Centurion - class battleship The " Centurion " - class battleships were second - class pre - dreadnought battleship s built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s . They were designed for service on distant stations . Description . The " Centurion " class comprised two ships , " Centurion " and " Barfleur " . The ships were designed by Sir William White to be lightly armed battleships designed for service on the China Station and Pacific Station . Their relative lack of firepower enabled greater quantities of coal to be carried , extending their range , and it was not thought they would face the big guns of an enemy fleet . They were too lightly armed to slug it out with enemy battleships , but they could outrun them , and they were more than capable of dealing with armored cruiser s that they were far more likely to meet on distant stations . They were considered good steamers and good seaboats , although the use of forced draft was discontinued because it damaged their boilers . Their draughts were designed to be shallow enough to allow passage through the Suez Canal and the navigation of rivers in China . Their hulls were sheathed with wood and copper to allow them to sail longer between docking . The ships were armed with four 10 inch ( 254 mm ) guns in two barbette s covered by open - backed armored hoods and capable of all - around loading , a secondary armament of ten 4 . 7 inch ( 120 mm ) guns , numerous smaller guns , and seven torpedo tubes . The previous " Royal Sovereign " - class battleships had allowed a comparison between high - freeboard ships with their main guns in open barbettes and low - freeboard ships equipped with old - style , heavy , circular turrets and had proven the superiority of the former in the rough waters of the Atlantic ; the " Centurion " s were the first barbette - type battleships with armored hoods over their barbettes , giving rise to the armored gunhouses that would be mounted on later ships and which themselves would come to be known as " turrets . " " Centurion " in 1901 – 1903 and " Barfleur " in 1902 – 1904 underwent a reconstruction in which their 4 . 7 inch ( 120 mm ) guns were replaced by 6 inch ( 152 mm ) guns in armored casemates , the additional weight being compensated for by reductions in their masts and the removal of all five of their above - water torpedo tubes . They were slightly slower , at about , after these refits . Like all pre - dreadnoughts , the " Centurion " s were completely outclassed by the new dreadnought battleships that began to appear in 1906 , and were scrapped a few years later after a period in reserve . Ships in Class . HMS " Centurion " . HMS " Centurion " was launched in 1892 and completed in 1894 . She served on the China Station as its flagship ( 1894 – 1901 ) , served there again ( 1903 – 1905 ) , then served in the Reserve Fleet ( 1905 – 1907 ) and Home Fleet ( 1907 – 1909 ) before being scrapped in 1910 . HMS " Barfleur " . HMS " Barfleur " was launched in 1892 and completed in 1894 . She served in the commissioned reserve ( 1894 – 1895 ) , Mediterranean Fleet ( 1895 – 1898 ) , China Station ( 1898 – 1901 ) , Reserve Fleet ( 1904 – 1906 ) , and Home Fleet ( 1907 – 1909 ) before being scrapped in 1910 .