H.M.S. Carysfort (1914)

H.M.S. Carysfort (1914)
Pendant Number:	88 (1914) 31 (Jan 1918) 22 (Apr 1918)
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie & Company
Laid down:	25 Feb, 1914
Launched:	14 Nov, 1914
Commissioned:	Jun, 1915
Sold:	1931
Fate:	to McLellan

H.M.S. Carysfort was one of six Caroline class light cruisers completed for the Royal Navy early in the Great War.

Service

After serving in the Grand Fleet as part of the Fourth Light Cruiser Squadron, in April 1916, Carysfort relieved the damaged Conquest in the Fifth Light Cruiser Squadron, which was a component of the Harwich Force.

In March 1918 she moved to join the Seventh Light Cruiser Squadron. By May 1918, she would be flying the broad pendant of Commodore, Second Class George Holmes Borrett, who would be promoted to Rear-Admiral on 16 August. Following the disestablishment of 7 L.C.S. in February or March, 1919, Carysfort would remain in commission and be tasked with "Miscellaneous Service."

Carysfort was re-commissioned at Devonport on 28 May, 1919 to join the Second Light Cruiser Squadron, which was tasked with screening the Third Battle Squadron.

Carysfort was re-commissioned at Devonport on 6 January, 1925. In early September of that year, she was to undergo substantial repairs at Rosyth which would require her to be relieved in the Second Cruiser Squadron, Atlantic Fleet by H.M.S. Comus, which had been paid off and undergoing repairs at Devonport. Carysfort's crew would transfer to Comus, and a separate navigation party would bring Carysfort to Rosyth.

Carysfort paid off into the Reserve Fleet, Devonport on 20 December, 1926.

She was re-commissioned at Devonport with a Reserve Complement on 25 July, 1927.

Carysfort was transferred to Dockyard Control at Devonport on 28 April, 1931. She wqas prepared for sale in mid-June, 1931.

Alterations

In 1915-1916, she was given a Wise Pressure Telegraphy System Type B to trial for torpedo control. Based on this trial, in 1917, she likely received Chadburn's Torpedo Order Telegraphs and had her Wise gauges redone to indicate Torpedo Deflection only, as well as having Barr and Stroud instruments provided to acknowledge torpedo orders given via Wise and Chadburn.

Carysfort was one of just six light cruisers listed as having a Turret Control Table in her T.S. in June 1918. If and when this was provided is uncertain.

She was fitted with a director in January, 1918. This alteration required her pole mast to be replaced with a tripod mast for greater rigidity.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain Arthur K. Waistell, 21 January, 1915 – 8 February, 1915
• Captain Albert P. Addison, 9 February, 1915 – August, 1915
• Captain Charles J. Wintour, August, 1915 – 26 April, 1916  (and as Captain (D), Fourth Destroyer Flotilla)
• Captain Barry E. Domvile, 26 April, 1916
• Captain Henry G. E. Lane, 20 July, 1916 – April, 1918
• Captain Aubrey Lambert, 16 August, 1918 – 19 April, 1919
• Captain Ralph Collins, 19 May, 1919 – 23 June, 1920
• Captain Alfred F. B. Carpenter, March, 1921 – 5 April, 1923
• Captain Patrick E. Parker, 5 April, 1923 – 23 April, 1924
• Captain Edward C. Boyle, 23 April, 1924 – 30 April, 1925^[Inference]
• Captain G. Frederick B. Edward-Collins, 30 April, 1925 – 8 September, 1925
• Captain Herbert A. Buchanan-Wollaston, 16 August, 1926 – 10 January, 1927
• Commander Philip G. Wodehouse, early 1927 – 18 April, 1927
• Captain George L. Massey, 18 April, 1927 – 25 July, 1927
• Captain Herbert A. Buchanan-Wollaston, 25 July, 1927 – 17 April, 1928  (and as Senior Officer, Reserve Fleet, Devonport)
• Captain Aubrey T. Tillard, 17 April, 1928 – 1 February, 1929
• Captain Arnold Maitland-Dougall, January, 1929 – 10 September, 1929
• Commander Frederic A. H. Russel, 22 October, 1929 – 5 January, 1930
• Captain Edward B. Cloete, 3 November, 1929 – 4 May, 1931  (and as Senior Officer, Reserve Fleet, Devonport)
• Commander James R. C. Cavendish, 6 January, 1930 – 26 April, 1931

Cloete seems to contradict Russel and Cavendish.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.
• Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
• Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
• Admiralty, Technical History Section (1919). The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in H.M. Ships. Vol. 3, Part 23. C.B. 1515 (23) now O.U. 6171/14. At The National Archives. ADM 275/19.