HMS Eclipse (1894)

HMS Eclipse was an protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.

Design

Eclipse-class second-class protected cruisers were preceded by the shorter Astraea-class cruisers. Eclipse had a displacement of when at normal load. It had a total length of, a beam of, a metacentric height of around, and a draught of. It was powered by two inverted triple-expansion steam engines which used steam from eight cylindrical boilers. Using normal draught, the boilers were intended to provide the engines with enough steam to generate and to reach a speed of ; using forced draft, the equivalent figures were and a speed of. Eclipse-class cruisers carried a maximum of of coal and achieved maximum speed of in sea trials.
It carried five 40-calibre [QF 6 inch Mk I - III naval gun|] quick-firing (QF) guns in single mounts protected by gun shields. One gun was mounted on the forecastle, two on the quarterdeck and one pair was abreast the bridge. They fired shells at a muzzle velocity of. The secondary armament consisted of six 40-calibre guns; three on each broadside. Their shells were fired at a muzzle velocity of. It was fitted with three 18-inch torpedo tubes, one submerged tube on each broadside and one above water in the stern. Its ammunition supply consisted of 200 six-inch rounds per gun, 250 shells for each 4.7-inch gun, 300 rounds per gun for the [QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun|]s and 500 for each three-pounder. Eclipse had ten torpedoes, presumably four for each broadside tube and two for the stern tube.

HMS Eclipse was launched in 1894 and completed in 1897. In 1899 she served in the Indian Ocean as the flagship of the East Indies Squadron.
She was commissioned at Chatham dockyard in late May 1901, with a crew of 450 officers and men to relieve HMS Hermione on the China Station.
On the outbreak of the First World War she formed part of the 12th Cruiser Squadron, which patrolled at the Western end of the English Channel, with particular duties to stop suspicious vessels and prevent disguised minelayers from interfering with cross-Channel traffic.