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.

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.

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]