On this day in history 8 June 1897, the Royal Navy Majestic-class battleship HMS Jupiter was placed in commission.
HMS Jupiter anchored at Spithead, 1899.
Built by J & G Thomson, Clydebank, Jupiter was a pre-dreadnought battleship carrying main armament of four Vickers 12-inch Mk VIII guns mounted in twin turrets.
Vickers BL 12-inch Mk VIII naval gun.
Secondary armament included twelve QF 6-inch guns mounted in casemates and twelve QF 12-pounder guns.
Jupiter served with the Channel Fleet and took part in the Fleet Review for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and for Edward VII’s Coronation in 1902. During the First World War, Jupiter served in the Channel, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea. She paid off at Devonport in 1916 to provide crews for new antisubmarine vessels and served the remainder of the war as an accommodation ship. Jupiter met her fate at the breaker’s yard in 1920.
HMS Jupiter, Brassey’s Naval Annual, 1902.
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