Majestic Class Battleship (1894)

Overview of 9 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Cæsar	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard	25 Mar, 1895	2 Sep, 1896	13 Jan, 1898	Sold 8 Nov, 1921
Hannibal	Pembroke Royal Dockyard	1 May, 1894	28 Apr, 1896	10 May, 1898	Sold 28 Jan, 1920
Illustrious	Chatham Royal Dockyard	11 Mar, 1895	17 Sep, 1896	10 May, 1898	Sold 18 Jun, 1920
Jupiter	J. & G. Thomson	26 Apr, 1894	18 Nov, 1895	8 Jun, 1897	Sold 15 Jan, 1920
Magnificent	Chatham Royal Dockyard	18 Dec, 1893	19 Dec, 1894	12 Dec, 1895	Sold 9 May, 1921
Majestic	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard	5 Feb, 1894	31 Jan, 1895	11 Dec, 1895	Torpedoed 27 May, 1915
Mars	Laird, Birkenhead	2 Jun, 1894	30 Mar, 1896	8 Jun, 1897	Sold 9 May, 1921
Prince George	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard	10 Sep, 1894	22 Aug, 1895	26 Nov, 1896	Sold 21 Sep, 1921
Victorious	Chatham Royal Dockyard	28 May, 1894	19 Oct, 1895	8 Jun, 1897	Sold 19 Dec, 1922

Boats

The boats were:

• one 40-foot Steam Pinnace with dropping gear for 14-in torpedoes
• two 56-foot Steam Pinnace with dropping gear for 14-in torpedoes

The dropping gear on the 40 foot boat was 22 feet from the stem, determined as the best place by trials.

Binoculars

In September 1914, the ships were allowed four additional pairs of Pattern 343 Service Binoculars.

Searchlights

In 1907, these ships, along with battleships of the Canopus, London, and Duncan classes, along with armoured cruisers of the Powerful, Drake, Cressy, Monmouth and Devonshire classes were to land their searchlights from their tops and obtain two additional 24-inch models from their dockyards for placement on the shelter or boat deck. These were to be augmented by (or further upgraded to?) a pair of 36-in searchlights when they became available.

Armament

During the war, along with those of other older ships, the eight 6-inch guns casemated on the first deck proved of little use in practical sea states. It was decided, on Hannibal and Magnificent to remove the eight casemate guns, plate their ports over and move 4 of them to the upper deck. Four of the twelve 12-pdr guns were also surrendered due to this alteration. The other vessels were disarmed and their guns repurposed.

Main Battery

The 12-in guns were Mark VIII, though the turrets used differed by ship:

Mounting	Ships
B III	Caesar, Illustrious
B II	Jupiter, Prince George
B ???	Others

The Prince George only (perhaps) had 5-hp electrical motors to assist hand-training gear and smaller motors to raise pressure in an auxiliary hydraulic system for elevation and running out the guns.

Secondary Battery

In early 1905, it was approved that the 6-in guns in Majestics and later battleships should have "A" class cross connected sights, with one V.P. 7 to 21 scope and one 3 power illuminated scope in a body enlarged to V.P. size (in the Q.F. guns), and a V.P.D.N. 5 to 12 scope (for the B.L. guns).

Other Guns

Twelve 12-pdr guns, later reduced to eight in Hannibal and Magnificent when their 6-in casemate guns were relocated.

Torpedoes

There were 4 submerged 18-in tubes and one above water:

• two submerged tubes forward, with three torpedoes each and one (shared between them) for exercise, depressed 1 degree and angled directly abeam, axis of tube 11 foot 5 inches below load water line and 2 foot 3 inches above the deck.
• two submerged tubes aft, with three torpedoes each and one (shared between them) for exercise, depressed 1 degree and angled at 20 degrees abaft the beam; axis of tube 11 foot 8 inches below load water line and 2 foot 4 inches above the deck.
• one above water stern tube with two torpedoes and one for exercise

Additionally, five 14-in torpedoes were carried for use by the ships' boats. The stern tube would have only one torpedo stored near it; its other two would be stored in the aft submerged torpedo room. The aft submerged tubes were found to deflect their torpedoes just 3 degrees.

The aft submerged torpedo tubes were angled 20 degrees abaft the beam.

In 1895, the torpedo models in use were the 18-in Mark IV torpedo and the 14-in Mark IX torpedo.

Fire Control

Though it may have little relevance given the age difference, the general system of wiring between the TSs in ships prior to Lord Nelson class is illustrated in Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914.

Evershed Bearing Indicators

It is unlikely that this equipment was ever provided.^[Inference]

Directors

These ships never received directors for main or secondary batteries.

Gunnery Control

The ship's guns were organized in 3 groups:

1. Two 12-in turrets
2. Starboard 6-in guns ("A" & "X")
3. Port 6-in guns ("B" & "Y")

Local Control in Turrets

There was no provision in these ships for local turret control wherein the receivers in the turret could be driven by transmitters in the officer's position at the back of the turret.

Transmitting Stations

These ships likely had fore and aft TSes.^[Inference]

A C.O.S. allowed^[Inference] control options of

1. Fore
2. After
3. Separate

Each control group had range, order and deflection transmitters with a pair of receivers, one wired directly to the transmitter as a tell-tale, and the other fed off the wires going to the distant guns (i.e., the aft guns for the fore TS and vice-versa) as a repeat. "These repeat receivers are necessary to keep the idle transmitters in step; when changing back from separate control they are required to enable both halves of the group to be set alike before being paralleled on to one transmitter."

Dreyer Table

These ships never received Dreyer tables.

Fire Control Instruments

By 1909, the ships were equipped with Barr and Stroud Mark II instruments for range and rate, Barr and Stroud Mark I for orders, and Vickers deflection instruments, except Illustrious and Victorious.

For the majority of the ships (probably excluding Illustrious and Victorious with their dissimilar equipment), the Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909 lists the equipment on this class as:

• Range (B. & S. Mark II): 6 transmitters, 30 receivers
• Orders (B. & S. Mark I): 6 transmitters, 20 receivers
• Rate (B. & S. Mark II): 4 transmitters, 8 receivers
• Deflection (Vickers): 6 transmitters, 26 receivers

Additionally, this class had the following Siemens fire control equipment:

• Group Switches: 3 (converted by Chatham)
• Turret fire gongs: 8 with 2 keys
• Fire Gongs: 12 with 4 keys
• Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 18 with 1 key

Illustrious and Victorious had Vickers, Son and Maxim equipment as well as Barr and Stroud rate instruments as follows:

• Vickers range transmitters: 6
• Vickers deflection transmitters: 6
• Vickers combined range and deflection receivers: 6
• Vickers C.O.S.: 3
• Vickers Check fire switches: 6
• Barr and Stroud rate transmitters: 4
• Barr and Stroud rate receivers: 8
• Siemens turret fire gongs: 8 with 2 keys
• Vickers fire gongs: 12 with 4 keys
• Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 18 with 1 key (supplier not stated)

These ships lacked Target Visible and Gun Ready signals.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Admiralty, Technical History Section (1920). The Technical History and Index: Alteration in Armaments of H.M. Ships during the War. Vol. 4, Part 34. C.B. 1515 (34) now O.U. 6171/20. At The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1910). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. Copy No. 173 is Ja 345a at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1914). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. G. 01627/14. C.B. 1030. Copy 1235 at The National Archives. ADM 186/191.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1917). The Director Firing Handbook. O.U. 6125 (late C.B. 1259). Copy No. 322 at The National Archives. ADM 186/227.
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
• Parkes, O.B.E., Ass.I.N.A., Dr. Oscar (1990). British Battleships 1860–1950. London: Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0850526043. (on Bookfinder.com).
• Karl Lautenschlager. A Majestic Revolution in Warship, Volume VII, Issues 25-6.
• R A Burt. The Majestic Pre-Dreadnought in Warship, Volume VII, Issues 27-8.