HMS Mersey (1885)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Mersey
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard Machinery by Humphrys, Tennant & Co.
Laid down:	9 July 1883
Launched:	31 March 1885
Commissioned:	June 1887
Fate:	Sold for scrapping on 4 April 1905
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mersey-class second-class cruiser
Displacement:	4,050 tons
Length:	315 ft (96 m) oa 300 ft (91 m) pp
Beam:	46 ft (14 m)
Draught:	19 ft 6 in (6 m)
Propulsion:	2-cyl horizontal direct-acting compound expansion 12 cylindrical boilers Twin screws
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h) (4,500 ihp) 18 knots (33 km/h) (6,000 ihp)
Range:	900 tons coal 8,750 miles at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement:	325
Armament:	2 × BL 8-inch (203.2 mm) Mk IV guns 10 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns 3 × QF 6 pounder 3 × 3 pounder QF 9 × machine guns 2 × torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 2-inch (50.80 mm) - 4-inch (101.6 mm) Gunshields: 2-inch (50.80 mm) Conning tower: 9-inch (228.6 mm)

HMS Mersey was a Mersey-class second class protected cruiser. They were relatively modern, in that they were the first cruisers that had discarded their sailing rigs in the design, that was synonymous with the old wooden warships, and were now solely steam powered warships. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 31 March 1885, but had a relatively mundane career and was sold for breaking in 1905.

References

• Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.