HMS Leviathan (1901) deck so they could be used in heavy weather. Several twelve-pounders were removed to make room for the six-inch guns. The ship's waterline armour belt had a maximum thickness of and was closed off by transverse bulkheads. The armour of the gun turrets and their barbettes was 6 inches thick while the casemate armour was 5 inches thick. The protective deck armour ranged in thickness from and the conning tower was protected by of armour. "Leviathan", named after the Biblical sea monster, was laid down by John Brown and Company at their shipyard in Clydebank on 30 November 1899. She
Leviathan have reflected an attempt to naturalize Leviathan in a process that demoted it from deity to demon to monster. Later Jewish sources describe Leviathan as a dragon who lives over the Sources of the Deep and who, along with the male land-monster Behemoth, will be served up to the righteous at the end of time. The Book of Enoch (60:7–9) describes Leviathan as a female monster dwelling in the watery abyss (as Tiamat), while Behemoth is a male monster living in the desert of Dunaydin ("east of Eden"). When the Jewish midrash (explanations of the Tanakh) were being composed, it