Apollo Class Second Class Cruisers

World War 1 Naval Combat

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hms apollo Apollo Class.  The largest class of cruisers ever to serve with the Royal Navy.  When new they were criticised for a week armament for their size they also had a reputation for being wet sea boats but reliable steamers.  Ten for the class were copper and wood sheathed for foreign service at the cost of an extra 200 tons and a slight speed reduction and added £10,000 to the cost.

HMS Apollo
Built Chatham Dockyard, laid down April 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Aeolus
Built Devonport Dockyard, laid down March 1890, completed January 1894.

HMS Andromache
Built Chatham Dockyard, laid down April 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Brilliant
Built Sheerness Dockyard, laid down 1890, completed 1893.

HMS Indefatigable
Built London & Glasgow Co, Glasgow, laid down 1890, completed 1892.

HMS Intrepid
Built London & Glasgow Co, Glasgow, laid down 1890, completed 1892.

HMS Iphigenia
Built London & Glasgow Co, Glasgow, laid down 1890, completed 1892.

HMS Latona
Built Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow, laid down 1889, completed 1893.

HMS Melampus
Built Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow, laid down 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Naiad
Built Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow, laid down 1889, completed 1893.

HMS Pique
Built Palmer, Jarrow, laid down 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Rainbow
Built Palmer, Jarrow, laid down 1890, completed 1892.

HMS Retribution
Built Palmer, Jarrow, laid down 1890, completed 1892.

HMS Sappho
Built Samuda, Poplar, laid down 1890, completed 1893.

HMS Scylla
Built Samuda, Poplar, laid down 1890, completed 1892.

HMS Sirius
Built Armstrong, Elswick, laid down September 1889, completed 1891.

HMS Spartan
Built Armstrong, Elswick, laid down December 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Sybille
Built Stephenson, Newcastle, laid down 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Terpsichore
Built Thompson, Glasgow, laid down 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Thetis
Built Thompson, Glasgow, laid down 1889, completed 1892.

HMS Tribune
Built Thompson, Glasgow, laid down 1889, completed 1892.

Average cost £200,000.

Size:
Length 300 feet pp 314 feet overall, beam 43 feet, draught 17 feet 6 inches, displacement 3,400 tons load.

Propulsion:
2 shaft TE engines, 7,000 ihp, 18.5kts

Armour:
4.5in gun shields, 2-1in decks

Armament:
2 x 6in QF (2 x 1), 6 x 4.7in (6 x 1), 8 x 6 pounder QF (8 x 1), 1 x 3 pounder, 4 x 14in TT

Comments:
Enlarged and improved follow on Medea class with vertical triple expansion engines.  Crew 273.

World War 1 Service:
Apollo

1914 Minelayer Dover.
1915 Minelayer based Sheerness.
1915 Minelayer based Nore Command.
1917 Depot ship.
1920 sold for scrap.

Aeolus
1914 sold for scrap.

Andromache
1914 Minelayer at Dover.
1915 Depot ship Mediterranean
1916 Accommodation ship at Gibraltar.
1920 Sold for scrap.

Brilliant
1914 North Sea Patrols.
1914 Depot ship Tyne.
1915 Depot ship Lerwick.
23 April 1918 Used as a blockship during the Ostend Raid.

Indefatigable
1910 renamed Melpomene.
1913 Sold for scrap.

Intrepid
1914 Minelayer at Dover.
1915 Depot ship North Russian.
1917 Depot ship White Sea.
23 April 1918 Used as a blockship during the Zeebrugge Raid.

Iphigenia
1914 Minelayer at Dover.
1915 Depot ship North Russian.
1917 Depot ship White Sea.
23 April 1918 Used as a blockship during the Zeebrugge Raid.

Latona
1914 Minelayer at Dover.
1915 Mediterranean
1920 sold for scrap.

Melampus
1910 Sold for scrap.

Naiad
1914 Minelayer at Dover.
1917 Depot ship Tyne.
1922 Sold for scrap.

Pique
1911 sold for scrap.

Rainbow
1910 Transferred to Royal Canadian Navy.
1914 Columbia.
1915 Depot ship.
1920 sold as a freighter.

Retribution
1911 Sold for scrap.

Sappho
1914 Tender.
1915 In reserve.
April 1918 Was to be used as a  blockship during the Ostend Raid but broke down.
1921 sold for scrap.

Scylla
1914 Sold for scrap.

Sirius
1914 In reserve.
1915 West Africa.
23 April 1918 Used as a blockship during the Zeebrugge Raid.

Spartan
Tender and later renamed Defiance II.
1931 Sold for scrap.

Sybille
16 January 1901 Wrecked at Lambert's Bay South Africa.

Terpsichore
1914 Sold for scrap.

Thetis
1914 Minelayer based Dover.
1916 Depot ship at Dover.
23 April 1918 Used as a blockship during the Zeebrugge Raid.

Tribune
1911 Sold for scrap.

HMS Naiad after conversion to a minelayer complete with mine rails visible in the stern.  The class were in the process of being scrapped when the war started but seven of the class were converted to  minelayers and carried up to 150 mines at the cost of having their gun armament reduced.  They were based as squadron at Dover and laid c.8000 mines between them before being replaced in the role by faster and more modern ships.  The ships were thereafter used for auxiliary tasks and several were used later in the war as blockships during the Zeebrugge and Ostend Raids. hms naiad

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