The Minotaur class was a three-ship class of armoured cruiser built around 1906 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...

. They served during World War I, with all three being present at the Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

, where HMS Defence was sunk. The surviving ships were scrapped postwar.

History

The Minotaur class was the last of the first class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The Minotaurs carried fewer 9.2-inch guns than the earlier Warrior class, but the guns were mounted in twin centreline turrets, allowing the same four-gun broadside as the Warriors. The 7.5-inch armament was much heavier, with five single turrets mounted on each side.

Armour was reduced compared to the Warriors. Main deck armour was reduced from one inch to .75 inch. The upper belt, considered superfluous after the elimination of the main deck casemates, was eliminated. Janes fighting ships 1919 stated that they were not as popular in service as the preceding class, being considered to be over-gunned and under-armoured.

The Minotaurs were succeeded by the Invincible-class battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

s.

Building Programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Minotaur class. Whilst standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores, for some reason the cost quoted in The Naval Annual

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...

 for this class includes armament.

Ship	Builder	Engine Maker	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...  1914)
	Devonport Dockyard HMNB Devonport Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...	Hawthorn	2 Jan 1905	6 Jun 1906	1 Apr 1908	£1,438,065 *
	Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...	Humphreys	2 Jan 1905	20 Sep 1906	10 Mar 1908	£1,423,410 *
	Pembroke Dockyard	Scotts S. & E. Co.	22 Feb 1905	24 Apr 1907	9 Feb 1909	£1,383,744 *

* = estimated cost, including guns

External links

• The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the ships.