Career
Ordered:
Laid down:	4 January 1897
Launched:	12 October 1897
Commissioned:	December 1899
Decommissioned:
Fate:	sold
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	12,950 tons
Length:	431 ft (131.4 m)
Beam:	74 ft (22.6 m)
Draught:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion:	2 shafts, water tube boilers, vertical triple expansion steam engines, 15,400ihp
Speed:	18 kts
Complement:	750
Armament:	four 12-inch and twelve six-inch guns, 10-3in guns, 4-18in TT (sub)
Motto:

HMS Canopus was a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and laid down on the 4 January 1897, launched 21 June 1898 and completed in December 1899. She was named after Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius. Image File history File links RN-White-Ensign. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... October 12 is the 285th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (286th in leap years). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... HMS Magnificent, a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1894 The term pre-dreadnought refers to the last type of battleship before HMS Dreadnought (1906). ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services being the oldest of its three branches. ... Portsmouth is a city of about 196,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Canopus (α Car / α Carinae / Alpha Carinae) is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina, and the second brightest star in the sky, with a visual magnitude of −0. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is a massive body of plasma in outer space that is currently producing or has produced energy through nuclear fusion. ... Sirius (α CMa / α Canis Majoris / Alpha Canis Majoris) is the brightest star in the nighttime sky, with a visual apparent magnitude of −1. ...

She was the only one of the class to serve in the Mediterranean fleet instead of the China station until returning to the Channel fleet in 1906 and in that year went into refit to receive Fire control. Further refitting was done while with the reserve at Portsmouth with reduced crew in 1908 - 09; on returning to the fleet she served as the parent ship for the 4th Division at the Nore and with the home fleet from May 1912 and again refitted at Chatham dockyard. 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway in Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, and thus requiring added defences. ...

In 1913 HMS Canopus was stationed at Pembroke, Wales and at the outbreak of the First World War joined the 8th battle squadron of the Channel fleet, soon after she was sent to East Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. Late in 1914 she was attached to Sir Christopher Cradock's squadron which went in search of Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asian Squadron in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean. Canopus 's slow maximum speed of only 17 knots meant that she was 300 miles south of the rest of Cradock's squadron when he fatally engaged the German force at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914. She then made for Stanley in the Falkland Islands, where she was grounded as a local defence fortress. On 8 December 1914 she fired the opening shots of the Battle of the Falkland Islands at extreme range (12,000 yards), even though her rear guns were only loaded with practice shots — one of these shots ricocheted off the water and struck SMS Gneisenau, which fortunately persuaded the German force to break off their attack on the Falklands' radio and coaling stations thus allowing the British force which had arrived at Stanley only the previous day to raise steam and pursue the German force to its destruction. If Canopus had not driven off the German cruisers, the British force would have been caught in harbour, and the outcome of the battle could have been very different. 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Pembroke (Welsh: Penfro) is a town in west Wales. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total of dead: 8 million Military dead: 4 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total dead: 7 million The First... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice Cradock (2 July 1862–1 November British admiral. ... Maximilian von Spee Count (Graf) Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert von Spee (22 June 1861 - 8 December 1914) was a German naval officer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark, who joined the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) in 1878. ... German squadron leaving Valparaiso 3 Nov. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Official website: http://www. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants British Empire Germany Commanders Doveton Sturdee Maximilian von Spee Strength 2 battlecruisers, 3 armoured cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 1 grounded pre-dreadnought 2 armoured cruisers, 3 light cruisers Casualties 10 killed, 19 wounded No ships lost 1,871 killed, 215 captured All but one light cruiser sunk The... This article is about the WWI armored cruiser Gneisenau; for the World War II battlecruiser of the same name, see German battlecruiser Gneisenau. ...

Canopus' 12-inch guns fire on Turkish defences in the Dardanelles, March 1915.

In February 1915 she was sent to the Mediterranean to support the Dardanelles expedition. While there she was damaged by Turkish gunfire on the 28 April and on 2 May 1915 she was involved in a grounding off Gaba Tepe. In October 1915 she transported troops to Salonika. On returning back to Britain she became the guard ship on the East Coast until 1918 when she was sent to Devonport, where she became an accommodation ship until being sold to the breakers in 1920. Image File history File links HMS_Canopus_bombarding_Turkish_forts_March_1915. ... Image File history File links HMS_Canopus_bombarding_Turkish_forts_March_1915. ... Map of the Dardanelles The Dardanelles (Turkish: Çanakkale BoÄŸazı, Greek: Δαρδανελλια), formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Map of the Dardanelles The Dardanelles (Turkish: Çanakkale BoÄŸazı, Greek: Δαρδανελλια), formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara. ... April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... The White Tower The Arch of Galerius Map showing the Thessaloníki prefecture Thessaloníki (Θεσσαλονίκη) is the second-largest city of Greece and is the principal city and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Devonport in 1909, courtesy WW1 Archive HMNB Devonport or Devonport Dockyard is a major Royal Navy base near the city of Plymouth in Devon and the largest in Western Europe. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...

See HMS Canopus for other ships of the Royal Navy with this name.
HMS Canopus was a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and laid down on the 4 January 1897, launched 21 June 1898 and completed in December 1899. ...

References