| File:HMS Illustrious (Majestic class battleship).jpg | |
| Career | RN Ensign |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 11th March 1895 |
| Launched: | 17th September 1896 |
| Commissioned: | 10th May 1898 |
| Decommissioned: | 1919 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1920 |
| Struck: | |
| Specifications | |
| Displacement: | 14,900 tons |
| Length: | 390 feet bp x 75ft x 26ft 6 inches (118.87m x 22.86m x 7.92m) |
| Armament: | 4 x 12-inch BL guns
12 x 6-inch QF guns 18 x 12-pounder QF 12 x 3-pounder QF 5 x 18 inch TT |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 19.75 kts |
| Range: | ? |
| Complement: | 318 |
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The third HMS Illustrious of the Royal Navy was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought, launched in 1896.
She had a displacement of 14,900 tonnes and an armament of four 12-inch guns and twelve 6-inch guns. She served in the Channel Fleet from her commission into the Royal Navy to September 1908. She went into reserve and was transferred to the 3rd Fleet in 1912. At the outbreak of war in 1914 she was recommissioned as a guard-ship for Loch Aye, Lough Swilly, Tyne and the Humber, and 2 of her 12" guns were re-used in the Tyne Turrets. Due to obsolescence, she was used as an ammunition store ship for the remainder of the war, finally being scrapped in 1920.
See HMS Illustrious for other RN ships of the same name.