HMS Cynthia (1898)
.jpg) HMS Cynthia | |
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Cynthia |
| Ordered: | 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates |
| Builder: | John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick |
| Yard number: | 321 |
| Laid down: | 25 September 1897 |
| Launched: | 3 September 1898 |
| Commissioned: | February 1900 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking, 29 April 1920 |
| General characteristics [1][2] | |
| Class and type: | Two funnel, 30-knot destroyer |
| Displacement: | 270 t (266 long tons) standard 352 t (346 long tons) full load |
| Length: | 210 ft (64 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) |
| Draught: | 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) |
| Installed power: | 5,700 shp (4,300 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × Thornycroft water tube boilers 2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 30 kn (56 km/h) |
| Range: | 80 tons coal 1,310 nmi (2,430 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h) |
| Complement: | 65 officers and men |
| Armament: | 1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 gun on a P Mark I low angle mount 5 × QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 gun on a Mark I* low angle mount 2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes |
| Service record | |
|---|---|
| Operations: | World War I 1914 - 1918 |
HMS Cynthia was a two funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates. She was the third ship to carry this name.[1][2] She was launched in 1898, served in home waters and the Mediterranean before World War I, and as a tender to the gunnery school at Sheerness during the war. She was sold for breaking in 1920.
Construction
She was laid down as yard number 321 on 16 July 1896 at the John I. Thornycroft & Company shipyard at Chiswick on the River Thames. She was launched on 8 January 1898. During her builder’s trials her maximum average speed was 30.2 knots, then proceeded to Portsmouth to have her armament fitted. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in June of 1899. During her acceptance trials and work ups her average sea speed was 25 knots.[2]
Service
After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla. In August 1901 she was commissioned to serve at the Mediterranean Station,[3] and in May 1902 she completed a refit at Sheerness Dockyard. Lieutenant Rowland Henry Bather was appointed in command,[4] but was reassigned before taking up the position and Lieutenant Alan Cameron Bruce was lent in command of the ship for passage ″out″ during late Spring 1902, when she was stationed at Malta.[5]
On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by letters. she was assigned to the D class along with other destroyers of 30-knots with two funnels. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an D-class destroyer and had the letter ‘D’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.[6]
By August 1914 she was in active commission at The Nore Local Flotilla based at Sheerness tendered to HMS Actaeon, the school of gunnery.) She remained in this deployment for the duration of the First World War.[7]
Decommissioning and disposal
In 1919 she was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. Cynthia was sold on 29 April 1920 to Thomas Ward of Sheffield for breaking at Rainham, Kent, on the Thames Estuary.[8]
Pennant numbers
| Pennant number[8] | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| N09 | 6 Dec 1914 | 1 Sep 1915 |
| D39 | 1 Sep 1915 | 1 Jan 1918 |
| D23 | 1 Jan 1918 | 29 Apr 1920 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships (1898), pp.84-85.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I (1919) p.76.
- ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Monday, 5 August 1901. (36525), p. 8.
- ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Saturday, 26 April 1902. (36752), p. 11.
- ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Wednesday, 7 May 1902. (36761), p. 10.
- ↑ Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906 to 1922. Conway Maritime Press. 2006. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0 85177 245 5.
- ↑ "HMS Cynthia". Late 18th, 19th and early 20th Century Naval and Naval Social History.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". Retrieved 1 Jun 2013.
Publications
- 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. OCLC 67375475.
- Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company.
- Jane, Fred T. (1990) [1919]. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing. ISBN 1 85170 378 0.
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