HMS Leviathan (1901)

Leviathan at anchor
History
United Kingdom
Name	Leviathan
Namesake	Leviathan
Builder	John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Laid down	30 November 1899
Launched	3 July 1901
Completed	16 June 1903
Fate	Sold for scrap, 3 March 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Drake-class armoured cruiser
Displacement	14,150 long tons (14,380 t) (normal)
Length	533 ft 6 in (162.6 m) (o/a)
Beam	71 ft 4 in (21.7 m)
Draught	26 ft (7.9 m)
Installed power	43 Belleville boilers 30,000 ihp (22,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Complement	900
Armament	2 × single 9.2 in (234 mm) guns 16 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 12 × single 12 pdr 12 cwt guns[Note 1] 3 × 3 pdr Hotchkiss guns 2 × single 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 2–6 in (51–152 mm) Decks: 1–2.5 in (25–64 mm) Barbettes: 6 in (152 mm) Turrets: 6 in (150 mm) Conning tower: 12 in (305 mm) Bulkheads: 5 in (127 mm)

HMS Leviathan was one of four Drake-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy around 1900. She was assigned to the China Station upon completion and then served in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1905–06. She was assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron in 1907 before she was briefly reduced to reserve. Leviathan was recommissioned in 1909 for service with the 4th Cruiser Squadron before she was placed in reserve in 1913.

Recommissioned in mid-1914, she was assigned to the 6th Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet at the beginning of World War I. She spent most of the rest of the year searching for German commerce raiders and escorting convoys before she became flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron. In early 1915, she was reassigned to the 6th Cruiser Squadron before she became flagship of the North America and West Indies Station, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, in March. Leviathan retained that position for the next three years until she was relieved as flagship in early 1918 and began escorting convoys from North America to Britain. She was placed in reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in early 1920.
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