Minotaur - class cruiser ( 1906 ) The " Minotaur " class was a three - ship class of armoured cruiser s built in the first decade of the twentieth century for the Royal Navy . They initially served with the Home Fleet , generally as the flagship s of cruiser squadron s . " Minotaur " became flagship of the China Station in 1910 and " Defence " served as flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean from 1912 ; " Shannon " remained at home as flagship of several different squadrons . When World War I began in August 1914 , " Defence " participated in the pursuit of the German ships and and " Minotaur " hunted for the German East Asia Squadron and German commerce raiders in the Pacific and Indian Oceans . " Shannon " remained with the Grand Fleet , as the Home Fleet was renamed , for the entire war . All three were present at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 , where " Defence " was sunk with heavy loss of life . The surviving pair spent most of the rest of the war assigned to the Northern Patrol unsuccessfully searching for German warships and commerce raiders . They were scrapped after the war . Design and description . The " Minotaur " - class ships were the last armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy . They were significantly larger and more heavily armed than their predecessors , although their armour was reduced in an attempt to compensate for the additional weight of the armament . The design was criticized for this weakness as well as the wide dispersal of the turrets along the length of the ship . They have been described by naval historian R . A . Burt as " cruiser editions of the " . The " Minotaur " class displaced as built and at deep load . " Defence " and " Minotaur " had an overall length of , a beam of and a mean draught of . " Shannon " had more beam and one foot less draught than her sister ships to evaluate the theory that she might be faster with these proportions than her sisters . The class displaced more , was longer overall , was one foot broader in beam and had more freeboard than their predecessors of the . At normal load they had a metacentric height of , and at deep load , . The " Minotaur " s were designed to carry 779 officers and enlisted men , but mustered 802 – 842 between 1908 and 1912 . The ships were powered by a pair of four - cylinder triple - expansion steam engines , each driving one shaft , which developed a total of intended to give a maximum speed of . The engines were powered by 24 water - tube boilers with a working pressure of . They carried a maximum of of coal and an additional of fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate . At full capacity , the ships could steam for at a speed of . During her sea trials on 6 December 1907 , " Minotaur " made her designed speed when she reached 23 . 01 knots from during her eight - hour full - power test . " Shannon " proved to be the slowest of the three and only reached from during her trial three days before " Minotaur " s . Armament . The " Minotaur " s carried only four 50 - calibre BL 9 . 2 - inch Mk XI guns , compared to the six of the earlier ships , but the guns were mounted in twin hydraulically powered centreline turrets , which gave them the same four - gun broadside as the " Duke of Edinburgh " s . The guns had an elevation range of −5° / + 15° . They fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ; this provided a maximum range of with armour - piercing ( AP ) shells . The rate of fire of these guns was up to four rounds per minute and the ships carried 100 rounds per gun . The secondary armament was much heavier than the older ships , with five single hydraulically powered turrets equipped with 50 - calibre BL 7 . 5 - inch Mk II guns mounted on each side . The guns could be depressed to −7 . 5° and elevated to + 15° . Using 4crh AP shells , they had a maximum range of . Their projectiles were fired at a muzzle velocity of at four rounds per minute . Each gun was provided with 100 rounds . Anti - torpedo boat defence was provided by sixteen QF 12 - pounder 18 - cwt guns . Most of these were mounted on the tops of the turrets and the remaining four in the superstructure fore and aft . They fired , projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ; this gave a maximum range of at their maximum elevation of + 20° . They also mounted five submerged 18 - inch torpedo tube s , two on each broadside , plus one mounted in the stern . Armour . Armour in the " Minotaur " class was reduced compared to the earlier ships . The upper belt , considered superfluous after the elimination of the main deck casemate s , was eliminated as were the transverse bulkheads that connected the waterline belt to the barbette s that protected the ships from raking fire . The waterline armour belt of Krupp cemented armour extended past the fore and aft 7 . 5 - inch gun turrets ; its lower edge was about below the waterline at normal load . Forward the armour was up to about from the bow when it was reduced to three inches ; aft the belt armour was three inches thick all the way to the stern . In addition to this , the engine cylinders were protected by armour plates thick . The faces of the primary gun turrets were thick and they had sides . The face armour for the 7 . 5 - inch turrets was also eight inches thick , but their sides were only thick . The main barbettes were protected by seven inches of armour as were the ammunition hoists , although the armour for those thinned to two inches between the lower and main decks . The thickness of the lower deck ranged from 1 . 5 inches on the flat amidships to two inches on the slope connecting it to the lower edge of the waterline belt for the length of the ship . At the ends of the ship , the thickness of the deck armour increased to two inches . The sides of the forward conning tower were 10 inches thick while those of the rear conning tower were three inches in thickness . Modifications . The funnels were raised in 1909 to eliminate smoke interference with the bridge . During 1915 – 16 , a 12 - pounder was fitted to the rear superstructure and a three - pounder to the quarterdeck , both guns on high - angle mounts for anti - aircraft defence . In 1916 , reinforcing legs were added to the foremast to support the weight of a fire - control director ; " Shannon " received her director that same year and " Minotaur " in 1917 – 18 . In the last year of the war , the reinforced foremast was replaced by a stronger tripod mast and the 12 - pounder was moved to the top of the forward turret . Careers . The sisters were all initially assigned to the Home Fleet upon commissioning with " Shannon " frequently serving as the flagship of the 5th , 2nd and 3rd Cruiser Squadron s before reverting to the flagship of the 2nd Squadron in 1914 . " Minotaur " became the flagship of the China Station in 1910 and she was briefly joined by " Defence " in 1912 before the latter was transferred to the Mediterranean at the end of the year to serve as flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron there . When the war began , " Minotaur " searched unsuccessfully for the German East Asia Squadron in the Pacific and the commerce - raiding light cruiser in the Indian Ocean before she was transferred to the Grand Fleet at the end of 1914 . She became flagship of the 7th Cruiser Squadron and was assigned to the Northern Patrol . " Defence " participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS " Goeben " and light cruiser SMS " Breslau " , but Rear - Admiral Ernest Troubridge decided not to engage " Goeben " due to the latter ' s more powerful guns , heavier armour and faster speed . She then blockaded the German ships inside the Dardanelles . The Admiralty ordered the ship to the South Atlantic in October to join Rear - Admiral Christopher Cradock ' s squadron searching for the German ships . " Defence " , however , had only reached Montevideo , Uruguay by 3 November when she received word that most of Admiral Cradock ' s squadron had been destroyed two days previously at the Battle of Coronel . The ship was then ordered to South Africa to escort a troop convoy to Great Britain . " Defence " departed Table Bay , Cape Town in December and rejoined the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet as its flagship upon her arrival . In early 1915 , the sisters were all assigned to the Grand Fleet , each as flagship of their respective squadrons . Just before the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916 , the 2nd and 7th Cruiser Squadrons were combined with " Minotaur " as the flagship . During the battle the 2nd Cruiser Squadron was unengaged and did not fire their guns . In contrast the 1st Cruiser Squadron was engaged at close range by the German capital ship s during the battle ; " Defence " was hit by two salvo es from the German ships that caused the aft 9 . 2 - inch magazine to explode . The resulting fire spread via the ammunition passages to the adjacent 7 . 5 - inch magazines which detonated in turn . The ship exploded with the loss of all men on board ; between 893 and 903 men were killed . " Shannon " and " Minotaur " were also present during the attempted interception of the High Seas Fleet by the Grand Fleet on 19 August although no combat occurred . For the rest of the war , the ships were assigned to the Northern Patrol . On 11 December 1917 , the sisters and four destroyers were assigned to patrol the convoy route between Lerwick and Norway , but the Germans successfully destroyed a convoy off the Norwegian coast on the following day and returned home without being spotted . The British ships were only able to rescue survivors and escort the sole surviving ship from the convoy , the crippled destroyer , back to Scapa Flow . The sisters were paid off in 1919 , although " Shannon " temporarily became a training ship before the two were sold for scrap in 1920 . " Shannon " was not actually broken up until January 1923 .