HMS Niobe (1897)
|
|
|---|---|
 HMS, then HMCS Niobe |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | December 16, 1895 |
| Launch | February 20, 1897 |
| Commissioning | December 6, 1898 |
| Whereabouts | Canceled in Philadelphia in 1922 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
11,000 t |
| length |
140.97 m over everything, |
| width |
21.05 m |
| Draft |
7.77 m |
| crew |
677 men |
| drive |
30 Belleville boiler |
| speed |
20.25 kn |
| Range |
2,000 nm at 19 knots, |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
Harvey type |
| Armored deck |
65 to 102 mm |
| Casemates and protective shields |
114 mm |
| Ammunition lifts |
52 mm |
| Command tower |
305 mm |
| Sister ships |
HMS Diadem , HMS Andromeda , HMS Europa , HMS Argonaut , HMS Amphitrite , HMS Ariadne , HMS Spartiate |
The protected cruiser HMS Niobe entered service as the second of eight Diadem- class ships in the Royal Navy in 1898.
In 1910 the Niobe was sold to the newly formed Royal Canadian Navy and was the first cruiser to enter service. After a brief war mission, the HMCS Niobe was no longer operational at the end of 1915, was used as a training ship and was demolished in 1922.
resume
The HMS Niobe was built by Vickers Ltd. at the shipyard . Started in Barrow-in-Furness as the second ship of the Diadem class in December 1895, launched on February 20, 1897 and arrived on December 6, 1898 as the second ship of the class and fourth ship of the Royal Navy named Niobe in Service.
From October 20, 1899, Niobe , which had previously been serving in her home waters, moved to South Africa , where she arrived on November 25 and remained stationed until August 23, 1900. During this mission she supported on December 4, 1899 in St. Helena Bay the rescue of the troops from the steamer Ismore, which had run aground at St Columbine Point . In April 1900 she transported captured Boers, including General Piet Cronjé , to St. Helena for internment.
After returning to the Channel Squadron , she and her sister ship HMS Diadem accompanied the royal yacht Ophir with the heir to the throne and wife on board from Portsmouth to Gibraltar on its voyage to Australia for the opening of parliament there from mid-March 1901 . The Ophir continued the voyage, accompanied by cruisers from the stations it touched, through the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, via Aden , Colombo , Singapore to Australia. She also visited New Zealand and returned via South Africa to visit Canada . Niobe and Diadem met again with the royal yacht in São Vicente (Cape Verde) , replaced the two accompanying cruisers from Aden ( HMS St George , HMS Juno ) and accompanied the heir to the throne couple to Canada and from there to their homeland.
In the summer of 1906 the cruiser was part of the reserve units in Devonport .
Canadian Navy cruiser
The decision to build up their own navies in the larger Commonwealth of Nations led to the sale of the Niobe and HMS Rainbow to the newly founded Royal Canadian Navy in 1910 . It is considered their first ship. It entered service in Devonport on September 6, 1910 and reached Halifax on October 21.
The Rainbow of Apollo class Although presented already on 4 August 1910 in Portsmouth in service, but was only with the arrival in Esquimalt a Canadian ship on November 7.
On the night of July 30th to 31st, 1911, the Niobe ran aground off Sable Island , Nova Scotia . With the support of the armored cruiser HMS Cornwall , which ran aground in the process, and the high tide, the Niobe was released, but was significantly damaged. The hull had a multitude of holes and a machine was under water. The repairs took 18 months and the cruiser's top speed was permanently reduced. But she continued to serve as a training ship.
War effort
The Canadian HMCS Niobe joined the 4th cruiser squadron of the Royal Navy at the North America and West Indies station after the start of the war . The main forces of the squadron under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock were located further south at the beginning of the war because of the civil war in Mexico and tried to provide the German cruisers SMS Karlsruhe and SMS Dresden also used there . After the mobilization, Cradock marched further south with the armored cruisers HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth, who had joined them for reinforcement, and was defeated by the German cruiser squadron under Graf Spee in the sea battle at Coronel .
The Niobe tried - not without success - to land German ships off the US coast. After a year of service, the rather worn ship was decommissioned on September 6, 1915 in Halifax . She then only served as a stationary training and staff ship. It was badly damaged in the great Halifax explosion on December 6, 1917, when the French ammunition freighter Mont Blanc caused one of the largest explosions in history in the port of Halifax . 18 crew members died. The damaged ship continued to be used until 1920 when it was finally decommissioned and sold for demolition, which took place in Philadelphia in 1922 .
swell
- David K. Brown: Warrior to Dreadnought. Warship Development 1860-1905. Caxton Editions, London 2003, ISBN 1-84067-529-2 .
- Roger Chesneau (Ed.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy. The complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present. New revised edition. Chatham, London 2006, ISBN 1-86176-281-X .
- Fred T. Jane: The British Battle Fleet. Its Inception and Growth throughout the Centuries. Reprinted Edition. Conway Maritime Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-723-6 .
