HMCS Niobe
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HMCS Niobe was a Diadem class cruiser built for the Royal Navy and served until 1920, patrolling in World War I and training the first generation of Canadian naval recruits. Along with HMCS Rainbow, she became one of the first ships of the Royal Canadian Navy(RCN) in 1910 by being presented by the Admiralty, to the Dominion Of Canada's fledgling Navy.
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[edit] Royal Navy Service
Built for Britain's Royal Navy by Vickers in Barrow, she was launched in early 1897 and entered service in 1898. HMS Niobe served initially with the Channel Fleet and later in in the Boer War (1899-1900) and where she earned the battle honour 'South Africa'.
[edit] Royal Canadian Navy Service
The Niobe was commissioned into the RCN at Devonport, England on September 6, 1910. She arrived in Halifax on October 21, 1910. At 11,000 tonnes, her large size proved a burden for Canada's young navy. Niobe spent much of her career in port; including spending 18 months straight in port after running aground off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, on the night of July 30-31, 1911. She went to war in 1914, with the Royal Navy's 4th Cruiser Squadron, intercepting German ships along the American coast for a year with the North America and West Indies Station.
After significant operations resulting in Niobe been worn to ineffectiveness, she returned to Halifax on July 17, 1915. For the remainder of the war, she served as a depot and headquarters ship in the Halifax Dockyard. Several of her crew were killed and she was damaged by the Halifax Explosion in 1917. She continued however to serve as a depot ship until 1920 when she was Paid Off and sold for scrap and broken up in 1922 in Philadelphia.
[edit] Specifications
- Crew: 677
- Length 435 feet (462 feet 6 inches overall)
- Beam 69 feet
- Draught 25 feet 6 inches
- Displacement 11,000 tons
- Propulsion: 2 shaft triple expansion engines, 16.500/18,000 ihp, 20/20.5 knots
- Armour: 6in gun shields, 4.5-2in decks
- Armament: 16 x 6in Mk VII (16 x 1), 12 x 12pounder (14 x 1), 5 x 3pounder (3 x 1), 2 x 18inch TT(TorpedoTubes)
[edit] Commanding Officers
- CDR W.B.MacDonald(RN) 6/9/1910 - ?
- LCDR C.E.Aglionby(RN) 20/6/1913 - ?
- CAPT R.G.Corbett(RN) 15/8/1914 - 1/9/1915
- A(Acting)/CDR P.F.Newcombe(RN) 16/10/1916 - ?
- CDR H.E.HOLME(RCN) 22/12/1917 - 1/6/1920
[edit] References
- Diadem class
- HMCS Niobe
- Macpherson, Keneth R. and Burgess, John. (1982)(Second Printing)The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-1981. Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-216856-1
