HMS Triumph ( 1903 ) HMS " Triumph " was the second of the two pre - dreadnought battleship s of the Royal Navy . Purchased from Chile before completion , she was initially assigned to the Home Fleet and Channel Fleet s before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1909 . The ship briefly rejoined Home Fleet in 1912 before she was transferred abroad to the China Station in 1913 . " Triumph " participated in the hunt for the German East Asia Squadron of Maximilian Graf von Spee and in the campaign against the German colony at Tsingtao , China early in World War I . The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign against the Ottoman Empire . She was torpedoed and sunk off Gaba Tepe by the German submarine on 25 May 1915 . Design and description . " Triumph " was ordered by Chile , with the name of " Libertad " , in response to the Argentine purchase of two armoured cruiser s from Italy during a time of heightened tensions with Argentina . After the crisis subsided , financial problems forced Chile to put the ship up for sale in early 1903 ; concerned that Russia might buy them , the United Kingdom stepped in and with financing via merchant bank Antony Gibbs & Sons purchased the still - incomplete ships from Chile on 3 December 1903 for £2 , 432 , 000 . The ship was designed to Chilean specifications , particularly the requirement to fit in the graving dock at Talcahuano , and was regarded by the British as a second - class battleship . General characteristics . " Triumph " had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of at deep load . She displaced at standard load and at deep load . At deep load she had a metacentric height of . In 1906 , the crew numbered 729 officers and enlisted men . Propulsion . The ship was powered by two four - cylinder inverted vertical triple - expansion steam engines , each driving one propeller . A dozen Yarrow water - tube boilers provided steam to the engines which produced a total of which was intended to allow them to reach a speed of . The engines proved to be more powerful than anticipated and " Triumph " exceeded during sea trials . She carried a maximum of of coal , enough to steam at . In service she and her sister proved to be more economical than first thought with an estimated range of at 10 knots . Armament . The ship was armed with four 45 - calibre BL 10 - inch Mk VII guns in two twin gun turret s , one each fore and aft of the superstructure . The guns fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ; this provided a maximum range of at the gun ' s maximum elevation of 13 . 5° . The firing cycle of the Mk VII guns was claimed to be 20 – 25 seconds . Each gun was provided with 90 shells per gun . " Triumph " s secondary armament consisted of fourteen 50 - calibre 7 . 5 - inch Mk IV guns . Ten of the guns were mounted in a central battery on the main deck ; the other four were in casemate s abreast the fore - and mainmasts on the upper deck . A major problem with the guns on the main deck was that they were mounted low in the ship — only about above water at deep load — and were unusable at high speed or in heavy weather as they dipped their muzzles in the sea when rolling more than 14° . The guns fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of four rounds per minutes . At their maximum elevation of 15° they had a maximum range of about . The ship carried 150 rounds per gun . Defence against torpedo boat s was provided by fourteen QF 14 - pounder Mk II guns , but the guns were modified in British service to use the standard shell used by the QF 12 pounder 18 cwt gun in British service . They fired , 12 . 5 - lb projectiles at a muzzle velocity of . Their maximum range and rate of fire is unknown . 200 rounds per gun was carried by " Triumph " . The ship also mounted four QF 6 - pounder Hotchkiss gun s in the fighting tops , although these were removed in 1906 – 08 . The ship was also armed with a pair of 17 . 7 - inch ( 450 mm ) submerged torpedo tube s , one on each broadside , for which she carried nine torpedo es . Armour . The " Swiftsure " s armour scheme was roughly comparable to that of the " Duncan " class . The waterline main belt was composed of Krupp cemented armour ( KCA ) thick . It was high of which was below the waterline at normal load . Fore and aft of the oblique bulkheads that connected the belt armour to the barbette s , the belt continued , but was reduced in thickness . It was six inches thick abreast the barbettes , but was reduced to two inches fore and aft of the barbettes . It continued forward to the bow and supported the ship ' s spur - type ram . It continued aft to the steering gear compartment and terminated in a transverse bulkhead . The upper strake of 7 - inch armour covered the ship ' s side between the rear of the barbettes up to the level of the upper deck . The upper deck casemates were also protected by 7 - inch faces and sides , but were enclosed by rear 3 - inch plates . The 7 . 5 - inch guns on the main deck were separated by screens with plating protecting the funnel uptakes to their rear . A longitudinal 1 - inch bulkhead divided the battery down its centreline . The turret faces were thick and their sides and rear were thick . Their roofs were two inches thick and the sighting hood protecting the gunners was thick . Above the upper deck the barbettes were thick on their faces and eight inches on the rear . Below this level they thinned to three and two inches respectively . The conning tower was protected by of armour on its face and eight inches on its rear . The deck armour inside the central citadel ranged from 1 to 1 . 5 inches in thickness . Outside the citadel , the lower deck was three inches thick and sloped to meet the lower side of the belt armour . Construction and service . Pre - World War I . HMS " Triumph " was ordered by Chile as " Libertad " and laid down by Vickers , Sons & Maxim at Barrow - in - Furness on 26 February 1902 and launched on 15 January 1903 . She was completed in June 1904 and commissioned at Chatham Dockyard on 21 June 1904 for service in the Home Fleet . On 17 September 1904 the ship was struck by off Pembroke Dock and was only slightly damaged . Under a fleet reorganization in January 1905 , the Home Fleet became the Channel Fleet . She collided with her sister ship on 3 June 1905 and suffered damage to her bow . " Triumph " received a brief refit at Chatham Dockyard in October 1908 and was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 26 April 1909 . The ship returned to the Home Fleet in May 1912 . She was transferred to the China Station on 28 August 1913 and was placed in reserve at Hong Kong until mobilized in August 1914 at the beginning of World War I . World War I . " Triumph " was recommissioned using the crews of demobilised river gunboats , supplemented with two officers , 100 enlisted men , and six signallers from the Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry , and was ready for sea on 6 August 1914 . " Triumph " took part in operations against the East Asia Squadron in early August 1914 , capturing a collier . On 23 August 1914 , she was attached to the Imperial Japanese Navy ' s Second Fleet to participate in the campaign against the German colony at Tsingtao , China , and assisted in its capture . When the ship reached Wei - hai - wei , she disembarked her volunteers from the Army . With Tsingtao in Japanese hands , " Triumph " returned to Hong Kong for a refit in November 1914 . Upon completion of her refit in January 1915 , " Triumph " was transferred to the Dardanelles for service in the Dardanelles Campaign . The ship departed Hong Kong on 12 January and stopped at Suez from 7 February to 12 February before moving on to join the Dardanelles Squadron . " Triumph " took part in the opening attack on the entrance forts on 18 February and 19 February , and joined the predreadnoughts and in using her secondary battery to silence the fort at Sedd el Bahr on 25 February . She , " Albion " , and were the first Allied battleships to enter the Turkish Straits during the campaign when they carried out the initial attack on the inner forts on 26 February . She also took part in the attack on Fort Dardanos on 2 March 1915 . She and " Swiftsure " were detached from the Dardanelles on 5 March for operations against forts at Smyrna , returning to the Dardanelles on 9 March . " Triumph " participated in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March , and fired on Ottoman trenches at Achi Baba on 15 April . On 18 April , one of her picket boats and one from " Majestic " torpedo ed and sank the British submarine , which had run aground near Fort Dardanos and was in danger of being captured by Ottoman forces . " Triumph " supported the main landing by the Anzac forces at Gaba Tepe on 25 April , and continued to support them through May . On 25 May , the ship was underway off Gaba Tepe , firing on Ottoman positions , with torpedo net s out and most watertight doors shut , when she sighted a submarine periscope off her starboard beam at about 1230 hours . It belonged to the U - boat . " Triumph " opened fire on the periscope , but was almost immediately struck by a torpedo , which easily cut through her torpedo net , on her starboard side . A tremendous explosion resulted , and " Triumph " took on a list 10° to starboard . She held that list for about five minutes , then it increased to 30° . The destroyer evacuated most of her crew before she capsized ten minutes later . She remained afloat upside down for about 30 minutes , then began to sink slowly in about of water . Three officers and 75 enlisted men died in her sinking .