Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. HMS Russell was a Duncan-class predreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. HMS Russell was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Jarrow on 11 March 1899 and launched on 19 February 1902. She was completed in February 1903. Russell and her five sisters of the Duncan-class were ordered in response to large French and Russian building programs, including an emphasis on fast battleships in the Russian program; they were designed as smaller, more lightly armored, and faster versions of the preceding Formidable class.