HMS ''Diadem'' was the lead ship of the of protected cruiser in 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 ...

Service history

''Diadem'' was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd at

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. She was laid down on 23 January 1896, and launched on 21 October 1896, when she was named by Lady Currie, wife of Castle Line shipowner Sir Donald Currie. She served in the Easter Division of the

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under the command of Captain

Harry Seawell Niblett Harry Seawell Frank Niblett, CVO (31 October 1852 – 26 December 1939) was a Royal Navy officer before the First World War. Niblett entered the Royal Navy, was promoted to lieutenant on 31 March 1874, and to commander on 1 January 1887. H ...

, and was briefly docked at

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in January 1900 to make good defects. In March 1901 ''Diadem'' was one of two cruisers to escort , commissioned as royal yacht for the world tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George and Queen Mary), from

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

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, and in September the same year she again escorted the royal yacht from St Vincent to

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. In January 1902 it was announced that she would be put out of commission due to ''"defects which will take some time to remedy"''. She was paid off at

on 11 February 1902, and in May transported to Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in

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for repairs to her hull and machinery. She was back at Sheerness in early December 1902. The ship was reactivated and sent to China Station where ''Diadem'' became the flagship of the vice-admiral until 1907. The vessel then returned home and was paid off in April 1907. She was then assigned to the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

based at Portsmouth from 1907–1912 before transferring to the Third Fleet. The ship was refitted in 1909.''Conways'', p.11 ''Diadem'' served in 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 ...

with her sisters. In 1914 the vessel was used as a stokers' training ship, and was placed in reserve in October 1915. She was returned to being a stokers' training ship in January 1918, and survived the war to be sold to Thos. W. Ward of Morecambe for breaking up on 9 May 1921.

Notes

References

* * Robert Gardiner (ed.) (1985). ''Conways All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921.'' London: Conway Maritime Press.
Diadem class at worldwar1.co.uk

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diadem (1898) Diadem-class cruisers Ships built on the River Clyde 1896 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom