HMS Liverpool (1909)

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	February 1909
Launched:	30 October 1909
Commissioned:
Decommissioned:
Fate:	Sold for scrap
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	4,800 tons
Length:	430 feet (131.1 m)
Beam:	50 feet (15.2 m)
Draught:	16 feet (4.9 m)
Propulsion:	4 shaft Parsons turbines, 22,000–31,000 shp (16–23 MW)
Speed:	25–30 knots (46–56 km/h)
Range:
Complement:	475–500
Armament:	2 × 6 inch (152 mm) gun 10 × 4 inch (102 mm) gun 4 × 3 pounder gun 4 × Maxim machine gun 2 × 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tube
Motto:

The fifth HMS Liverpool was a 4,800 tonne Bristol-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy

She was built by Vickers Sons & Maxim at Barrow-in-Furness, now more famous for its building of submarines than of surface ships. She was the first ship of the Liverpool lineage to be built in the 20th century, and the first Liverpool to be built of steel.

She was launched on 30 October 1909 and was armed with 2 × 6 inch and 10 × 4 inch guns. She was commissioned in October the following year.

She served with the 1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet upon her commissioning. By the outbreak of World War I, Liverpool was part of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron.

She took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. During the battle, Liverpool assisted in the rescue of the crew of the German cruiser Mainz.

Audacious sinking after hitting a mine.

Two months later, Liverpool and RMS Olympic attempted to rescue the crew of the battleship Audacious after that ship had hit a mine on 27 October. Liverpool and Olympic made numerous attempts to take Audacious under tow but she blew up and capsized at 20:45. Flying debris from the battleship caused the death of a petty officer onboard Liverpool. None of Audacious' crew were lost.

At the end of 1915, Liverpool was detached from the Grand Fleet to take part in the search for the armed merchant cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm off the West African coast. Liverpool's search for the German cruiser proved fruitless and she arrived in Liverpool for boiler repairs in June . Upon the completion of the repairs later in the year, Liverpool was sent to the Mediterranean.

In 1918, Liverpool joined the Aegean Squadron, moving to the Adriatic where she remained until the end of the war in 1918. She operated in the Black Sea in support of the 'White' Army in the Russian Civil War until 1919.

She was later placed in Reserve and subsequently put on the disposal list. On 8 November 1921, Liverpool was sold, ironically, to Germany for breaking up.

See HMS Liverpool for other ships of the name.