Sea) and in the Black Sea, until April 1919. In November 1915 Lord Kitchener's headquarters were located on board the battleship off Mudros. Periodically exchanged anchorages with the Agamemnon in Mudros and Thessaloniki, and in January 1919 was in Constantinople. Returned home May 1919. Was at Chatham or Sheerness until sold for scrap in November 1920.

"Agamemnon"
HMS Agamemnon
Service:	Great Britain 22x20px Great Britain
Named after
Vessel class and type	2nd rank screw ship of the line
Organization	Royal Navy
Manufacturer	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Launched	May 22, 1852
Removed from the fleet	In reserve since 1862. In 1870, he was excluded from the lists of the fleet.
Main characteristics
Displacement	4614 tons (approx.)
Length between perpendiculars	230 ft 3 dm (70.18 m)
Keel length	193 ft 3 in (58.9 m)
Interior depth	24 ft 6 dm (7.47 m)
Engines	Sails, Penn system steam engine
Travel speed	11,243 knots (20.8 km/h) under steam
Crew	860 people
Armament
Total number of guns	91
Guns on the gondeck	34 × 8-dm/65 cwt
Guns on middeck	34 × 32-lb/56 cwt
Guns on the front deck	22 × 32-lb/45 cwt, 1 × 68-lb/95 cwt
15px []

HMS Agamemnon (Her Majesty's ship "Agamemnon") - 91-gun screw battleship of rank 2. The first British sailing ship of the line to have a steam engine built into the design rather than installed on an already built ship. Named in honor of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon - one of the main characters of Homer's Iliad.

Service

Crimean War

Agamemnon was included in the Mediterranean Fleet. During the Crimean War she served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Lyons. On October 17, 1854, he took part in the bombardment of Sevastopol. A year later, on October 17, 1855, he fired at Russian batteries on the Kinburn Spit.

Laying the transatlantic telegraph cable

In 1856, the Anglo-American joint stock company Atlantic Telegraph Company was created, the purpose of which was to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable - that is, a cable laid along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and intended to provide telegraph communication between America and Europe.

Two ships were allocated for laying the cable: the British provided HMS Agamemnon, Americans - USS Niagara. In 1857, the first attempt was made, which ended in failure. Work was resumed a year later, and on July 29, 1858, the ships met in the middle of the Atlantic and successfully connected both sections of the telegraph line.

End of service

In 1862 he was transferred to the reserve. In 1870, he was excluded from the lists of the fleet.

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Parks, Oscar. Battleships of the British Empire. Volume 1. Steam, sail and armor. - St. Petersburg. : Galeya Print, 2001. - 216 p. - ISBN 5-8172-0059-7.
• Lambert, Andrew. Battleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860. - Conway Maritime Press, 1984. - ISBN 0 85177 315 ​​X.
• Winfield, Rif; Lyon, David. The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. - Chatham Publishing, 2004. - ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6.

Excerpt characterizing HMS Agamemnon (1852)

– After the death of Christ, Magdalene left that cruel, evil land, which took away from her the most dear person in the world. She left, taking with her her baby daughter, who was only four years old at the time. And her eight-year-old son was secretly taken to Spain by the Knights of the Temple so that, no matter what, he would survive and be able to continue the great Family of his father. If you wish, I will tell you the true story of their lives, for what is presented to people today is simply a story for the ignorant and blind...

Magdalena with her children - daughter Radomir with her children - son Svetodar and daughter Vesta
and son. Stained glass from the Church of St. Nazar,
Lemoux, Languedoc, France
(St. Nazare, Lemoux, Langedoc)
On these wonderful stained glass windows Radomir and Magdalena with their children - their son
Svetodar and daughter Vesta. Also, here you can see another very interesting
detail - the clergyman standing next to Radomir is dressed in a Catholic uniform
church, which two thousand years ago in no way could have been
maybe. It appeared among priests only in the 11th-12th centuries. Which, again,
proves the birth of Jesus-Radomir only in the 11th century.

I nodded in agreement to North.
– Please tell me the truth... Tell me about them, Sever...

Radomir, anticipating his ambulance
death, sends a nine-year-old
Svetodar to live in Spain... Chu-
there is deep sadness and general
despair.

His thoughts flew far, far away, plunging into ancient, hidden memories covered with the ashes of centuries. And an amazing story began...
– As I already told you earlier, Isidora, after the death of Jesus and Magdalene, their entire bright and sad life was entwined with shameless lies, transferring this lie also to the descendants of this amazing, courageous family... They were “dressed” with ANOTHER FAITH. Their pure images were surrounded by the lives of ALIEN PEOPLE who had not lived for a long time... WORDS that they NEVER SPEAKED were put into their mouths... They were made RESPONSIBLE FOR CRIMES that ANOTHER FAITH, the most deceitful and criminal that existed, had committed and is committing ever on earth...
* * *
From the author: Many, many years have passed since my meeting with Isidora... And now, remembering and living through the former distant years, I managed to find (while in France) the most interesting materials, largely confirming the veracity of Sever's story about the life of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Radomir, which, I think, will be interesting for everyone reading Isidora’s story, and perhaps even help shed at least some light on the lies of “the rulers of this world.” Please read about the materials I found in the “Supplement” after the chapters of Isidora.
* * *
I felt that this whole story was very difficult for the North. Apparently, his broad soul still did not agree to accept such a loss and was still very sick of it. But he honestly continued to talk further, apparently realizing that later, perhaps, I would not be able to ask him anything more.

This stained glass window depicts Magdalene
wife in the form of a Teacher standing over
kings, aristocrats, philosophers
families and scientists...

– Do you remember, Isidora, I told you that Jesus Radomir never had anything to do with that false teaching that the Christian Church is shouting about? It was completely opposite to what Jesus himself taught, and then Magdalene. They taught people real KNOWLEDGE, taught them what we taught them here in Meteora...
And Maria knew even more, since she could freely draw her knowledge from the wide expanses of the Cosmos after she left us. They lived closely surrounded by Sorcerers and gifted ones, whom people later renamed as “apostles”... in the notorious “bible” they turned out to be old, distrustful Jews... who, I think, if they could, would truly betray Jesus a thousand times. His “apostles” in reality were the Knights of the Temple, only not built by human hands, but created by the high thought of Radomir himself - the Spiritual Temple of Truth and Knowledge. At first there were only nine of these knights, and they gathered together in order, to the best of their abilities, to protect Radomir and Magdalena in that foreign and dangerous country for them, into which fate had so mercilessly thrown them. And the task of the Knights of the Temple was also to (if something irreparable happened!) preserve the TRUTH, which these two wonderful, bright people brought to the “lost souls” of the Jews, who gave their Gift and their pure Lives for the peace of their beloved, but still a very cruel planet...

Place of construction Laid out Launched Put into operation Cost, f. Art.

Dimensions, m 85.34 x 20.11x7.01/7.32

Displacement, t 8510 (hull and armor 5820, equipment 2690)

Armament 4 12.5" 38-ton muzzle-loading 2 6" breech-loading 21 small-caliber guns (side salvo weight 1542 kg)

Armor, mm citadel: side 457/381 (teak 229-457), traverses 420/343, turrets 406/356, deck 76, conning tower 305 plating 25 (total armor weight 2223 tons, or 26.1% of displacement)

Peni mechanisms: invert compound, three cylinders (diameter 1372 mm), piston stroke 991 mm, 10 cylindrical boilers (pressure 4.2 atm), two two-blade propellers (diameter 5486 mm, 70 rpm), machine power 6000 and. hp, stroke 13.0 knots

Fuel capacity, t 700/960

Crew, people 345

Designer Alexander Milne

Ajax and Agamemnon were the last British battleships with muzzle-loading guns and the first to have auxiliary artillery as a weapon to repel destroyers. At the same time, they remained in history as the most difficult to navigate ships ever to sail under the English flag.

With Ajax and Agamemnon, Barnaby gave the Royal Navy two exceptionally unsuccessful ships. Such an assessment, which was deservedly first heard in the press during their construction, was fully confirmed after their first trip to sea: the design gaps turned out to be so glaringly obvious that this pair was henceforth referred to as “the black sheep of the battle fleet.” Taking the Inflexible as the initial model - as it was then firmly believed, the unshakable standard for all future types of battleships - the Admiralty concluded that subsequent ships should only be reduced in size and cheaper versions of it (just as the Warrior was followed “truncated” “Defence” and “Hector”). This policy of preventing any increase in size, coupled with the constant desire to combine cheapness with the advantages of a particular ship, periodically prevailed over the next 20 years - for example, with the creation of the Centurion, Rhinaun and, to some extent, Canopus. In none of them was it possible to achieve cost savings proportional to the detraction from this of their combat power, as for Ajax and Agamemnon, they had the dubious honor of remaining the worst examples of such reckless savings.

"Ajax"

When developing design specifications for the Inflexible, the Council decided that its average draft should not exceed 7.32 m - although in the end it did increase by a full foot (0.305 m) after the installation of heavier guns. For the Ajax, the calculated draft was 7.16 m, which should have allowed the use of both ships in the shallow Baltic and the Black Sea, if necessary, and the displacement was decided to be 3,000 tons less - to save about 300,000 lb. on the price of each ship compared to Inflexible. In the face of such constraints, the master builder of the fleet was faced with a difficult task, since the length and width were dependent on each other in the Froude ratio L/B = 4.5 or, as recommended for the Inflexible, an even larger proportion of the width with more pointed contours at the ends to obtain the required stroke of 13 knots.

"Agamemnon"

The minimum width was limited by the diameters of the turrets - 8.53 m along the outer contour, or 1.37 m less than on the Dreadnought for similar I guns. As on the Inflexible, the width of the citadel was taken to be almost 3 m greater than both towers in total. When maintaining the L/B ratio required by Froude, this gave a length of 90.5 m, and with the 4.2: 1 ratio used by Barnaby for the Inflexible, 85.3 m. The chief builder noted that with any increase in the width of the ship to maintain the specified speed, it is necessary to improve the contours at the ends, which limited the problem of crew accommodation; a decrease in the length of the hull reduced the length of the zygomatic keels, which were unable to effectively restrain the magnitude of the rolling motion - hence the possibility of exposing the unprotected underwater part of the hull during the rolling. The shortened citadel, in addition, did not allow placing four heavy guns in two towers in echelon in such a way as to ensure a full salvo abeam. And so it happened - although model experiments showed the acceptability of the chosen dimensions, both ships suffered from excessive width and behaved extremely mediocrely at sea. As a result, both smaller copies of Inflexible had seven of its disadvantages, without receiving any of its advantages in return. The Secretary of the Admiralty had every reason to admit that “the main feature of Ajax and Agamemnon was that they were deteriorated inflexibles.” Their central citadel was not, like that of the Inflexible, sufficiently spaced to ensure that stability was maintained in the event of the destruction of their unarmored extremities.” In fact, the opposite was true - both ships were designed in such a way that their ability to maintain buoyancy on an even keel was directly dependent on the safety of their unarmored ends, and both of them turned out to be the worst examples of the misuse of the citadel system.

Like their progenitor, they took a very long time to build, since since 1872 the governments of both Disraeli and Gladstone tried to save as much as possible on the fleet. Each time over the next 20 years, while this crisis continued, the Council was faced with financial difficulties, and meanwhile it became increasingly difficult to vote for new shipbuilding, construction times were stretched out and costs were rising - it is noteworthy that both ships were estimated at 500,000 pounds at the beginning of construction. Art., in reality they cost 700,000 f. Art. for each, of which at least £100,000. Art. can be attributed to direct losses.

It is not surprising that these ships, which already during construction were branded with the inherent shortcomings of the Inflexible, became the object of mistrust and discussion. Their prototype was hailed as the largest ship in the world and was given the laurels of having the thickest armor and twice the heaviest guns of any other British ship - but they themselves turned out to be nothing more than smaller copies of it with more obvious flaws. To top it all off, since they happened to be the only heavy ironclad ships laid down for the Royal Navy in three years (1876, 1877 and 1878), during the same period France began building a dozen battleships with a full waterline armor belt of the same or even greater thickness, it is not surprising that Ajax and Agamemnon were constantly subjected to all kinds of hostile criticism.

The Devastation entered service three years before the laying of the Ajax, and a comparison of their characteristics can help clarify the main features of the Barnaby model:

Devastation Ajax

Dimensions, m 86.87 x 18.99x8.20 85.34x20.12x7.16

Displacement, t 9330 8510

Guns 4 12" (35 tons) 4 12.5" (38 tons)

Armor, t 2540 (hull 254-305mm) 2223 (citadel 343-381 mm)

Coal reserves, tons 1800 (largest) 960 (largest)

Power, stroke 6650 hp, 13.8 kts 6000 hp, 13 kts

Cost 361438 f. Art. 548393 f. Art.

Artillery

The maximum heavy armament that the Ajax was capable of carrying consisted of four 12.5" (317.5mm) 38-ton guns, but the final decision was preceded by consideration of several alternative options.

In August 1878, the Armstrong company introduced a new 8" muzzle-loading gun weighing 11.5 tons, firing shells weighing 81.65 kg with an initial speed of 645 m/s and providing much higher armor penetration than the 12" gun weighing 35 tons. , although less destructive. The asset also had a 38-ton 12" muzzle-loading gun, which, it was believed, should be comparable in penetration to an 80-ton gun. In addition, the production of an 8" breech-loading gun with the same power as its muzzle-loading counterpart was completed.

It was believed that the armor-piercing power of these guns and their long firing range should be preferable to the significant explosive force at a low initial velocity of the projectile - especially when this was combined with a low rate of fire. In fact, there were assumptions that the size of future armored battleships, in relation to their power and armament, could tend to decrease, and the importance of side armor would also decrease. The entire concept of "Inflexible" thus came under the threat of these weapons, especially after the appearance of Armstrong's 38-ton guns with a projectile weight of 290.3 kg and an initial speed of 610 m/s, which had 50% greater penetration than short guns, already ordered for new ships.

By November 1878, a model had been prepared demonstrating exactly how these long muzzle-loading guns could be loaded in a turret with a diameter of 8.53 m. This attractive proposal, however, had a big drawback - during firing there were four deck charging shafts and both gun ports in each the tower had to be kept open, which, if a wave splashed onto the deck, could lead to flooding of the turret rooms. However, any change either in favor of the length of the breech-loading guns, or in the system of loading muzzle-loading guns from outside the turret, had to be subjected to “detailed study, which cannot be hasty.” Since the long guns still needed comprehensive testing, it was decided to complete these ships to accommodate short 30-ton guns - after this decision was made, the design of turret installations for them moved forward at full speed. But a few months later, the 38-ton gun on the Thunderer ruptured, and work on the Ajax installations was again suspended until the results of the investigation were received.

One of the recommendations of the Projects Committee was the introduction of an unarmored battery of medium caliber guns for use against unarmored units of enemy ships, so that Ajax and Agamemnon received artillery of three calibers for the first time. It was a rather curious mixture of tools, not of any historical interest. 12.5" muzzle-loading guns, the lower jambs of the ports of which were 3.23 m from the waterline, loaded from outside the turret, were the last muzzle-loading guns installed on heavy gunships of the Royal Navy. Auxiliary artillery - the decision on this followed in November 1884 - consisted of two short 6" breech-loading guns mounted on the bow (almost in front of the foremast) and stern (directly in front of the flagpole) superstructures. Both of them were replaced in 1897 by two 6" rapid-firing guns of a new model. Against torpedo attacks, the task of which was then assigned only to small ships, Nordenfeld guns were installed on tiny sponsons around the chimney and on the superstructures. To carry out their own torpedo attacks, both ships each carried an 18.3-meter destroyer, the standard location of which was on keel blocks under the main boat crane.

Booking

Theoretically, for a citadel ship, whose ability to maintain buoyancy depended solely on the integrity of the citadel, it did not matter what damage its unarmored extremities would receive, but in reality, the stability of the Ajaxes, ensured by the integrity of the armored volume, was so small that the exact opposite took place. With the citadel 1.8 m shorter and 2.7 m narrower than on the Inflexible, their modest resource for maintaining the ship in its original position was reduced so much that the reserve of both buoyancy and stability turned out to be completely insufficient to ensure the ship’s ability to remain on an even keel, if its unarmored ends are flooded, even despite the smaller turrets and lighter guns than on its predecessor. The overall level of armor was also lowered: instead of 610mm side protection, a “sandwich” of 305 and 203mm plates on a 254mm teak lining was now used; the total thickness of both plates at the lower edge of the side protection under water decreased to 381 mm of iron. For these ships, specially designed for combat at sharp heading angles, an important role was played by transverse armored traverses, which reached 420 mm above the main deck and 343 mm below it (the latter value was only slightly inferior to the Inflexible). The entire citadel was covered with a 76mm armored deck. After the ship took on a full supply of fuel, the sides of the citadel were also reinforced with coal, and the armored longitudinal bulkheads formed side coal pits along the entire length of the hull.

"Ajax". Armor protection distribution diagram

Fore and aft of the citadel, the battleship's protection was entrusted to the 76mm armored deck below the waterline; the space between it and the main deck was filled with coal and ship supplies, and in the stern there were also tanks with ballast water. In addition, for 20 m fore and aft of the citadel along the sides there was a double belt of cork, separated by a cofferdam 1.8 m high above and below the waterline - protection of rather dubious value, on which the fate of the ship in battle one way or another depended. The armor of the towers was also double-layered (406 mm frontal protection, 356 mm in other directions), which also looked good against the background of the Inflexible.

During Barnaby's leadership of ship design for the Royal Navy, various proposals were made regarding the location of the conning tower. On the Inflexible, the square deckhouse was placed on an island between the pipes, which greatly limited visibility from it. On the Ajax it was moved to the bow setting and mounted on the roof of the pilothouse behind the foremast, so that the view was excellent, although the base remained very unreliable. At the same time, the rectangular box made of 305 mm plates remained nothing more than an armored wheelhouse containing several speaking pipes, and the view was carried out through a 460 mm high opening between the armor plates of the walls and the roof. In battle, this cabin did not provide any reliable protection, since it could fall down if the chart room was damaged or even blown overboard by a direct hit from a heavy shell. In general, it is remarkable that such thick armor was used to protect an important post, so poorly located.

Seaworthiness

By reducing Froude's chosen L/B ratio for Ajax, Barnaby crushed his own hopes. Instead of creating an economical ship capable of developing a speed of 13 knots with minimal engine power, he burdened the fleet with a pair of unreliable steamships, which were among those few projects that were not remembered with a kind word even by those people who once sailed on them. The most noticeable and unpleasant feature of their behavior at sea was the need for constant and significant shifting of the rudder - now to one side or the other, which had to be done constantly to keep them on a straight course. The deflection of the rudder, corresponding to keeping the ship on course, could not change for hours or even days, but then, quite suddenly and inexplicably, it suddenly required a change in order to again remain in the new position for an indefinite time. At speeds up to 10 knots, they were predictable enough for maneuvering in squadron formation, but as speed increased, the rudder angle increased so rapidly that both battleships became downright dangerous in formation, or when sailing in narrow or busy areas. At full speed (13 kts), the rudder angle was never less than 18°, and when the engines were reversed into reverse and the ship began to move in the opposite direction, it could first turn at right angles to the course line before its position was restored by manipulating the driving. There is a known case when “Agamemnon” with a rudder at zero deviation described complete circulation through the port side in 9 minutes. 10 sec.

The explanation for this phenomenon lay in the incorrect choice of the ratio of the dimensions of these ships. Being disproportionately wide, shallow-draft, flat-bottomed vessels with full lines, both ironclads tended to behave more like saucers than ships on the water. The commander of the Ajax spoke about this in the following words: “As far as I noticed, in such cases, it was as if a huge mass of water suddenly flowed underwater from one side to the other and all stuck there, like a mollusk. From that moment on, the steering wheel had to be moved to the other side in exactly the same position as it occupied there before.”

This conclusion coincided with the results observed by R. Froude during towing tests of a model of this ship in an experimental pool using rudder control. Subsequently, he was able to indicate the necessary changes in the shape of the stern in order to eliminate the vicious tendency of the ship to constantly wobble. The attachment above the rudder blade, which increased its area, did not solve the problem and it was decided to change the contours of the stern, lengthening the hull somewhat: its existing contours were so rough that they generated significant “dead zones” of stagnant water behind the stern, which the ship previously tended to drag along with it when moving forward. A similar phenomenon was previously also characteristic of Northampton with Inflexible, but in the case of Ajax it manifested itself to a significant extent.

Thanks to the results obtained on the model with various changes in the stern, the sterns of the Ajax and Agamemnon were lengthened, after which they were able to maneuver with the squadron, although they still required constant control over the position of the rudder at low speeds, which is very made it difficult to keep them on a straight course. In bad weather, they became dangerous companions for joint voyages and sailed separately from the squadron. “Take a position on the horizon” was the usual signal for them in such cases.

In all weathers they swung inimitably from side to side and plunged into the waves in their own unique manner, and when the fleet left Spithead after the 1889 review, the Standard reported: “The unstable Ajax, for example, rolled out of formation at times, making a wide loop; when his bow came out of the water, fountains of spray hundreds of feet high flew into the air, and huge waves burst onto the deck.”

As in the case of Bellyale and Orion, while one of the ships of the new duo was in active service abroad, its brother was in the coast guard or in reserve, ready for service in the shallow-water theaters for which its use was predetermined. draft and for which no other contemporary heavy ship could be involved.

"Agamemnon"

After commissioning at Chatham in April 1883, she was sent to Devon Port as a training vessel. In September 1884, he was prepared for service in China and, during a period of highest tension in relations with Russia, followed the Russian armored cruiser Vladimir Monomakh everywhere. It ran aground several times in the Suez Canal and disrupted traffic there for several days. In March 1886 he returned to the Mediterranean Sea, where he underwent a stern change operation in Malta. From February to November 1889, he was temporarily stationed at the East India Station and was included in the forces blockading Zanzibar in the campaign against the slave trade (at one time, of his 400 crew members, 7 officers and 75 sailors were sick). Again with the Mediterranean Squadron until October 1892, when he was transferred to the Fleet Reserve. In 1896 he was transferred to the Reserve Fleet and in November 1901 he was disarmed. Sold for scrap in 1905

"Agamemnon" in light "Mediterranean" color

"Ajax"

Commissioned 30 April 1885 at Chatham for Admiral Hornby's Special Service Squadron until August when she transferred to Greenock as a Coast Guard ship. In 1886, in Chatham, he underwent a stern change operation, after which he returned to Greenock to serve in the same capacity for another five years, periodically going to sea for maneuvers (in 1887 he collided with the Devastation off Portland). In April 1891 he was transferred to the Reserves at Chatham, and two years later to the Reserve Fleet. Since November 1901, as part of the port reserve. Sold for scrap in March 1904