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HMS ''Irresistible''—the fourth British Royal Navy ship of the name—was a pre-dreadnought battleship. Commissioned in 1902, she initially served with the Mediterranean Fleet until April 1908, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. Now outclassed with the emergence of the dreadnought class of ships, she entered service with the Home Fleet in 1911 following a refit. In 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron. Following the outbreak of World War I, ''Irresistible'', along with the squadron, was assigned to the Channel Fleet. After operations with the Dover Patrol, she served in the Dardanelles Campaign, taking part in the bombardment of the Turkish forts guarding the Dardanelles. On 18 March 1915, she struck a mine, which caused severe damage and killed around 150 of her crew. Without power, she began to drift into the range of Turkish guns. With attempts to tow her having failed, she was abandoned with most of her crew having been successfully evacuated, and eventually sank. ==Technical characteristics== HMS ''Irresistible'' was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 11 April 1898 and launched on 15 December 1898 in a very incomplete state to clear the building ways for the construction of battleship . ''Irresistible'' was completed in October 1901.〔Burt, p. 173〕 ''Irresistible'' had the same-calibre armament and was similar in appearance to the ''Majestic'' and ''Canopus'' classes that preceded her. She and her sister ships are often described as improved ''Majestic''s, but in design they were effectively enlarged ''Canopus''es. The ''Canopus'' class employed Krupp armour in their construction; this possessed greater strength for a given weight compared to that of the ''Majestics'' Harvey armour, allowing the ''Canopus''es to be lighter and faster without sacrificing protection; however, in ''Irresistible'', Krupp armour was used to improve protection without reducing the size of the ship.〔 ''Irresistible'' thus was larger than the ships of the two preceding classes, and enjoyed greater protection than the ''Majestic''s and the higher speed of the ''Canopus''es. ''Irresistibles armour scheme was similar to that of the ''Canopus''es, although the armour belt ran all the way to the stern being long, deep and thick. It tapered at the stem to thick and deep, and at the stern to thick and deep. The main battery turrets had of Krupp armour on their sides and on their backs.〔''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', p. 36〕 ''Irresistible'' improved on the main and secondary armament of previous classes, being upgunned from 35- to 40-cal guns and from 40- to 45-cal guns. The guns could be loaded at any bearing and elevation, and had a split hoist with a working chamber beneath the turrets to reduce the chance of a cordite fire spreading from the turrets to the shell and powder handling rooms and to the magazines.〔 ''Irresistible'' had an improved hull form that endowed better handling at high speeds than the ''Majestic''s and inward-turning screws which allowed reduced fuel consumption and slightly higher speeds than in previous classes, but at the expense of reduced maneuverability at low speeds.〔 With the appearance of the new dreadnought-type battleships and battlecruisers beginning in 1906, predreadnoughts such as ''Irresistible'' were outclassed; however, they still performed some front-line duties during the early part of the First World War. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Irresistible (1898)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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