The Drake-class was a four-ship class of armoured cruisers built around 1900 for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

Design

The class were enlarged versions of the Cressy class

Cressy class cruiser

The Cressy class cruiser was a class of six armoured cruisers launched between December 1899 and May 1901, for the Royal Navy.-Service:...

.

History

The ships served in the First World War with only two surviving it. Good Hope was sunk at the Battle of Coronel

Battle of Coronel

The First World War naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher...

 in 1914 and Drake was torpedoed in 1917.

Ships of the Class

• HMS Drake
  HMS Drake (1901)
  HMS Drake was a armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class. She was built at Pembroke Dock and launched on 5 March 1901....
  
  
• HMS Good Hope
  HMS Good Hope (1901)
  HMS Good Hope was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the British Royal Navy; she was originally planned to be named Africa, but was renamed before she was launched...
  
   (originally to be HMS Africa)
• HMS King Alfred
  HMS King Alfred (1901)
  HMS King Alfred was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name, after Alfred the Great, historical king of Wessex...
  
  
• HMS Leviathan
  HMS Leviathan (1901)
  HMS Leviathan was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, and the third ship to bear the name.Like her sisters, Leviathan served in the First World War, surviving it to be sold for breaking up on 3 March 1920 to Hughes Bolckow of Blyth....
  
  

Building Programme

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Drake class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The compilers of The Naval Annual

Brassey's Naval Annual

The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...

 revised costs quoted for British ships between the 1905 and 1906 editions. The reasons for the differences are unclear.

Ship	Builder	Engine Maker	Date of			Cost according to
			Laid Down	Launch	Completion	(BNA Brassey's Naval Annual The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...  1905)	(BNA Brassey's Naval Annual The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...  1906)
HMS Drake HMS Drake (1901) HMS Drake was a armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class. She was built at Pembroke Dock and launched on 5 March 1901....	Pembroke Dockyard	Humphrys	24 Apr 1899	5 Mar 1901	13 Jan 1902	£1,050,625	£1,002,977
HMS Good Hope HMS Good Hope (1901) HMS Good Hope was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the British Royal Navy; she was originally planned to be named Africa, but was renamed before she was launched... ex-Africa	Fairfield, Govan Govan Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....	Fairfield	11 Sep 1899	21 Feb 1901	8 Nov 1902	£1,023,629	£990,759
HMS King Alfred HMS King Alfred (1901) HMS King Alfred was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name, after Alfred the Great, historical king of Wessex...	Vickers, Barrow	Vickers	11 Aug 1899	28 Oct 1901	22 Dec 1903	£1,013,772	£978,125
HMS Leviathan HMS Leviathan (1901) HMS Leviathan was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, and the third ship to bear the name.Like her sisters, Leviathan served in the First World War, surviving it to be sold for breaking up on 3 March 1920 to Hughes Bolckow of Blyth....	J Brown John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...  Clydebank Clydebank Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...	J Brown John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...	30 Nov 1899	3 Jul 1901	16 Jun 1903	£1,043,097	£1,012,959

External links

• The Dreadnought Project Technical details of the ships.