HMS Andromeda (1897)

Andromeda at anchor at Weihaiwei, China, 1904.

HMS Andromeda was one of eight protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Upon completion in 1899, the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet where she helped to escort a royal yacht during its cruise through the Mediterranean Sea. After a refit, she was assigned to the China Station in 1904 and returned home three years later to be reduced to reserve. Andromeda was converted into a training ship in 1913 and remained in that role under various names until 1956. That year she was sold for scrap and broken up in Belgium, the last Pembroke-built ship still afloat.Template:Sfn

Design and description

The Diadem class was designed to protect British merchant shipping from fast cruisers like the Russian Template:Sfn and were smaller versions of the . The ships had a length between perpendiculars of , a beam of and a draught of . They displaced . The first batch of Diadems were powered by a pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which were designed to produce a total of and a maximum speed of using steam provided by 30 Belleville boilers. They carried a maximum of of coalTemplate:Sfn and their hulls were sheathed with copper to reduce biofouling. Their complement numbered 677 officers and ratings.Template:Sfn

The main armament of the Diadem-class ships consisted of 16 quick-firing (QF) QF guns. Four of these were on the forecastle and in the stern, all protected by gun shields. The remaining dozen guns were in armoured casemates on each broadside.Template:Sfn The ships carried 200 rounds per gun.Template:Sfn Protection against torpedo boats was provided by a dozen QF 12-pounder , 12-cwt guns,Template:Sfn for which 300 rounds per gun was provided,Template:Sfn and 3 QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns.Template:Sfn In addition, the ships carried a pair of Ordnance QF 12-pounder 8-cwt landing guns for use ashore. The ships were also armed with a pair of submerged 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.Template:Sfn

The sloped armoured deck ranged in thickness from on the flat and slopes, respectively.Template:Sfn The casemates were protected by 6 inches of Harvey armourTemplate:Sfn while the gun shields had of armour.Template:Sfn The conning towers were protected by walls and their roofs were 2 inches thick.Template:Sfn The tubes protecting the ammunition hoists were also 2 inches thick.Template:Sfn

Construction and career

Andromeda was the fifth ship of her name to serve in the Royal NavyTemplate:Sfn and was laid down on 2 December 1895 by Pembroke Dockyard.Template:Sfn The ship was launched on 30 April 1897 by Lady Scourfield, wife of Sir Owen Scourfield Bt. She was fitted out at Pembroke Dock until 5 September 1898 and sailed later that month to Portsmouth Dockyard for completion.Template:Sfn

Upon completion on 5 September 1899, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. In March 1900 she did a month's cruise of Italian and Spanish ports. In March 1901 the ship was one of two cruisers tasked to escort the ocean liner HMS , commissioned as a royal yacht for the World tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary), from Gibraltar to Malta, and then to Port Said. Captain Christopher Cradock was appointed in command on 24 March 1902, and from 11 June that year Andromeda served as flagship of the Cruiser Division of the Mediterranean Fleet. In May 1902 she visited Palermo to attend festivities in connection with the opening of an Agricultural Exhibition by King Victor Emmanuel, and the following month the ship was in Gibraltar for a coronation fête. Andromeda and other ships of the division visited Argostoli in early October 1902. She returned home later that year and paid off at Portsmouth on 10 February 1903, then transferred to the dockyard for a lengthy refit.

Andromeda was assigned to the China Station in 1904 and returned home three years later. The ship was reduced to reserve at Chatham Dockyard upon her return, but transferred to Devonport Dockyard shortly afterwards. In 1907 Lieutenant Quentin Crauford was authorised by the Admiralty to create an experimental radio station to broadcast to the fleet in Chatham – and this was the first wireless broadcast of music and speech for the purpose of entertainment in Britain.Andromeda was assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron of the new reserve Third Fleet in 1912. The following year the ship was converted to a boys' training shipTemplate:Sfn and renamed Powerful II on 23 September 1913.Template:Sfn She was later renamed Impregnable II in November 1919 and finally, HMS Defiance on 20 January 1931,Template:Sfn when she became part of the torpedo school.Template:Sfn The ship was sold for scrap in 1956 and arrived at Burgt, Belgium, on 14 August to begin demolition.Template:Sfn

External links

• Diadem class at worldwar1.co.uk