The battleship H.M.S. Formidable at sea

H.M.S. Formidable was the nameship of a class of three battleships ordered in 1898, two of which were laid down and launched that same year. Formidable, one of the two, was built at Portsmouth, launched on 17th November 1898 and completed in September 1901 at a total cost of £1,022,745. Displacing 15,000 tons and measuring 432 feet in length with a 75 foot beam, her main armament consisted of 4-12in. and 12-6in. guns and she could make 18 knots under full steam. Commissioned at Portsmouth on 10th October 1901, she went straight to the Mediterranean to join the fleet there and remained at Malta until 1908 when she came home for a major refit. Transferred into the Atlantic Fleet in June 1909, where she stayed until 1912 when she joined the 5th Battle Squadron, her war service with the same squadron was mainly confined to Channel patrols until she was sunk early on New Year's Day 1915. Torpedoed in bad weather off Portland by the German submarine U.24, she capsized and sank before dawn with the loss of 547 officers and men.