HMSAntrim at anchor
Class overview
Name	Devonshire class
Builders	Armstrong Whitworth Chatham Dockyard John Brown London & Glasgow Scotts Shipbuilding William Beardmore
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Monmouth class
Succeeded by	Duke of Edinburgh class
Built	1902–1905
In commission	1905–1922
Completed	6
Lost	2
Scrapped	4
General characteristics
Type	Armoured cruiser
Displacement	10,850 long tons (11,020 t) (normal)
Length	473 ft 6 in (144.3 m) (o/a)
Beam	68 ft 6 in (20.9 m)
Draught	24 ft (7.3 m)
Installed power	21,000 ihp (16,000 kW) 17Yarrow boilers; 6 cylindricalboilers
Propulsion	2 × Shafts 2 × 4-cylindertriple-expansion steam engines
Speed	22knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Complement	610
Armament	4 × singleBL 7.5-inch (191 mm) Mk I guns 6 × singleBL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk VII guns 2 × single12-pounder (3-inch, 76 mm) 8 cwt guns[Note 1] 18 × singleQF 3-pounder (47 mm) Hotchkiss guns 2 × single18-inch (45 cm)torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 2–6 in (51–152 mm) Decks: .75–2 in (19–51 mm) Barbettes: 6 in (152 mm) Turrets: 5 in (130 mm) Conning tower: 12 in (305 mm) Bulkheads: 5 in (127 mm)

TheDevonshire-class cruiser was a group of sixarmoured cruisers built for theRoyal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. All ships of the class served inWorld War I.Argyll was wrecked, andHampshire was sunk by anaval mine. The four survivors were disposed of soon after the war.

TheDevonshire class was designed as improved versions of the precedingMonmouth class and were also intended for commerce protection. The armament of the new design was made more powerful by the replacement of the twin six-inch (152 mm)turrets and the forward double six-inch casemates by four 7.5-inch (190 mm) single turrets in a diamond arrangement.^[1] The ships were designed todisplace 10,850 long tons (11,020 t). They had anoverall length of 473 feet 6 inches (144.3 m), abeam of 68 feet 6 inches (20.9 m) and a deepdraught of 24 feet (7.3 m). TheDevonshire-class ships were powered by two 4-cylindertriple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 21,000indicated horsepower (16,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 22knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). The engines were powered by seventeenYarrow and sixcylindrical boilers.^[2] They carried a maximum of 1,033 long tons (1,050 t) of coal and their complement consisted of 610 officers andother ranks.^[3]

The main armament of theDevonshire class consisted of fourbreech-loading (BL)7.5-inch Mk I guns mounted in four single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and oneon each side.^[1] The guns fired their 200-pound (91 kg) shells to a range of about 13,800 yards (12,600 m).^[4] Their secondary armament of sixBL 6-inch Mk VII guns was arranged incasemates amidships. Four of these were mounted on the main deck and were only usable in calm weather.^[5] They had a maximum range of approximately 12,200 yards (11,200 m) with their 100-pound (45 kg) shells.^[6] The ships also carried 18quick-firing (QF)3-pounderHotchkiss guns and two submerged18-inch (450 mm)torpedo tubes.^[2] Her two12-pounder 8-cwt guns could be dismounted for service ashore.^[1]

At some point in the war, the main deck six-inch guns of theDevonshire-class ships were moved to the upper deck and givengun shields. Their casemates were plated over to improveseakeeping and the four 3-pounder guns displaced by the transfer were landed.^[7]

The ships'waterlinearmour belt had a maximum thickness of six inches (152 mm) and was closed off by five-inch (127 mm) transversebulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets was also five inches thick whilst that of their barbettes was six inches thick. The protectivedeck armour ranged in thickness from .75–2 inches (19–51 mm) and theconning tower was protected by twelve inches (305 mm) of armour.^[2]

• Antrim, launched on 8 October 1903, sold for breaking up on 19 December 1922.
• Argyll, launched on 3 March 1904, wrecked on 28 October 1915.
• Carnarvon, launched on 7 October 1903, sold for breaking up on 8 November 1921.
• Devonshire, launched on 30 April 1904, sold for breaking up on 9 May 1921.
• Hampshire, launched on 4 September 1903, sunk by anaval mine on 5 June 1916.
• Roxburgh, launched on 19 January 1904, sold on 8 November 1921.

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of theDevonshire class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs toexclude armament and stores. The 1905 edition costs were compiled before the ships were complete.

*** = cost published by Brassey before the ship was complete, i.e. the total cost may have been more than this.

• Brassey, T.A. (ed)The Naval Annual 1905
• Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Corbett, Julian.Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol. I (2nd, reprint of the 1938 ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press.ISBN 0-89839-256-X.
• Friedman, Norman (2012).British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth.ISBN 978-1-59114-068-9.
• Friedman, Norman (2011).Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth.ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
• Leyland, J. andBrassey, T.A. (ed) Brassey's Naval Annual|The Naval Annual 1906
• Massie, Robert K. (2004).Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. London: Jonathan Cape.ISBN 0-224-04092-8.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984).Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books.ISBN 0-88254-979-0.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDevonshire class cruiser (1903).

• The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the ships.

• Cruiser classes
• Devonshire-class cruisers (1903)
• Ship classes of the Royal Navy

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2023
• Commons category link is on Wikidata