HMS Cadmus (1903)

HMS Cadmus was a Cadmus-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Sheerness in 1903, spent her entire career in the Far East and was sold at Hong Kong in 1921.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Cadmus.

Sister ship Clio dressed overall at Tasmania in 1905
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Cadmus
Builder: Sheerness Dockyard
Cost: £76,657[1]
Laid down: 1902
Launched: 29 April 1903
Commissioned: 1904
Fate: Sold for scrap, 1 September 1921
General characteristics [2]
Class and type: Cadmus-class sloop
Displacement: 1,070 long tons (1,087 t)
Length:
  • 210 ft (64 m) oa
  • 185 ft (56 m) pp
Beam: 33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught: 11 ft 3 in (3.4 m)
Installed power: 1,400 ihp (1,000 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range: 3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement: 150
Armament:
  • 6 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) guns
  • 4 × QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns
  • 3 × machine guns

Design

Cadmus was constructed of copper-sheathed steel to a design by William White, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction.[2] Her propulsion was provided by a J. Samuel White three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing 1,400 horsepower (1,000 kW) and driving twin screws.[2] She and her sisters were an evolution of the Condor-class sloop, carrying more coal, which in turn gave a greater length and displacement. This class comprised the very last screw sloops built for the Royal Navy, and Espiegle was the last Royal Navy ship built with a figurehead.

Sail plan

As designed and built the class was fitted with a barquentine-rigged sail plan. After HMS Condor was lost in a gale in 1901, the Admiralty abandoned sails entirely.[3] Espiegle was never fitted with sails,[2] and the rest of the class had their yards removed in 1914.[2] The official attitude to sails and the loss of yards did not completely prevent the use of sails, and log entries show that fore-and-aft sails were being used in Odin as late as April 1920.[4]

Armament

The class was armed with six 4-inch/25pdr (1ton) quick-firing breech loaders and four 3-pounder quick-firing breech loaders, as well as several machine guns.[2]

Construction

Cadmus was laid down at Sheerness Dockyard on 11 March 1902,[5] and launched on 29 April 1903. She was commissioned in 1904[2] for the Far East.

Service history

Cadmus started her career on the Australia Station, where she arrived on 13 July 1904; her maiden voyage to Australia was accomplished in record time for a sloop. She was refitted at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney in 1905.

In May 1905, she was ordered to follow Clio to the China Station[6] and served there for the rest of her career. She recommissioned at Hong Kong on 18 October 1912, and remained on the China Station during World War I. In November 1914 she arrived at Direction Island in the Indian Ocean a week after the battle between Emden and Sydney to bury the sailors killed in action.[7] She was in Singapore during the Sepoy Mutiny of February 1915, and her crew was involved in capturing the mutineers. In 1920, she was listed as "unallocated" at Hong Kong.[8]

Fate

She was sold at Hong Kong on 1 September 1921.[2]

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References
  1. "Hansard, 6 March 1905 vol 142 cc402-3, Questions in the House". Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  2. Winfield (2004), p.279.
  3. Fifty Years in the Royal Navy Archived 12 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Admiral Sir Percy Scott, Bt., John Murray, London, 1919, p.37
  4. "Log of HMS Odin Thursday 6 April 1920". Old Weather. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  5. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36713). London. 12 March 1902. p. 7.
  6. HMS Cadmus ordered to China The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 1905
  7. Lochner, R. K. (1988). Last Gentleman-Of-War: Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. pp. 201–202. ISBN 0-87021-015-7.
  8. "HMS Cadmus at Naval Database website". Retrieved 7 September 2008.
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