The Imperieuse class cruiser was a class of two armoured cruisers launched between 1883 and 1884 for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

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History

In an 1886 magazine article, Sir Edward Reed

Edward James Reed

Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...

 complained that these ships did not deserve to be called "armoured", as they were not armoured at bow or stern, only along the middle 140 feet (43 m) of each side.

The layout of the main armament was unusual for the time, having one gun each forward and aft, and another gun mounted on either beam - in a lozenge arrangement similar to that employed by the French.

Ships

• Imperieuse
  HMS Imperieuse (1883)
  HMS Imperieuse was the lead ship of the Imperieuse-class of first-class armoured cruiser, built at Portsmouth and launched on 18 December 1883. She was the flagship of the China Station from 1889 to 1894 and the Pacific Station from 1896 to 1899....
  
   - launched in 1883, converted to a depot ship in 1905 and renamed Sapphire II, later reverted to Imperieuse in 1909, and sold in 1913.
• Warspite
  HMS Warspite (1884)
  HMS Warspite was an Imperieuse-class first-class armoured cruiser, launched on 29 January 1884 and commissioned in 1886. Warspite was the flagship on the Pacific Station between 1890 and 1893, then a port guard ship at Queenstown until 1896...
  
   - launched in 1884, scrapped 1906. One of the Warspite's 9.2" breech-blocks is/was held at the Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) at Shrivenham
  Defence College of Management and Technology
  The Defence Academy - College of Management and Technology is a British postgraduate school, research institution and training provider formed in 2009 from five departments of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and as such part of the British Armed Forces. Since 1984 Cranfield University...
  
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Building Programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Imperieuse class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. In the table:

• Machinery meant "propelling machinery".
• Hull included "hydraulic machinery, gun mountings, etc."

Ship	Builder	Maker of Engines	Date of			Cost according to
			Laid Down	Launch	Completion	( BNA Brassey's Naval Annual The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...  1895)			( BNA Brassey's Naval Annual The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...  1903)	Parkes
						Hull	Machinery	Total excluding armament
Imperieuse HMS Imperieuse (1883) HMS Imperieuse was the lead ship of the Imperieuse-class of first-class armoured cruiser, built at Portsmouth and launched on 18 December 1883. She was the flagship of the China Station from 1889 to 1894 and the Pacific Station from 1896 to 1899....	Portsmouth Dockyard	Maudslay	10 Aug 1881	18 Dec 1883	Sep 1886	£417,437	£113,377	£530,814	Details of cost incomplete	£543,758
Warspite HMS Warspite (1884) HMS Warspite was an Imperieuse-class first-class armoured cruiser, launched on 29 January 1884 and commissioned in 1886. Warspite was the flagship on the Pacific Station between 1890 and 1893, then a port guard ship at Queenstown until 1896...	Chatham Dockyard	Penn	25 Oct 1881	29 Jan 1884	Jun 1888	£415,546	£113,786	£529,332	£653,072	£538,797