From 1900 she served as a troop ship during the Second Boer War, but in June 1901 she went aground while crossing the Durban Bar and had to leave for repairs in the United Kingdom.[2] She was escorted from Las Palmas by HMSFurious and arrived at Sheerness on 21 August 1901, proceeding to Chatham for repairs the following day.[3] She was paid off at Chatham 18 September 1901.[4]
On the night of 19 June 1909 Sappho was rammed by a Wilson Line steamer which collided with Sappho in thick fog off Dungeness. The cruiser was holed below the waterline, flooding her engine room. The cruiser almost sank, but was saved by tugs and was taken to Chatham for repair.[5] Despite the damage, with an 8 by 6 feet (2.4m ×1.8m) hole in her hull, the cruiser was repaired and able to return to service within six days.[6] On 30 September 1909 Sappho was paid off at Portsmouth Dockyard for a refit.[7]
On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Sappho was attached to the Grand Fleet.[8] While other ships of the Apollo-class had been converted to minelayers, Sappho was initially deployed on patrol purposes, operating north-east of Shetland in early October 1914 as part of extensive deployments of the Grand Fleet to prevent German interference with a convoy carrying troops from Canada to England and north of Orkney later that month.[9]Sappho continued on patrol duties,[10] and was placed in charge of four Armed Boarding Steamers, which were tasked with patrolling to the north-west of the Hebrides, to stop merchant ships suspected of carrying contraband bound for Germany.[11]
In May 1918, Sappho was ordered to be scuttled in the mouth of Ostend harbour in Belgium following the failed First Ostend Raid. The Second Ostend Raid operation (of which Sappho was a part) 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. Whilst travelling from Dunkirk to Ostend on the day of the attack however, Sappho suffered severe engine damage in a minor boiler explosion and was forced to retire, taking no part in the raid. She was not used again during the war, and was scrapped in 1921.
HMS Panther was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1897.
HMS Earnest was an "thirty-knotter" torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was built by Laird, Son & Company at their Birkenhead shipyard as one of six Earnest-class destroyers ordered as part of the Royal Navy's 1895–1896 construction programme, which were later classified as members of the B-class. Earnest was launched on 7 November 1896 and was completed in November 1897.
HMS E4 was a British E class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, costing £101,900. E4 was laid down on 16 May 1911, launched on 5 February 1912 and commissioned on 28 January 1913. On 24 September 1915 E4 was attacked by the German airship SL3. On 15 August 1916, she collided with sister ship E41 during exercises off Harwich. Both ships sank and there were only 14 survivors, all from E41. Both boats were raised, repaired and recommissioned. She was sold on 21 February 1922 to the Upnor Ship Breaking Company.
HMS E6 was a British E-class submarine built by Vickers Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 12 November 1911 and was commissioned on 17 October 1913. She cost £106,900.
HMS Scorpion was one of sixteen Beagle-class destroyers in service with the Royal Navy in the First World War. She was built by Fairfields Govan shipyards on the Clyde and was commissioned on 30 August 1910. She was a coal powered ship and as such was obsolete by the end of the First World War and was scrapped in 1921.
HMS Faulknor was a British destroyer of the First World War. She was purchased by the Royal Navy whilst still under construction in Britain for the Chilean Navy who had ordered her in 1912 as part of the Almirante Lynch class. She was renamed after the Faulknor family of British nineteenth century naval officers.
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.
HMS Myrmidon was one of two Myrmidon-class destroyers which served with the Royal Navy.
HMS Syren was one of two Myrmidon-class destroyers which served with the Royal Navy. She was launched by Palmers in 1900, served in home waters and was sold off, after the First World War, in 1920.
HMS Eclipse was an Eclipse-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.
HMS Murray was a Royal Navy Admiralty M-class destroyer. Ordered before the outbreak of war, she was therefore the first of her class to enter operation during the early months of the First World War. She was also the first vessel of the Royal Navy to carry the name HMS Murray.
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.
HMS Leda was an Alarm-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built by Sheerness Dockyard from 1891–1893. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1908–1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Leda was scrapped in 1922.
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 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 Skipjack was a Sharpshooter-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built at Chatham Dockyard from 1888–1891. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1908–1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Skipjack survived the war and 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.
HMS Matchless was a Royal Navy Admiralty M-class destroyer. Matchless was built by Swan Hunter from 1913 to 1914 and was completed in December that year. She served through the remainder of the First World War, operating in the North Sea as part of the Harwich Force in the early part of the war and later in the English Channel as part of the Dover Patrol, where she took part in both the First and Second Ostend Raids. Despite being badly damaged by a German mine in 1915 and being involved in several collisions, she survived the war, and was sold for scrap in 1921.
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