the bulges cost in speed, but prevented the extra weight resulting from all of these changes from deepening her draft. She was finally completed on 4 June 1918. Gorgon displaced at deep load as built, with a length of , a beam of at maximum, although her main hull only had a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by two vertical triple expansion steam engines, which developed a total of from four Yarrow watertube boilers and gave a maximum speed of . She was armed with two 9.2-inch guns arranged in two single-gun turrets, one turret each fore and aft. Her secondary armament consisted of four six-inch guns, also in single gun turrets, two of which superfired over the 9.2-inch turrets and the others were positioned on each side of the superstructure. One anti-aircraft gun was mounted on each center-line six-inch turret. She also carried four 3-pounder and four 2-pounder guns on high-angle mounts. Service Gorgon arrived at Dover on 6 June 1918 where she spent the next five weeks working up. Her first engagement was on 26 July when she fired eight rounds at a range of at a German howitzer battery to calibrate her guns and fire control system, which provoked a response from the German gun of Batterie Pommern south of Ostend. Three days later, she accompanied on a bombardment of Batterie "Tirpitz". She spent the next month and a half either out on patrol in the English Channel or preparing for the bombardment scheduled for the end of September in support of a major offensive along the coast. At daybreak on 28 September 1918, Gorgon, in company with , anchored about off De Panne, Belgium and opened fire about 7:15 on a bridge at Snaeskerke, Belgium at a range of . Conditions were not good as both wind and tide were against her. Gorgons stern anchor cable parted and she swung around on her bow anchor so that only her rear turret could bear on the target. No aircraft were made available to spot for her so there was little chance of a hit and she only fired eleven rounds. She, and the other monitors, were attacked several times during the day by German aircraft with little effect and several coast defense batteries attempted to engage them through the smokescreen put up by the motor launches supporting the operation. She fired thirteen