Marathon-class cruiser

The Marathon-class cruiser was a class of second class cruiser of the Royal Navy ordered under the naval programme of 1887. The class was a smaller version of the Mersey class.

Chromolithograph of HMS Magicienne by W. Fred Mitchell, 1892
Class overview
Name	Marathon class
Builders	Fairfields, Govan Portsmouth Naval Dockyard Chatham Naval Dockyard
Operators	Royal Navy
Built	1887–1889
In commission	1889–1920
Completed	5
Retired	5
General characteristics
Type	2nd class cruiser
Displacement	2,800 long tons (2,845 t) (Medea & Medusa) 2,950 long tons (2,997 t) (Melpomene, Magicienne & Marathon)
Propulsion	Dürr boilers (Medusa)[1]
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	218
Armament	6 × 6 in (152.4 mm) guns 9 × 6-pounder quick firing guns 1 × 3-pounder gun 3 × machine guns 2 × torpedo tubes

Three of the ships, Melpomene, Magicienne and Marathon, were built for foreign (tropical) service, with a sheath of wood and copper - this added weight and made them slightly slower.

Ships

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed
HMS Marathon	Fairfields, Govan	10 August 1887	23 August 1888	1889
HMS Magicienne	Fairfields, Govan	10 August 1887	12 May 1888	1889
HMS Medea	Chatham	25 April 1887	9 June 1888	1889
HMS Melpomene	Portsmouth	10 October 1887	20 September 1888	1890
HMS Medusa	Chatham	25 August 1887	11 August 1888	1889

HMS Magicienne (picture taken between 1890 and 1899).

Boiler trials

By 1901, the Royal Navy had ordered eight Dürr boilers from Germany, to be installed as a trial on board Medusa as a substitute for the Belleville boilers then in naval use.^[2]