Arrogant - class cruiser The " Arrogant " class cruiser was a class of four protected cruiser s built for the British Royal Navy at the end of the 1890s . One ship , HMS " Gladiator " was lost following a collision with a merchant ship in 1908 , while HMS " Vindictive " saw active service in the First World War , taking part in the Zeebrugge Raid in April 1918 before being sunk as a blockship during the Second Ostend Raid in May 1918 . Design . The 1895 – 96 programme of naval construction for the Royal Navy included provision for four Second - class cruisers of the " Arrogant " class . While most contemporary Royal Navy cruisers were intended for trade protection , the " Arrogant " class was designed to operate with the main battle fleet , being intended to finish off crippled enemy ships by ramming , and were originally described as " Fleet Rams " . To suit the class for its proposed role , the ram bow was larger and stronger than normal , and was supported by the ship ' s protective deck and by side armour plating covering the forward part of the ship . While the protective deck had a similar thickness ( ) to that of the preceding " Eclipse " class , the ship ' s conning tower had much thicker protection than normal , with of armour to resist close - range enemy shells . The design had a shorter hull with greater beam and an auxiliary rudder ahead of the main rudder to improve manoeuvrability ( with a turning circle of compared with for the same - length Astraea class cruiser s ) . The " Arrogants " were the first British second - class cruisers to use water - tube boilers , with 18 Belleville boiler s feeding triple - expansion steam engines which drove two shafts , giving a speed of . The ships ' main gun armament was a mixture of four guns and six guns , and a secondary armament of eight 12 - pounder ( 76 mm ) and three 3 pounder ( 47 mm ) guns , supplemented by 5 machine guns and three torpedo tube s . The " Arrogants " , like many of the armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy , were often criticised by the contemporary press , with the 1896 Brassey ' s Naval Annual considering that the classes armament and speed were " hardly satisfactory " , with unfavourable comparisons made to armoured cuisers being built for export , and ships in service with France and Germany . The ship ' s armament was strengthened in 1903 – 04 , when the existing main gun armament was replaced by a homogeneous battery of ten 6 inch guns . History . The four ships were laid down at Devonport and Portsmouth naval dockyards in 1895 – 96 , launching in 1896 – 97 and were completed between 1898 and 1900 . HMS " Gladiator " collided with the American liner SS " Saint Paul " in a heavy snowstorm off the Isle of Wight on 25 April 1908 , sinking with the loss of 27 men . Although " Gladiator " was raised in October 1908 , it proved too expensive to repair , and " Gladiator " was sold for scrap . HMS " Arrogant " became a submarine depot ship in 1911 , while " Furious " was paid off in 1912 , being renamed HMS " Forte " in 1915 , serving as a hulk attached to the ' stone frigate ( or shore establishment ) HMS " Vernon " . HMS " Vindictive " served as a tender attached to HMS " Vernon " from 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War , when she returned to active service . In 1918 , " Vindictive " was converted to an assault ship for the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April , and following that was scuttled as a blockship during the Second Ostend Raid on 10 May 1918 .