HMS Sapphire was a Topaze-classprotected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She saw active service in World War I and was sold for scrap in 1921.
Rated as third-class cruisers, the Topaze-class ships had a length between perpendiculars of 360 feet (109.7m), a beam of 40 feet (12.2m) and a draught of 16 feet (4.9m). They displaced3,000 long tons (3,000t) and their crew consisted of 313 officers and other ranks.[1]
Sapphire was fitted with a pair of four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by 10 water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 9,800 indicated horsepower (7,300kW) which was intended to give a maximum speed of 21.75 knots (40.28km/h; 25.03mph).[2] They carried a maximum of 700 long tons (710t) of coal[1] which gave them a range of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000km; 8,100mi) at 10 knots (19km/h; 12mph) and 2,000 nautical miles (3,700km; 2,300mi) at 20 knots (37km/h; 23mph).[2]
She was laid down in January 1904 at Palmers in their Jarrow shipyard, launched on 17 March 1904 and completed in February 1905.
Service
Sapphire in the Thames 1909 Review, passing DeptfordThe Great Naval Display in the Thames of 17-24 July 1909
Sapphire was commissioned on 2 July 1914 at Chatham Dock, Kent,[4] before moving out into Kethole Reach, in the estuary of the Medway. On 16 July, Sapphire for set sail from Sheerness Docks, Kent, for Spithead, Hampshire, where she took part in the Royal Fleet Review on 20 July.[5]
On 8 January 1918, Sapphire arrived at Aden where Commander W. F. Sells joined from HMS Minto and took over command.[6]
Sapphire was sold to TW Ward Ltd for breaking up at Grays, Essex on 9 May 1921.[7]
Corbett, Julian (March 1997). Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol.I (2nd, reprint of the 1938ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. ISBN0-89839-256-X.
Friedman, Norman (2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN978-1-59114-068-9.
Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN978-1-84832-100-7.
Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-85177-245-5.
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