By the beginning of 1916, Active was assigned to the Grand Fleet and played a minor role in the Battle of Jutland later in the year. Shortly afterwards, she was briefly assigned as the flotilla leader of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla and escorted the main body of the Grand Fleet during the action of 19 August. By the end of the year, the ship was assigned to the Dover Patrol and was present during two battles with German destroyers, but was not engaged in either. Active was based in Ireland by the beginning of 1918, but was soon transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet and based in Gibraltar for the rest of the war. The ship was reduced to reserve in 1919 and was sold for scrap the following year.
Design and description
The Active-class ships were the last class of turbine-powered scout cruisers ordered by the Admiralty. These ships were intended to work with destroyerflotillas, leading their torpedo attacks and backing them up when attacked by other destroyers, although they quickly became less useful as destroyer speeds increased before the First World War. Active had a length between perpendiculars of 405 feet (123.4m), a beam of 41 feet (12.5m) and a draught of 14feet 6inches (4.4m). She displaced3,340 long tons (3,394t) at normal load and 3,945 long tons (4,008t) at deep load. Her crew consisted of 289 officers and other ranks.[1]
As scout cruisers, the ships were only lightly protected to maximise their speed. They had a curved protective deck that was one inch (25mm) thick on the slope and 0.5 inches (13mm) on the flat.[5] Their conning tower was protected by four inches of armour.[4]
At the beginning of World War I in August, Active and her flotilla were assigned to the Grand Fleet. On 1 September, a submarine was spotted inside Scapa Flow and the 2nd DF was detailed to hunt down the imaginary submarine while the rest of the Grand Fleet put to sea. When not escorting the capital ships of the Grand Fleet, the flotilla spent much time on anti-submarine patrol off the entrances to Scapa Flow. In mid-October, multiple reports of submarines in the Minch caused Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, to send Active and some of her destroyers there to hunt them down, but nothing was found. After their search was concluded, they joined a large part of the Grand Fleet at Lough Swilly, Ireland, on 22 October.[11] Sometime between October 1915 and January 1916, the cruiser was relieved of her assignment with the 2nd DF[12] and she was on detached service with the Grand Fleet in January.[13]
By May, Active was attached to the Grand Fleet flagship, Iron Duke.[14] She played a minor role in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June as she was ordered to screen the left flank of the Grand Fleet as it approached the High Seas Fleet. After Jellicoe ordered the Fleet to deploy to port just before it encountered the German fleet, that placed her behind the battleships, unable to engage any German ships.[15] She only fired eight 4-inch rounds during the entire battle.[16]
Shortly afterwards, Active was assigned as the leader of the 4th DF, based at Immingham in the Humber.[17] On the evening of 18 August, the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a message deciphered by Room 40 that indicated that the High Seas Fleet would be leaving harbour that night. The German objective was to bombard Sunderland the following day, based on extensive reconnaissance conducted by Zeppelins and submarines. Active and eight of her destroyers were summoned to rendezvous with the main body of the Grand Fleet and met up with them the following afternoon, but they did not encounter the High Seas Fleet.[18] The cruiser did not remain there long[19] and was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla of the Dover Patrol by January 1917.[20]Active was present, but was not engaged, when German destroyers attacked the Dover Patrol on the nights of 25/25 February and 20/21 April.[21]
By January 1918 she was at Queenstown as the flagship of the Southern Division of the Coast of Ireland Station.[22] Several months later, she deployed to the Mediterranean and was based in Gibraltar by April.[23] She survived the war and was still in Gibraltar on 1 December 1918,[24] although the ship was in reserve at Devonport by 1 February 1919.[25]Active was sold for scrap on 21 April 1920.[6]
Notes
↑ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-081-8.
Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN978-1-84832-100-7.
Goldrick, James (2015). Before Jutland: The Naval War in Northern European Waters, August 1914–February 1915. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-349-9.
Newbolt, Henry (1996). Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol.IV (reprint of the 1928ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: Battery Press. ISBN0-89839-253-5.
Phillips, Lawrie; Lieutenant Commander (2014). Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press. ISBN978-0-7509-5214-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp.1–104. ISBN978-0-85177-245-5.
Tarrant, V. E. (1999). Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916 (reprint of the 1995ed.). London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN978-1-86019-917-2.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Active.
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