HMS Aurora (1913)
.jpg) HMS Aurora after 1917
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HMS Aurora was an Arethusa-class light cruiser that entered service for the Royal Navy in the fall of 1914 . The Aurora took part in the Dogger Bank Battle in World War I and was awarded for it.
The cruiser was handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1920 . As early as 1922, the Aurora was decommissioned for cost reasons, and in 1927 it was separated and canceled.
Story of the aurora
On October 24, 1912, the keel-laying of the first cruiser of the newly constructed Arethusa class took place at the naval shipyard in Devonport . On November 30, 1913, the new cruiser was launched as the Royal Navy's seventh Aurora . An armored cruiser of the Orlando class from 1887 to 1907 previously bore the name . In September 1914, the cruiser came into service with the Royal Navy as the third ship of its class.
The cruisers of this new class were to lead the destroyer flotillas of the Grand Fleet. They displaced 3750 long tons with normal load and 4400 long tons with maximum equipment. They were 436 ft (133 m) long, up to 39 ft (11.88 m) wide, and had a normal draft of 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m). The eight Yarrow boilers on the new cruisers generated steam for Parsons turbines , which powered four shafts and developed up to 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW). The new cruisers could reach up to 28.5 knots (52.8 km / h) with this machine system. The cruisers had a fuel supply of 875 long tons of oil.
Aurora had an armor belt 1 to 3 inches (25.4-76 mm) thick and an armored deck of 1 inch. Upon completion, the cruiser was armed with a mixed armament of two 6 inch (152 mm) L / 45 Mk.XII cannons and six 4 inch (102 mm) L / 45 Mk.IV rapid-fire guns, as well as a single 3 -pdr flak (47 mm) and four 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in two sets of twins.
During the war, the 47 mm Flak was replaced by a 3 in (76 mm) -20 cwt gun in 1915 , to which a second was added in 1917. In 1917 two more torpedo tube twins were also installed on the forecastle. For this purpose, the cruiser was temporarily converted for use as a mine layer by removing the torpedo tubes and mine rails on the sides and dropping racks on the stern.
The crew of the cruiser consisted of 282 to 323 men.
Operations in World War
Aurora was from September 1914 to February 1915 leader of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force , commanded by Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt . The unit was at sea on December 14, 1914 to intercept the German unit under Admiral Franz von Hipper , which was attacking cities on the east coast of England. Bad weather prevented a successful intervention by the flotilla, which was returning to Yarmouth.
When Hipper advanced to Dogger Bank in January 1915 with three battlecruisers , an armored cruiser, three light cruisers and 19 large torpedo boats (called destroyers ), the Admiralty was able to decipher the order in good time. Tyrwhitt's units then left Harwich at 5:30 pm on January 23, including the Aurora . At sea, Tyrwhitt's association merged with the battlecruisers under Admiral David Beatty . On the morning of January 24th, Aurora and most of Tyrwhitt's units encountered Hipper's unit. First the Aurora spotted a three-chimney cruiser and four destroyers. Aurora approached 8000 yards (7300 m), believing she was facing Tyrwhitt's flagship, Arethusa , which had left before her . The German cruiser Kolberg opened fire on the Aurora and scored three hits. Aurora returned fire, also scored two hits and alerted the fleet. In the following battle of the battle cruisers, the German armored cruiser Blücher was sunk. The Aurora was awarded the Battle Honor DOGGER BANK 24 January 1915 for its participation in the naval battle .
In February 1915, the Aurora became leader of the Harwich Force's 10th Destroyer Flotilla , which oversaw access to the English Channel . The flotilla consisted of the early M-class destroyers . There the cruiser was equipped with a launch platform for an aircraft on the forecastle. The machines used should be used against zeppelins . The installation turned out to be unusable because it could not take off quickly enough to intercept a zeppelin and was dismantled in August 1915.
In March 1916, the Aurora was involved in the attack with seaplanes from the Vindex on the airship base suspected in Hoyer . The cruiser secured the attempt to bring the severely damaged destroyer Medusa home. When two more cruisers were damaged by collision, the attempt was canceled in very bad weather and the threat of being cut off by German countermeasures and the Medusa abandoned. → Medea class
At the end of 1916, the 10th flotilla led by the Aurora consisted of the “Leader” Nimrod , fourteen M-class destroyers, including seven specials from Yarrow , Thornycroft and Hawthorn Leslie as well as the Melpomene of the Medea class . In addition, the Starfish , one of the first R-class destroyers , was assigned to the association.
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In early 1917, the cruiser moved to the Centaur- led 5th Light Cruiser Squadron , where it remained until March 1918. The cruiser squadron consisted of six other C-class cruisers , the Aurora and its sister ships Undauted and Penelope, and the seaplane carrier Vindex . The 3-pdr anti-aircraft gun had meanwhile been replaced by a 3-inch (76 mm) -20 cwt rapid-fire gun, which was positioned behind the funnels on the center line. In 1917 the cruiser received a second anti-aircraft gun of this type. In May 1917, the cruiser was prepared for the dropping of sea mines , of which up to 74 could be carried. In three missions, the Aurora laid 212 mines. At the end of 1917, the cruiser received a front tripod mast with a fire control station and another pair of twin torpedo tubes on the forecastle, which were later moved to the rear. In March 1918, the Aurora was transferred to the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron at the Grand Fleet and was one of the British ships that were present at the handover of the German fleet after the surrender.
After the end of the war until 1920, the cruiser was not used. The crew was reduced to a small maintenance team and the rest was distributed to other units. From March 1919 to August 1920 the cruiser was in Devonport. Then he was taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy.
Use at the RCN
In March 1920, the Canadian government accepted the British offer to take over a cruiser and two destroyers from the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy offered various ships as gifts, and even a capital ship was considered. Due to the low staffing of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the gift was reduced to three ships to replace the two totally outdated cruisers Rainbow and Niobe . The Royal Navy's offer then consisted of the cruiser Glasgow and two Talisman-class destroyers . The Canadians wanted the most modern standard ships possible with little special training requirements. The cruiser offered did not meet expectations, as the basic design of this class no longer met the most modern requirements. The Canadians also preferred pure oil firing for their new ships. The remaining Arethusa- class cruisers were then proposed by the Royal Navy . Ultimately, the choice fell on the Aurora , as the machinery of the Royalist also considered was in a somewhat more worn-out condition. In September 1920, the destroyers Patriot and Patrician of the Thornycroft M-Class were selected for delivery to Canada. Together, the Aurora and the two destroyers were taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy in Devonport on November 1, 1920 and the "given away" association then moved across the North Atlantic to Halifax in December , where it arrived shortly before Christmas. The new ships of the RCN could be viewed by the population on Christmas days. The transfer of the association revealed a basic problem of the RCN: the lack of trained personnel. The Aurora had a large crew of 323 men, but many specialist positions were vacant and 47 men on board had no seamanship training.
Aurora , Patrician and Patriot began a training trip to the Caribbean and the Canadian Pacific coast in the spring of 1921 . The association ran north to the Canadian naval base Esquimalt on the Pacific coast after passing the Panama Canal . The association called at a large number of ports. A visit to Puntarenas , Costa Rica , on July 6, was also made to highlight the interests of the Royal Bank of Canada in a dispute with the Costa Rican government over oil production there. The Canadian government describes the detour of the ships as "it was more of a trade mission than gunboat diplomacy". The trip is also said to have served to distribute secret documents to British representations. On July 30, 1921, the association returned to Halifax.
In the winter of 1921/1922 the first training exercise of the Aurora and the two destroyers took place with the 8th light cruiser squadron of the Royal Navy stationed at the North America and West Indies station . In addition to the flagship Raleigh the disposal 8th LCS on the light cruiser Calcutta , Cambrian and Constance of the C-Class . The quality and diligence of the Canadian crews were praised by the commanding British admiral. In April, the association returned to Halifax from its last closed mission.
A change of government and the poor budget situation forced the Aurora to be decommissioned and disarmed on July 1, 1922 . In addition to the weapons, a number of other equipment that was used on land during training units or on other ships was also dismantled. The Aurora's hull lay on a pier at Halifax Naval Base until 1927 the city complained about the sad sight of the crumbling ship. The Royal Canadian Navy then sold the ship for demolition in August 1927, which took place in Sorel-Tracy (Québec).
The two destroyers that were given away to Canada with the Aurora did not have long periods of service there either. They left the service of the RCN in 1927 and were then canceled. → HMCS Patriot
literature
- Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981 , Ian Allan 1983, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7 .
- Fred Dittmar, Jim Colledge: British Warships 1914-1919 , Ian Allen 1972, ISBN 0-7110-0380-7 .
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Hans H. Hildebrand / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present , Koehler's publishing company, Herford, seven volumes
- William Johnston, William GP Rawling, Richard H. Gimblett, John MacFarlane: The Seabound Coast: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1867-1939 , Dundurn Press, Toronto (2010), ISBN 978-1-55488-908-2
- Robert Massie: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the winning of the Great War at sea. Johnathan Cape, 2004, ISBN 0-224-04092-8 .
Web links
- Arethusa Class - 7 Ships Jane´s 1919, p. 88
- HMCS Aurora on .canada.ca
- HMCS Aurora on forposterityssake.ca
- HMS Aurora (1913)
- ARETHUSA light cruisers (1914-1915) UK
- AURORA light cruiser (1914/1920) CAN
- The Naval Service of Canada 1910-2010 The Interwar Years
Individual evidence
- ^ Massie: Castles of Steel , p. 333
- ^ Massie: Castles of Steel , p. 344
- ^ Massie: Castles of Steel , p. 374
- ^ Massie: Castles of Steel , p. 378f.
- ↑ Hildebrand :, Vol. 4, p. 49
- ^ Massie: Castles of Steel , pp. 382f.
- ↑ 10th Destroyer Flotilla ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b William Schleihauf: “Necessary stepping stones ...” The Transfer of Aurora, Patriot and Patrician to the Royal Canadian Navy after the First World War
- ↑ a b The Interwar Years
- ↑ Johnston et al. a .:, The Seabound Coast: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1867-1939 , p. 882
