Crew of about 700, according to the September Navy List the Officers were :-

"Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue were commissioned from reserve on mobilisation and did indeed include a high proportion of reservists and hence of older and family men. Also on mobilisation the RN College was cleared of cadets to the age of 15>. Many were sent to man the gunrooms of the reserve ships commissioning, including these three. Their gunrooms therefore were no more numerous than the norm for ships of the type but were a year or two younger." John Guard

Comparing these three sets of official officer lists shows how difficult it is to know just who was on the ship and how different three ostensibly identical ship's compliments were.

Propulsion was by 2 sets of 4 cylander vertical inverted triple expansion engines driving one screw each with the steam provided by 30 Belleville water-tube boilers. This was good enough to give 21,000 HP for 21 kts when designed at a cost of 18 to 19 tons of coal an hour. Normal amount of coal carried was 800 tons though it could go to 1600 tons maximum.

Guns :- 2 x 9.2"/47 (23.4 cm) BL Mark X 12 x 6 inch Mk VII 45 caliber 12 x 12 pdr, 12 cwt 1 x 12 pdr , 6 cwt 3 x 3 pdr

Ahead and Astern 1 x 9.2 inch and 4 x 6 inch guns. Broadside of 2 x 9.2 inch and 6 x 6 inch guns.

2 x Submerged 18 inch Torpedo tubes. For more on torpedoes look here.

The 6 inch midships armour belt, barbettes, and turrets of this class were expected to keep out 6 inch shells at the normal engagement range. The turrets and hoists of the 9.2's were worked by hydraulics whilst the 6 inch hoists were electric. Since the 9.2's were on a central pivot they could be loaded in all positions.

They ended up 1000 tons over the design weight and this did not seem to be a problem for them in the early days but by 1914 the top speed was dropping off. Interestingly the fact that these were the first cruisers built without copper bottoms to prevent fouling may also have had some effect here.

The designs were by Sir William Henry White's team, (1845-1913). He was a naval architect; trained at Royal School of Naval Architecture, South Kensington; and joined the Admiralty staff as professional secretary to (Sir) E J Reed [qv], chief constructor of the navy in 1867; and became secretary of council of naval construction in1872; he then joined the firm of Armstrong & Co for the years 1883-85.

He became director of naval construction at the Admiralty for the period 1885-1902 and his designs for battleships include those of Royal Sovereign class (1889) and King Edward VII class (1902); designs for cruisers include Cressy and Drake classes and twenty "protected" cruisers. He became assistant controller of navy in1885, received a KCB in1895. He is noted as the author of "Manual of Naval Architecture" (1877) and wrote many papers on the same subject.

Back to the history The Roll of Honour, H.M.S. Cressy , or H.M.S. Aboukir

Copyright © 2003 F C-R Call me sometimes

I thank Tony DiGiulian of Warships1 for permission to use his gun data.

Other data gleaned from varied sources.