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History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Brilliant |
Builder | Sheerness Dockyard |
Laid down | 1890 |
Launched | 24 June 1891 [1] |
Commissioned | 1893 |
Honours and awards | ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND 1918 |
Fate | Scuttled as blockship, 23 April 1918 |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Apollo-class cruiser |
Displacement | 3,600 tons [1] |
Length | 314 ft (95.7 m) |
Beam | 43.5 ft (13.3 m) |
Draught | 17.5 ft (5.3 m) |
Speed | 19.75 knots (36.58 km/h) |
Complement | 273 to 300 (Officers and Men) |
Armament |
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HMS Brilliant was an Apollo-class cruiser of the British Royal Navy which served from 1893 to 1918 in various colonial posts and off the British Isles as a hastily converted minelayer during the First World War.
Brilliant arrived at Portsmouth from Chatham Dockyard in March 1900, and was placed in the Fleet reserve. [3]
She was commissioned at Portsmouth on 1 October 1901 by Captain Hugh Pigot Williams, for service with the Cruiser Squadron. [4] In May 1902 she was taken into Portsmouth for a refit, and on 16 August that year she took part in the fleet review held at Spithead for the coronation of King Edward VII. [5] The following month she visited the Aegean Sea with other ships of her squadron for combined manoeuvres with the Mediterranean Fleet, returning to Portsmouth in October. [6] Late that year she was ordered back to Gibraltar for temporary service in the Mediterranean to protect British interests in Morocco. [7]
On 23 October 1914, Brilliant, together with sister ship Sirius, and several sloops and destroyers, shelled German troops on the Belgian coast. On 28 October, Brilliant was on similar duty when she was hit by German return fire, killing one of her crew and wounding several more. [8] On 11 November 1914 the torpedo-gunboat Niger was torpedoed and sunk in the Downs by the German submarine U-12. As a result, as Dover was not considered secure against submarine attack, Admiral Horace Hood, commander of the Dover Patrol and senior officer at the port of Dover, ordered Brilliant and Sirius to Sheerness to avoid the submarine hazard. [9] While based at Sheerness, Brilliant and Sirius served as guardships against possible German attack. [10]
In June 1915, Brilliant served as guardship on the Tyne. On the night of 15/16 June 1915, the German airship L10 attacked targets on the Tyne, bombing Jarrow, Wallsend and South Shields. 18 were killed and 72 wounded by L10's bombs. Brilliant fired at L10 but the German airship was undamaged. [11] [12]
In July 1917 Brilliant was based at Lerwick in Shetland as a depot ship for the trawlers and patrol boats of the Auxiliary Patrol. [13]
In April 1918, Brilliant was deliberately scuttled in the mouth of Ostend harbour in Belgium during the failed First Ostend Raid. This operation was intended to block the harbour mouth and prevent the transit of German U-boats and other raiding craft from Bruges to the North Sea. German countermeasures were, however, too effective, and Brilliant and fellow blockship HMS Sirius were eventually destroyed by their crews outside the harbour mouth after running aground on a sandbank. The wrecks were broken up postwar.
HMS Afridi was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy launched in 1907 and sold for scrap in 1919. During the First World War she served in the North Sea and the English Channel with the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and as part of the Dover Patrol.
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HMS Intrepid was an Apollo-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy built on the River Clyde and launched in 1891. She was subsequently converted as a minelayer in the latter half of her career and ultimately sunk as a blockship during the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918.
HMS Circe was a Alarm-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built by Sheerness Dockyard from 1890–1893. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1908–1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Circe was sold for scrap in 1920.
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HMS Speedy was a Alarm-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built by Thornycroft from 1892–1894. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1908–1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Speedy was sunk by a German mine on 3 September 1914.
HMS Jason was a Alarm-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built by the Naval Construction & Engineering Co. from 1891–1893. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1908–1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Jason was sunk by a German mine on 7 April 1917.
HMS Gossamer was a Sharpshooter-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built at Sheerness Dockyard from 1889–1891. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Gossamer was sold for scrap in 1920.
HMS Speedwell was a Sharpshooter-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built at Devonport Dockyard from 188–1890. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Speedwell was sold for scrap in 1920.
HMS TB 5 was a Cricket-class coastal destroyer or torpedo-boat of the British Royal Navy. TB 5 was built by the shipbuilder J S White from 1905 to 1907. She was used for local patrol duties in the First World War and survived the war. She was sold for scrap in 1920.
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