HMS Castor (1915)

Last updated

HMS Castor.jpg
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameCastor
Builder Cammell Laird
Laid down28 October 1914
Launched28 July 1915
CompletedNovember 1915
CommissionedNovember 1915
DecommissionedMay 1935
Identification Pennant number: C4 (1914); 33 (Jan 18); [1] 20 (Apr 18); 85 (Nov 19) [2]
FateSold 30 July 1936 for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and type C-class light cruiser
Displacement3,750 long tons (3,810  t)
Length446 ft (135.9 m)
Beam41.5 ft (12.6 m)
Draught15 ft (4.6 m)
Installed power
Propulsion4 propellers; 2 steam turbines
Speed28.5 knots (52.8  km/h; 32.8  mph)
Complement323
Armament
Armour
  • 3 inch side (amidships)
  • 2¼-1½ inch side (bows)
  • 2½ - 2 inch side (stern)
  • 1 inch upper decks (amidships)
  • 1 inch deck over rudder

HMS Castor was one of the Cambrian subclass of the C class of light cruisers. She saw service during the First World War and the Russian Civil War.

Contents

Construction

Design of the Cambrian subclass was based on the earlier light cruisers HMS Champion and HMS Calliope, which, in turn, were based on the Caroline subclass, using the same hull as the Carolines but with two funnels and a maximum armor thickness of 4 inches (102 mm) as opposed to 3 in (76 mm) in the Carolines.

Castor was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, England. Laid down on 28 October 1914, she was launched on 28 July 1915 and completed in November 1915. [3]

Service history

World War I

Large shell hole in the side of Castor after the Battle of Jutland HMS Castor damage.jpg
Large shell hole in the side of Castor after the Battle of Jutland

Commissioned in November 1915, Castor was the flagship of Commodore (D), assigned to the 11th Destroyer Flotilla in the Grand Fleet. She fought in the Battle of Jutland, in which she was damaged by German gunfire and suffered 10 casualties. [3]

On 4 October 1917, the United States Navy patrol vessel USS Rehoboth suffered an uncontrollable leak in her hull while on patrol duty off France. Rehoboth's crew had to be taken off, and Castor sank her with gunfire. [4]

Post-war

After the First World War, Castor served in the Black Sea from 1919 to 1920 during the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. In April 1920, she recommissioned at Chatham Dockyard for service in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Atlantic Fleet. [3]

In 1921, Castor joined the light cruisers HMS Caledon, Cordelia, and Curacoa and the destroyers Vanquisher, Vectis, Venetia, Viceroy, Violent, Viscount, Winchelsea, and Wolfhound in a Baltic Sea cruise, departing the United Kingdom on 31 August 1921. The ships crossed the North Sea and transited the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to enter the Baltic, where they called at Danzig in the Free City of Danzig; Memel in the Klaipėda Region; Liepāja, Latvia; Riga, Latvia; Tallinn, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Gothenburg, Sweden; and Kristiania, Norway, before crossing the North Sea and ending the voyage at Port Edgar, Scotland, on 15 October 1921. [5]

Castor patrolled off the coast of Ireland in 1922 during the Irish Civil War. She was assigned to the Gunnery School at Portsmouth from 1923 to 1924, then was in the Nore Reserve from 1924 to 1925. [3]

Castor underwent a refit from November 1925 to September 1926, then began transporting troops to China in October 1927. She recommissioned at Devonport in June 1928 to serve on the China Station. She entered the Devonport Reserve in July 1930, then was decommissioned in May 1935. [3]

Disposal

Castor was sold on 30 July 1936 for scrapping and arrived at the shipbreaker's yard at Rosyth in August 1936.

Notes

  1. ↑ Colledge, J J (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 48.
  2. ↑ Dodson, Aidan (2024). "The Development of the British Royal Navy's Pennant Numbers Between 1919 and 1940". Warship International. 61 (2): 134–66.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Preston, p. 59
  4. ↑ "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Rehoboth I". Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Naval History: HMS VANQUISHER, BALTIC CRUISE 1921

Related Research Articles

C-class cruiser 1914 light cruiser class of the British Royal Navy

The C class was a group of twenty-eight light cruisers of the Royal Navy, and were built in seven groups known as the Caroline class, the Calliope class, the Cambrian class, the Centaur class, the Caledon class, the Ceres class and the Carlisle class. They were built for the rough conditions of the North Sea, and proved to be rugged and capable vessels, despite being somewhat small and cramped.

HMS <i>Calliope</i> (1914) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Calliope was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy under construction at the outbreak of the First World War. Both Calliope and her sister ship Champion were based on the earlier cruiser Caroline. They were effectively test ships for the use of geared turbines which resulted in the one less funnel. They also received slightly thicker armour. They led into the first of the Cambrian subclass.

HMS <i>Comus</i> (1914) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

The fourth HMS Comus was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service in World War I. She was part of the Caroline group of the C class.

HMS <i>Caroline</i> (1914) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Caroline is a decommissioned C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw combat service in the First World War and served as an administrative centre in the Second World War. Caroline was launched and commissioned in 1914. At the time of her decommissioning in 2011 she was the second-oldest ship in Royal Navy service, after HMS Victory. She served as a static headquarters and training ship for the Royal Naval Reserve, based in Alexandra Dock, Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the later stages of her career. She was converted into a museum ship. From October 2016 she underwent inspection and repairs to her hull at Harland and Wolff and opened to the public on 1 July 2017 at Alexandra Dock in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.

HMS <i>Ceres</i> (D59) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Ceres was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was the name ship of the Ceres group of the C-class of cruisers.

HMS <i>Centaur</i> (1916) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Centaur was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. She was the name ship of the Centaur group of the C-class of cruisers.

HMS <i>Concord</i> (1916) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Concord was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service during the First World War. She was part of the Centaur group of the C class.

HMS <i>Cambrian</i> (1916) British C-class light cruiser

HMS Cambrian was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was the name ship of her sub-class of four ships. Assigned to the Grand Fleet upon completion in 1916, the ship played only a small role during the war. Cambrian was assigned to the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets during the 1920s and was sent to support British interests in Turkey during the Chanak Crisis of 1922–1923. The ship was placed in reserve in late 1929. She was sold for scrap in 1934.

HMS <i>Canterbury</i> (1915) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Canterbury was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. She was part of the Cambrian group of the C class.

HMS <i>Constance</i> (1915) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Constance was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service in World War I. She was part of the Cambrian group of the C class.

HMS <i>Champion</i> (1915) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

HMS Champion was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service during World War I. She was part of the Calliope group of the C class.

HMS <i>Cleopatra</i> (1915) Royal Navy C-class light cruiser

The fourth HMS Cleopatra was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service during World War I and the Russian Civil War. She was part of the Caroline group of the C class.

HMS <i>Carysfort</i> (1914) C-class light cruiser in the Royal Navy

HMS Carysfort was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was one of six ships of the Caroline sub-class and was completed in 1915. Assigned to the Grand Fleet, the Harwich Force, and the Dover Patrol during the war, the ship served as a flagship for part of the war. Her only known combat was a short battle against German torpedo boats in the English Channel, although she was very active patrolling the North Sea and unsuccessfully searching for German ships. Carysfort was assigned to the Home and Atlantic Fleets after the war and was sent to the Mediterranean Fleet during the Chanak Crisis of 1922–23 to support British interests in Turkey. In 1922, she patrolled off the Irish coast during the Irish Civil War. The ship was placed in reserve after returning home in 1923 and, aside from ferrying troops overseas, remained in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1931.

HMS <i>Cordelia</i> (1914) C-class light cruiser in the Royal Navy

HMS Cordelia was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was one of six ships of the Caroline sub-class and was completed at the beginning of 1915. The ship was assigned to the 1st and 4th Light Cruiser Squadrons (LCS) of the Grand Fleet for the entire war and played a minor role in the Battle of Jutland in mid-1916. Cordelia spent most of her time on uneventful patrols of the North Sea. She served as a training ship for most of 1919 before she was recommissioned for service with the Atlantic Fleet in 1920. The ship was placed in reserve at the end of 1922 and was sold for scrap in mid-1923.

HMS <i>Vanquisher</i> Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Vanquisher (D54) was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and World War II.

HMS <i>Vectis</i> (D51) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Vectis (D51) was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and the Russian Civil War.

HMS Violent was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and was in commission from 1917 to 1937.

HMS Venetia (D53) was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and World War II.

HMS <i>Viceroy</i> (D91) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Viceroy (D91) was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I and in World War II.

HMS <i>Mystic</i> (1915) British M-Class destroyer

HMS Mystic was an Admiralty M-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy during the First World War. The M class was an improvement on the previous L class, capable of higher speed. The vessel, originally named HMS Myrtle but renamed before being launched in 1915, joined the Grand Fleet as part of the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla. The ship was assigned as part of a destroyer screen to protect the British battleships as they sought to destroy the German High Seas Fleet. During the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the destroyer saw action against German light cruisers and, as the evening fell, attacked the German battle line, but recorded no hits. During the following year, the vessel took part in a large anti-submarine patrol, but did not see any German submarines. Later in the war, the ship was transferred to the Coast of Ireland Station at Buncrana and escorted convoys at the start of their journey from ports on the Clyde and Mersey or at the end of their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. After the Armistice in 1918 that marked the end of the First World War, Mystic was placed in reserve before being decommissioned and subsequently sold to be broken up in 1921.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.