match the purported top speed of the Russian vessels. To achieve the higher speed while keeping displacement from growing, White was forced to reduce the ships' armour protection significantly, effectively making the ships enlarged and improved versions of the s of 1896, rather than derivatives of the more powerful , , and series of first-class battleships. The Duncans proved to be disappointments in service, owing to their reduced defensive characteristics, though they were still markedly superior to the Peresvets they had been built to counter. Cornwallis was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of . The Duncan-class battleships displaced normally and up to fully loaded. Her crew numbered 720 officers and ratings. The Duncan-class ships were powered by a pair of 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines that drove two screws, with steam provided by twenty-four Belleville boilers. The boilers were trunked into two funnels located amidships. The Duncan-class ships had a top speed of from . This made Cornwallis and her sisters the fastest battleships in the world for several years. At a cruising speed of , the ship could steam for . Cornwallis had a main battery of four 40-calibre guns mounted in twin-gun turrets fore and aft. The ships also mounted a secondary battery of twelve 45-calibre guns mounted in casemates, in addition to ten 12-pounder guns and six 3-pounder guns for defence against torpedo boats. As was customary for battleships of the period, she was also equipped with four torpedo tubes submerged in the hull. Cornwallis had an armoured belt that was thick; the transverse bulkhead on the aft end of the belt was thick. Her main battery turrets' sides were thick, atop barbettes, and the casemate battery was protected with 6 in of Krupp steel. Her conning tower had 12-inch-thick sides. She was fitted with two armoured decks, thick, respectively. Operational history Pre-World War I HMS Cornwallis, named for William Cornwallis, was laid down by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Leamouth, London on 19 July 1899 and launched on 17 July 1901, when she was christened by Mrs. William L. Ainslie, wife of one of the directors. The launching ceremony was subdued, due to the Court mourning following the death of Queen Victoria, yet the launch was witnessed by a vast throng of spectators, including diplomats from the other naval powers at the time. She went to Chatham Dockyard to be armed and completed