Technical Description
HMS Cornwallis was laid down by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Leamouth, London on 19 July 1899 and launched on 13 July 1901. After delays due to labor troubles, she was completed in February 1904.
Cornwallis 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 armoured, 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.
Armour layout was similar to that of London, with reduced thickness in the barbettes and belt.
Cornwallis 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. The 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. Cornwallis herself was the fastest of the Duncan class on trials, achieving 19.56 knots (36.23 km/h), although her sister Albemarle was viewed as the best steamer of the class in everyday operations.
Cornwallis and her sisters had the same armament as and a smaller displacement than the Formidables and Londons.
Like all predreadnoughts, Cornwallis 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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