HMS Illustrious (1896)

The third HMS Illustrious of the British Royal Navy was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship. Commissioned in 1898, she 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 World War I broke out, she served as a guard ship at various regions around Northern England until late 1915. Her main armament removed, she served as a store ship for the remainder of the war. She was decommissioned in 1919 and scrapped the following year.

Technical characteristics
HMS Illustrious was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 11 March 1895 and launched on 17 September 1896. She began trials in October 1897 and was completed in April 1898.

When the lead ship of the class, HMS Majestic (1895), was launched in 1895, at 421 ft long and with a full-load displacement of 16,000 tons, she was the largest battleship ever built at the time. The Majestics were considered good seaboats with an easy roll and good steamers, although they suffered from high fuel consumption. Illustrious began life as a coal-burner, but was converted to burn fuel oil by 1907–1908. Illustrious had side-by-side funnels, her class being the last British battleships with this arrangement; successor battleship classes had their funnels in a line.

Although the earlier ships of the class had pear-shaped barbettes and fixed loading positions for the main guns, Illustrious and HMS Caesar (1896) had circular barbettes and all-around loading for their main guns, which established the pattern for future classes.

Illustrious and the other Majestic-class ships had 9 in of Harvey armour, which allowed equal protection with less cost in weight compared to previous types of armour. This allowed Illustrious and her sisters to have a deeper and lighter belt than previous battleships without any loss in protection. She was divided into 150 watertight compartments.

The Majestics boasted a new gun, the 46-ton 12-inch (305-mm) 35-caliber Mk VIII, the first new British battleships to mount a 12-inch (305-mm) main battery since the 1880s. One hundred thirteen miles (182 km) of wire were wrapped around each gun barrel, and each gun took nine months to manufacture. Illustrious carried four such guns in two barbettes (one forward and one aft) with up to 400 rounds for each. The new gun, which would be the standard main armament of British battleships for sixteen years, was a significant improvement on the 13.5-inch (343-mm) gun which had been fitted on the Admiral and es that preceded the Majestics. and was lighter. This saving in weight allowed Illustrious to carry a secondary battery of twelve 6-inch (152-mm) 40-caliber guns, a larger secondary armament than in previous classes. She also had four submerged torpedo tubes in the bow and one above water in the stern.

Pre-World War I
HMS Illustrious commissioned at Chatham for service in the Fleet Reserve on 15 April 1898. She went into full commission there on 10 May 1898 for service in the Mediterranean Fleet. While in the Mediterranean, she participated between September and December 1898 in operations at Crete during the Greco-Turkish uprising there, and in 1901 underwent a refit at Malta.

In July 1904, Illustrious transferred to the Channel Fleet. As a result of a reorganization on 1 January 1905, the Channel Fleet became the Atlantic Fleet, and she became an Atlantic Fleet unit.

Illustrious ended her Atlantic Fleet service in September 1905 and began a refit at Chatham. Emerging from the refit, she commissioned into the Reserve at Chatham on 14 March 1906, then went into full commission for service in the new Channel Fleet (formerly the Home Fleet) on 3 April 1906, serving as Flagship, Rear Admiral. She collided with schooner Christa in the English Channel in fog on 13 June 1906. She was relieved as flagship and ended her Channel Fleet service on 1 June 1908, paying off at Chatham.

Illustrious recommissioned at Chatham on 2 June 1908 for service with the Portsmouth Division of the new Home Fleet. On 22 March 1909 she collided with third-class cruiser HMS Amethyst (1903) in Portsmouth Harbor, but suffered no damage. She suffered another mishap on 21 August 1909 when she damaged her bottom by striking a reef in Babbacombe Bay. She underwent a refit in 1912, and later that year was transferred to the 3rd Fleet and participated in maneuvers as Flagship, Vice Admiral, 7th Battle Squadron.



As battleship
In late July 1914, the Royal Navy began a precautionary mobilization, as war seemed imminent. The Majestic-class ships were by then the oldest and least effective battleships in service in the Royal Navy. At first, it was planned that Illustrious would pay off to provide crewmen for the new dreadnought battleship HMS Erin, but instead she was placed in full commission to serve as a guard ship for the Grand Fleet once World War I began in August 1914. She began guard ship duty at Loch Ewe on 23 August 1914, transferring to Loch Na-Keal on 17 October 1914, to the Tyne in November 1914, and to the Humber (where she was based at Grimsby) in December 1914. She remained on guard ship duty on the Humber until November 1915.

Subsidiary duties
Illustrious paid off at Grimsby on 26 November 1915 to be converted to a disarmed harbor subsidiary service vessel; two of her 12-inch (305-mm) guns were re-used in the Tyne Turrets. Her conversion was completed in March 1916. She served at Grimsby in her new role until August 1916, when she transferred to Chatham to serve as an overflow ship.

Illustrious commissioned at Chatham on 20 November 1916 for use as a munitions storeship, and on 24 November 1916 she transferred to the Tyne to serve in this role. In November 1917, she transferred to Portsmouth to continue service as a munitions storeship there.

Disposal
Illustrious paid off on 21 April 1919 and was placed on the sale list at Portsmouth on 24 March 1920. She was sold for scrapping on 18 June 1920, and was scrapped at Barrow.

Notable crew members
The future First Sea Lord John H. D. Cunningham (1885–1962) served aboard Illustrious as assistant navigator early in the 20th century.