HMS ''Arethusa'' was the

name ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of her class of eight light cruisers built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in the 1910s. She saw a considerable amount of action during the early years of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, participating in the Battle of Heligoland Bight and the Battle of Dogger Bank.

Design and description

The ''Arethusa''-class cruisers were intended to lead

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

flotillas and defend the fleet against attacks by enemy destroyers. The ships were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a deep draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was at normalFriedman 2010, p. 384 and at full load. ''Arethusa'' was powered by four Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, which produced a total of . The turbines used steam generated by eight Yarrow boilers which gave her a speed of about .Gardiner & Gray, p. 55 She carried of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

that gave a range of at . The main armament of the ''Arethusa''-class ships consisted of two BL Mk XII guns that were mounted on the centreline fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and six QF Mk V guns in waist mountings. They were also fitted with a single QF 3-pounder

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

and four

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in two twin mounts.

Construction and career

She was laid down at Chatham Dockyard in October 1912, launched on 25 October 1913, and commissioned in August 1914 as flotilla leader for the

Harwich Force The Harwich Force originally called Harwich Striking Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War and based in Harwich. It played a significant role in the war. History After the outbreak of the First World War, a p ...

. On 28 August 1914, she fought at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, flying the flag of Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. She was seriously damaged by the German cruisers and and had to be towed home. On 25 December, ''Arethusa'' took part in the

Cuxhaven Raid The Raid on Cuxhaven (german: link=no, Weihnachtsangriff, Christmas Raid) was a British ship-based Airstrike, air-raid on the Imperial German Navy at Cuxhaven mounted on Christmas Day, 1914. Aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service were carried ...

and on 24 January 1915 she fought at the Battle of Dogger Bank. Later in the same year, she was transferred to the

5th Light Cruiser Squadron Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

of the Harwich Force. In September 1915, she captured four German trawlers. On 11 February 1916, she struck a mine off

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

, drifted onto a

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

while under tow, and broke her back. Approximately near Harwich (51.925, 1.295)

Legacy

One of the four relief panels on Brierley Hill War Memorial, in Dudley, England, depicts ''Arethusa'' sending out its boats to rescue German sailors from a ship it had sunk. One of ''Arethusa''s 4-inch guns was salvaged from the wreck on 27 March 1916. It was fitted to the yacht ''Vittoria'', serving as a minesweeper, until 27 February 1918. It was then taken on by the drill ship HMS ''Satellite'' on 25 September 1920, where it was used in anti-submarine training until the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was presented by the shipbreaking firm J. G. Potts to the Armstrong & Aviation Museum at

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland. It is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have ...

on 16 February 1948, where it remains as of 2024.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arethusa Arethusa-class cruisers (1913) 1913 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by mines World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea Ships built in Chatham