Protected cruiser HMS Thetis | |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Thetis |
Builder | J & G Thomson, Clydebank |
Laid down | 29 October 1889 |
Launched | 13 December 1890 |
Commissioned | April 1892 |
Fate | Deliberately sunk in the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Apollo-class 2nd class protected cruiser |
Displacement | 3,400 tons |
Length | 314 ft (95.7 m) |
Beam | 43 ft (13.1 m) |
Draught | 17.5 ft (5.3 m) |
Propulsion | Twin triple-expansion coal-fired steam engines, 7,000 indicated hp (5 MW), twin screws |
Speed | 18.5 knots (34 km/h) maximum |
Complement | 273 to 300 (Officers and Men) |
Armament |
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Armour | 1.3 to 2 in (33 to 51 mm) deck, no belt |
HMS Thetis was an Apollo-class second-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 December 1890. Her first significant mission was service in the Bering Sea Patrol with American warships in a combined effort to suppress poaching in the Bering Sea.
She served on the Mediterranean Station until relieved in March 1901. [1] She was paid off at Chatham in early June 1901, and was placed in the Fleet reserve. [2] She was commissioned at Chatham on 25 November 1902 with a complement of 273 officers and men for service on the China Station. [3] She left Sheerness on 14 December, stopping in Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden and more places before arriving in China the following year. [4]
The latter half of her career was spent as a mine-layer. Laden with concrete, she was deliberately sunk as a blockship in attempt to block the canal in the Zeebrugge Raid during the First World War, on 23 April 1918.
HMS Gibraltar, was an Edgar-class cruiser launched in 1892 for service in the Royal Navy. She was built and engineered by Messrs Napier of Glasgow. Of 7,700 loaded displacement, she was coal-fired with four double-ended cylindrical boilers driving two shafts. She could make 20 knots (37 km/h) with forced draught and 18 knots (33 km/h) with natural draught. She was a very good sea boat and an exceptional steamer.
HMS Hawke, launched in 1891 from Chatham Dockyard, was the seventh Royal Navy warship to be named Hawke. She was an Edgar-class protected cruiser.
HMS Shearwater was a Condor-class sloop launched in 1900. She served on the Pacific Station and in 1915 was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Shearwater, serving as a submarine depot ship until 1919. She was sold to the Western Shipping Company in May 1922 and renamed Vedas.
HMS Edgar was a first class cruiser of the Royal Navy, and lead ship of the Edgar class. She was built at Devonport and launched on 24 November 1890. She served on the China Station, and in the First World War in the Gallipoli Campaign, along with her sisters Endymion, Grafton and Theseus.
HMS Endymion was a first-class protected cruiser of the Edgar class. She served in China during the Boxer Rebellion and later in the First World War, and was sold in 1920.
HMS Grafton was a first class cruiser of the Edgar class, launched in 1892. She served in colonial service and in the First World War. Grafton survived the war and was broken up in the 1920s.
HMS St George was a first class cruiser of the Edgar class. She was launched on 23 June 1892.
HMS Diadem was the lead ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy.
HMS Amphitrite was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruisers in the Royal Navy, which served in the First World War.
HMS Andromeda was one of eight Diadem-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Upon completion in 1899, the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet where she helped to escort a royal yacht during its cruise through the Mediterranean Sea. After a refit, she was assigned to the China Station in 1904 and returned home three years later to be reduced to reserve. Andromeda was converted into a training ship in 1913 and remained in that role under various names until 1956. That year she was sold for scrap and broken up in Belgium, the last Pembroke-built ship still afloat.
HMS Ariadne was a Diadem-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy, which was launched in 1898, In March 1913, she was converted to a stokers' training ship and in 1917 was converted to a minelayer and assigned to the Nore Command. She was torpedoed and sunk off Beachy Head by the German submarine UC-65 on 26 July 1917.
HMS Vindictive was a British Arrogant-class cruiser built at Chatham Dockyard. She was launched on 9 December 1897 and completed in 1899. The vessel participated in the Zeebrugge Raid.
HMS Flora was an Astraea-class cruiser of the Royal Navy launched on 21 November 1893. She was constructed under the Naval Defence Act 1889 along with several other Astraea-class cruisers. Flora was decommissioned in 1922.
HMS Astraea was an Astraea-class second class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built towards the end of the nineteenth century, and survived to serve in the First World War.
The sixth HMS Harrier was a Dryad-class torpedo gunboat. She was launched at Devonport Dockyard on 20 February 1894, and saw service in the Mediterranean and in fishery protection. She served as a minesweeper during World War I and was sold for commercial use in 1920.
HMS Constance was a Comus-class steel corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched from Chatham Dockyard on 9 June 1880.
HMS Diana was an Eclipse-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.
HMS Mutine was a Condor-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Mutine was launched on 1 March 1900. While being delivered from Birkenhead to Portsmouth an accident in Mutine's boiler rooms caused some loss of life and gave her a name as an unlucky ship before her career even began. She served on the China Station, then the Australia Station between December 1903 and February 1905 and later became a survey ship, surviving until 1932 as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve drill ship, the last of her class to be sold.
HMS Coquette was a two funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates. She was the fifth ship to carry this name. She was launched in 1897, served in home waters before World War I, and as a tender to the gunnery school at Sheerness during the war. She was sold for breaking in 1920.
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.
Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.