HMS ''Inconstant'' was one 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 fought 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 ...

, participating in the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

. Following the war, she was scrapped.

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. ''Inconstant'' was powered by four

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, 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 tons 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 was two BL 6-inch (152 mm) 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 4-inch 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 service

The ship was launched on 6 July 1914 at William Beardmore and Company shipyard. On being commissioned, she was assigned to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. On 31 May to 1 June 1916 ''Inconstant'' took part in the Battle of Jutland. She survived the battle and the

, and was sold for scrapping on 9 June 1922 to Cashmore, of Newport.Gardiner & Gray, p. 56

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Ships of the Arethusa class
* OldWeather.org transcription of ship's logbooks December 1914 to February 1915
Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Inconstant Crew List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inconstant Arethusa-class cruisers (1913) 1914 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom