HMS Dublin (1912)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Town-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Dublin |
| Builder: | William Beardmore and Company |
| Laid down: | April 1911 |
| Launched: | 30 April 1912 |
| Commissioned: | December 1912 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping July 1926 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 5,400 tons |
| Length: | 457 ft (139 m) Overall |
| Beam: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft 9 in (4.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Parsons turbines Four screws Yarrow boilers 25,000 hp |
| Speed: | 25.5 knots (47 km/h) |
| Range: | carried 750 tons (1240 tons maximum) coal 260 tons fuel oil |
| Complement: | 429-440 |
| Armament: | 8 × 6 inch guns 1 × 3 inch AA gun 4 × 3 pdr guns 4 × machine guns 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | 2 inch deck on slopes 3 inch side amidships |
HMS Dublin, alongside Chatham and Southampton, was a Town class light cruiser of the Chatham subgroup, each costing an average £334,053. She was laid down on April 11, 1911 by Wm. Beardmore & Company in Dalmuir (near Glasgow) Scotland. HMS Dublin was launched on April 30, 1912 and completed in March 1913.
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[edit] Pre-war career
She was initially assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron in 1913 and then to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron in July 1913, operating in the Mediterranean. She was then reassigned to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron from September 1913 to the end of 1914.
[edit] Pursuit of the Goeben
Captain John D. Kelly (1871-1936 Later Admiral of the Fleet, G.C.B., G.C.V.O.) pursued the German cruiser Goeben at Messina (off the north coast of Sicily) August 4, 1914 just prior to the outbreak of WWI. On August 6 after having completed coaling, Dublin left Malta at 14:00 to join the Rear Admiral. At 20:30 she received orders to obtain the Goeben's course and sink her during the night, by torpedoes if possible. Observing at a distance, Kelly expected to engage around 03:30 but the Goeben had unexpectedly altered course to the north. The chase was lost as a daylight attack would be suicidal; Goeben’s largest guns could accurately fire explosive shells up to 15 miles away.
[edit] Gallipoli and torpedoing
In February 1915, Dublin was sent to the Dardanelles and subsequently assisted Implacable's landing assault upon Gallipoli, on April 25, 1915 at X Beach. She was then sent to Brindisi in May 1915. While taking part in a sweep off the Albanian coast, and whilst escorted by French and Italian destroyers, Dublin was hit and damaged by a torpedo from Austrian submarine U-4 on 9 June 1915. Dublin was able to get underway at 17 knots and to return to Brindisi but was out of action for several months and had to return to the UK for refit.
[edit] In home waters
Dublin served in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron alongside Southampton, Birmingham and Nottingham with the Grand fleet (Home) from 1916 to 1919. Now under Captain Scott (Albert Charles Scott 1872-1969, later Vice Admiral; HMS Dublin 1916-1918), she participated in the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916. During the subsequent night actions, Dublin fired 117 6-inch shells and along with Southampton, attacked and sank a destroyer. Both ships however sustained severe damage and three crew members were killed and 27 wounded when Dublin received five 5.9 shell inch hits from the SMS Elbing and eight 4.1-inch shell hits from Stuttgart (possibly also Frauenlob and Hamburg). Subsequent repairs to Dublin were not completed until June 17.
On May 3, 1917 in the North Sea, Dublin with HMAS Sydney and four destroyers (Nepean, Obdurate, Pelican, Pylades), left Rosyth for a sweep between the mouths of the Forth and the Humber. At 10:25 Dublin observed the Zeppelin L43 about 17 miles away to the east, rapidly approaching a strange vessel; both cruisers promptly made for the enemy, opening fire on it at extreme range. At 10:54 Dublin saw the track of a torpedo passing ahead of her, at 11:12 a submarine was sighted, and at 11:15 another one was spotted, which fired two torpedoes at her. At 11:20 she sighted a third, which she engaged with her guns and on which she dropped a depth-charge. The Zeppelin made a direct attack: making for the stern of Dublin, and rising hastily as it flew, it endeavoured to obtain a position vertically above the cruiser in order to drop bombs on her - an attempt which was foiled by Dublin's hurried swerve to starboard.
[edit] Post-war career
Dublin was then commissioned for the 6th squadron at the Africa Station from January 1920 until 1924, though she served for a short time in April with the 3rd squadron in the Mediterranean until being sent to the Reserve at Nore in 1924. She was sold to J.J. King at Troon in July 1926 for scrapping, but Dublin ran aground on the way to the breakers. She was refloated in July 1927 and broken up later that year.
[edit] References
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
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