H.M.S. Amphitrite (1898)

H.M.S. Amphitrite (1898)
Pendant Number:	D.52 (1914) Compass (Sep 1915) P.7C (Jan 1918)
Builder:	Vickers, Barrow
Ordered:	1896-97 Programme
Laid down:	8 Dec, 1896
Launched:	5 Jan, 1898
Commissioned:	17 Sep, 1901
Sold:	12 Apr, 1920
Fate:	to Ward, Milford Haven

H.M.S. Amphitirite was one of eight Diadem class protected cruisers completed for the Royal Navy at the end of the nineteenth century.

Service

In August 1900, she was one of six cruisers along with Sans Pareil ordered to receive wireless telegraphy systems.

In mid-1913, she was being used to train stokers in Devonport.

She was converted to a minelayer at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, emerging on 9 August, 1917 with four 6-in guns, a 4-in H.A. gun and a capacity of 354 mines. She went to work with the First Minelaying Squadron, helping lay the Northern Mine Barrage. The general British dissatisfaction with their minelayer types extended to her, as a post-war report summarised her suitability by saying that Amphitrite "has nothing to recommend her," and that she had not enough room on her mining deck.

On 8 September, 1918, she collided with Nessus in the North Sea, sinking the destroyer.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain William B. Fisher, 16 July, 1901  (for the Annual Manoeuvres of 1901)
• Captain William S. Rees, 17 September, 1901 – 20 March, 1902
• Captain Charles Windham, 21 March, 1902 – 11 August, 1905
• Captain Cecil S. Hickley, 11 August, 1905 – 7 December, 1906
• Captain Francis W. Kennedy, 6 December, 1906 – 20 August, 1907
• Captain Edward F. Bruen, 20 August, 1907 – 27 September, 1908
• Commander Arthur Halsey, 28 April, 1908
• Commander (I) Arthur R. Raby, 24 March, 1910 – 7 March, 1912
• Commander Ernest Henslowe, 7 March, 1912 – 8 September, 1913
• Commander Cecil F. L. Watson, 8 September, 1913 – 5 August, 1914  (hospitalised)
• Captain Hubert Grant-Dalton, 1 August, 1914 – 1 June, 1915
• Captain Henry B. T. Somerville, May, 1915 – 11 July, 1915^[Inference]
• Commander (retired) William H. FitzClarence, 11 July, 1915 – 23 September, 1915
• Commander Cecil A. Severn, 2 October, 1915 – 13 March, 1916  (committed suicide)
• Captain Edmund C. Carver, 27 June, 1917
• Captain Harry H. Smyth, 27 September, 1917 – 3 January, 1918
• Captain Cyril Peel, late March, 1918 – 3 November, 1918  (discharged with influenza)
• Captain Reginald J. N. Watson, 6 November, 1918 – 1 February, 1919
• Captain George P. England, 27 January, 1919 – 28 February, 1919
• Commander Francis E. M. Garforth, 28 April, 1919 – 1 May, 1919
• Commander William W. Wilson, 27 May, 1919 – 23 July, 1919

Torpedoes

In 1904, in a competition to investigate how rapidly submerged tubes could be fired four times sequentially, starting with the tube loaded and the bar out, the ship's crew was able to do this in 5 minutes, 15 seconds.  The best time was achieved by Cressy at 50.75 seconds, though times of 3-5 minutes were more typical.

See Also

• Ship's Logs transcribed at Naval-History.net
• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).