Lot Essay
Intended for use on the China and Pacific Stations, the second-class battleship Centurion was laid down at Portsmouth in March 1890 and launched in August 1892. Completed in February 1894 at a cost of #540,000, she displaced 10,500 tons and carried a main armament of 4-10in. guns in addition to numerous smaller calibre weapons and also torpedo tubes. Capable of 18½ knots at full steam, she was well-armoured and had the distinctive silhouette of those few late Victorian capital ships built with their twin funnels side by side rather than one abaft the other. First commissioned as flagship on the China Station, Centurion stayed there until September 1901, this period coinciding with the Boxer Rebellion and all the resultant activity by both the China Squadron and the British Army. Coming home for major reconstruction, she returned to China for two more years (1903-05), but was thereafter in various home fleets until sold for breaking in 1910.