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HMS Cynthia (1898)
File:HMS Cynthia (1896).jpg
HMS Cynthia
Career Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Cynthia
Ordered: 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates
Builder: John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick
Yard number: 321
Laid down: 25 September 1897
Launched: 3 September 1898
Commissioned: February 1900
Fate: Sold for breaking, 29 April 1920
General characteristics [1][2]
Class & type: Two funnel, 30-knot destroyer
Displacement: 270 t (266 long tons) standard
352 t (346 long tons) full load
Length: 210 ft (64 m) o/a
Beam: 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Draught: 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m)
Installed power: 5,700 shp (4,300 kW)
Propulsion:

4 × Thornycroft water tube boilers

2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines
2 shafts
Speed: 30 kn (56 km/h)
Range: 80 tons coal
1,310 nmi (2,430 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement: 65 officers and men
Armament: 1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 gun on a P Mark I low angle mount
5 × QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 gun on a Mark I* low angle mount
2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes
Service record
Operations: World War I 1914 - 1918

HMS Cynthia was a two funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates. She was the third ship to carry this name.[1][2] She was launched in 1898, served in home waters and the Mediterranean before World War I, and as a tender to the gunnery school at Sheerness during the war. She was sold for breaking in 1920.

Construction[]

She was laid down as yard number 321 on 16 July 1896 at the John I. Thornycroft & Company shipyard at Chiswick on the River Thames. She was launched on 8 January 1898. During her builder’s trials her maximum average speed was 30.2 knots, then proceeded to Portsmouth to have her armament fitted. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in June 1899. During her acceptance trials and work ups her average sea speed was 25 knots.[2]

Service[]

After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla. In August 1901 she was commissioned to serve at the Mediterranean Station.[3]

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by letters. she was assigned to the D class along with other destroyers of 30-knots with two funnels. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an D-class destroyer and had the letter ‘D’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.[4]

By August 1914 she was in active commission at The Nore Local Flotilla based at Sheerness tendered to HMS Actaeon, the school of gunnery.[Clarification needed]) She remained in this deployment for the duration of the First World War.[5]

In 1919 she was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. Cynthia was sold on 29 April 1920 to Thomas W. Ward of Sheffield for breaking at Rainham, Kent, on the Thames Estuary.[6]

Pennant numbers[]

Pennant number[6] From To
N09 6 Dec 1914 1 Sep 1915
D39 1 Sep 1915 1 Jan 1918
D23 1 Jan 1918 29 Apr 1920

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships (1898), pp.84-85.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I (1919) p.76.
  3. "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". 5 August 1901. 
  4. Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906 to 1922. Conway Maritime Press. 2006. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0 85177 245 5. 
  5. "HMS Cynthia". Late 18th, 19th and early 20th Century Naval and Naval Social History. http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/C/01249.html. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". http://www.gwpda.org/naval/s0420000.htm. Retrieved 1 Jun 2013. 
  • Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. 
  • Jane, Fred T. (1990) [1919]. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing. ISBN 1 85170 378 0. 


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