Technical Description
HMS Albemarle was laid down on 8 January 1900 at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 5 March 1901, and completed in November 1903.
Albemarle and her five sisters of the Duncan-class were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programmes, including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian programme; they were designed as smaller, more lightly armored, and faster versions of the preceding Formidable class. As it turned out, the Russian ships were not as heavily armed as initially feared, and the Duncans proved to be quite superior in their balance of speed, firepower, and protection. Although they were designed before the ships of the London subclass of the Formidable class, the first two Londons were laid down before the first Duncan.
The armour layout was similar to that of London, with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt.
Albemarle and her sisters had machinery of 3,000 more indicated horsepower than the Formidables and Londons and were the first British battleships with 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines. They also had a modified hull form to improve speed. Albemarle and her sister ships had a reputation as good steamers, with a designed speed of 19 knots (35 km/h) and an operational speed of 18 knots (33 km/h), good steering at all speeds, and an easy roll. They were the fastest battleships in the Royal Navy when completed, and the fastest predreadnoughts ever built other than the Swiftsure-class HMS Swiftsure and HMS Triumph. Albemarle herself was viewed as the best steamer under service conditions among the Duncans.
Albemarle and her sisters had the same armament as and a smaller displacement than the Formidables and Londons.
Like all predreadnoughts, Albemarle was outclassed by the dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906, but she nonetheless continued to perform front-line duties up through the early part of World War I.
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