HMS Illustrious (1896)

HMS Illustrious c. 1905
History
United Kingdom
Builder	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down	11 March 1895
Launched	17 September 1896
Completed	April 1898
Commissioned	15 April 1898
Decommissioned	21 April 1919
Fate	Sold for scrapping 18 June 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	16,060 long tons (16,320 t)
Length	421 ft (128 m)
Beam	75 ft (23 m)
Draught	27 ft (8.2 m)
Installed power	8 × Scotch marine boilers 10,000 ihp (7,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	672
Armament	4 × BL 12 in (305 mm) guns 12 × QF 6 in (152 mm) guns 16 × 12 pounder (76 mm) guns 12 × 3 pounder (47 mm) quick-firing guns 5 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt armour: 9 in (229 mm) Deck: 2.5 to 4.5 in (64 to 114 mm) Barbettes: 14 in (356 mm) Conning tower: 14 inches

The third HMS Illustrious of the British Royal Navy was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship. The ship was built at the Chatham Dockyard; her keel was laid down in March 1895, her completed hull was launched in September 1896, and she was commissioned into the fleet in April 1898. She was armed with a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and a secondary battery of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns. The ship had a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

Illustrious was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until 1904. Transferred to the Channel Fleet (which was subsequently reorganised to the Atlantic Fleet) she underwent a refit which was duly completed in early 1906. Rendered obsolete by the emergence of the new dreadnoughts, she served with the Home Fleet from 1908. One of the oldest battleships in the Royal Navy when the First World War broke out, she served as a guard ship at various regions around Northern England until late 1915. Her main armament was removed and she then served as a store ship for the remainder of the war. She was decommissioned in 1919 and scrapped the following year.