HMS Royal Oak (1892)

The design of the Royal Sovereign-class ships was derived from that of the battleships, greatly enlarged to improve seakeeping and to provide space for a secondary armament as in the preceding battleships. The ships displaced at normal load and at deep load. They had a length between perpendiculars of and an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of . Their crew consisted of 670 officers and ratings in 1903. The Royal Sovereigns were powered by a pair of three-cylinder, vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft. Each gun was provided with 80 rounds. The Royal Sovereigns' armour scheme was similar to that of the Trafalgars, as the waterline belt of compound armour only protected the area between the barbettes. The belt was long and had a total height of of which was below water. Transverse bulkheads thick closed off the ends of the belt. Above the belt was a strake of nickel-steel armour closed off by transverse bulkheads. The barbettes were protected by compound armour, ranging in thickness from , and the casemates for the 6-inch guns were protected by armour equally thick. The thicknesses of the deck armour ranged from . The walls of the forward conning tower were thick and the aft conning tower was protected by 3-inch plates. ==Construction and career==

The Royal Sovereign class was ordered as part of the Naval Defence Act 1889 that was a supplement to the normal naval estimates. Royal Oak, named after the tree in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester, was the sixth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was laid down by Laird Brothers at their shipyard in Birkenhead on 29 May 1890 and floated out of the drydock on 5 November 1892. Royal Oak was recommissioned on 9 March 1897 for service with the Mediterranean Fleet, where she was to relieve the battleship Collingwood. She departed Portsmouth on 24 March 1897, and arrived at Malta on 5 April. Royal Oak was relieved by the battleship Bulwark and departed the Mediterranean in May 1902. and at Portsmouth the following day, and paid off there on 6 June 1902. She soon moved to Chatham Dockyard for a refit, during which casemates were provided for her six-inch upper deck guns. On 16 February 1903, Royal Oak recommissioned at Portsmouth for service in the Home Fleet using part of the battleship Nile's crew as a nucleus. In the summer of 1903, she participated in combined exercises in the Atlantic involving the Home, Mediterranean, and Channel Fleets, as well as the Cruiser Squadron. As a unit of the First Division of the Blue Fleet, Royal Oak took part in annual maneuvers off the coast of Portugal and in the eastern Atlantic from 12 June to 2 July 1906. On 1 January 1907, she recommissioned in reserve at Devonport with a nucleus crew. In April 1909, Royal Oak and the other reserve ships with nucleus crews at Devonport were formed into the 4th Division of the Home Fleet. She relieved her sister Ramillies as the parent ship of the division in June 1911, and was in turn relieved of this duty by her sister Empress of India in November. The ship was taken out of service in December 1911 and towed to the Motherbank by the battleship Bellerophon in August 1912. She was sold to Thos. W. Ward on 14 January 1914 for £36,450 and subsequently broken up at Briton Ferry. ==Notes==