HMS ''Phaeton'' was one of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. She fought in the First World War, 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, 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 was at normalFriedman 2010, p. 384 and at full load. ''Phaeton'' was powered by four

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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 .Pearsall, Part I, p. 210 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 tubes in two twin mounts.

Construction and career

The ship was launched on 21 October 1914 at Vickers Limited's shipyard. On being commissioned, she was assigned to the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet, and between February and March 1915 was operating in the Dardanelles in support of the Allied landings at Gallipoli. On ''Phaeton''s return to home waters, she was assigned to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet and by mid-April 1915 she was operating out of

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

. On 4 May 1916 she took part in shooting down the Zeppelin ''L 7''. On 31 May to 1 June 1916 ''Phaeton'' took part in the Battle of Jutland. She survived the First World War, and was sold for scrapping on 16 January 1923 to King, of Troon.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Ships of the Arethusa classBattle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Phaeton Crew List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phaeton Arethusa-class cruisers (1913) 1914 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom