Hi all!
Haven't posted a real ship for some time...
Swiftsure-class battleships: HMS Swiftsure and HMS Triumph
These second-class battleships (11.800 tons, 4 x 254mm guns, 14x 190mm guns, 14 - 16 76mm, 4 57mm and 4 - 8 47mm pieces, capable of 20 knots) were originally ordered by Chile (Constitucion and Libertad) but cancelled because of an early arms-control treaty among several South American countries. When the Russians approached Vickers and Armstrong to purchase the virtually complete ships, the RN hastily bought them to get them off the market.
Both were virtually identical; Swiftsure had a different bow crest, a different (smaller) charthouse, two fewer 76mm guns, four more 47mm guns, and slightly different funnel tops.
They served in the Channel Fleet, then on the China station. At the beginning of the First World War, both deployed to the Mediterranean and served off Gallipoli, where Triumph was lost. By that time, she had her masts and antenna arrangement modernized, her searchlights re-arranged, a spotting top with rangefinder added forward, and all 57mm and 47mm guns landed.
Swiftsure was demobilized soon after Triumph's loss; in 1917 she was disarmed to serve as a blockship. I have not found any photographs depicting her after 1915, unfortunately.
Greetings
GD