HMS Diana (1895)

HMS Diana was an Eclipse-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.

Diana at anchor during World War I
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Diana
Namesake:	Diana
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering, Govan
Laid down:	13 August 1894
Launched:	5 December 1895
Completed:	15 June 1897
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1 July 1920
General characteristics
Class and type:	Eclipse-class protected cruiser
Displacement:	5,600 long tons (5,690 t)
Length:	350 ft (106.7 m)
Beam:	53 ft 6 in (16.3 m)
Draught:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Installed power:	9,600 ihp (7,200 kW) 8 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 Inverted triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph)
Complement:	450
Armament:	As built: 5 × QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 6 × QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns 6 × 3-pounder QF guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes After 1905: 11 × six-inch QF guns 9 × 76 mm (3.0 in) QF guns 7 × 3-pounder QF guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes
Armour:	Gun shields: 3 in (76 mm) Engine hatch: 6 in (152 mm) Decks: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) Conning tower: 6 in (152 mm)

Service history

She was commissioned at Chatham on 16 February 1900 by Captain Henry Baynes, to take out reliefs for HMS Ringarooma, HMS Boomerang and HMS Torch serving on the Australia Station,[1] and left Plymouth two weeks later on 27 February 1900.[2] Stopping in Gibraltar and Malta on her way out, she arrived in Australia in April, when Baynes took command of HMS Mildura, stationed there, and Captain Henry Leah of the latter ship took command of Diana for the return journey.

The following year, she was commissioned with the complement of 450 officers and men at Chatham on 15 January 1901 to join the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Murray Farquhar.[3][4] In March 1901 she was one of two cruisers to escort HMS Ophir, commissioned as royal yacht for the world tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George and Queen Mary), from Gibraltar to Malta, and then to Port Said.[5] Captain Edmond Slade was appointed in command in April 1902, but Farquhar did not leave the ship until early June.[6] In May 1902 she visited Palermo to attend festivities in connection with the opening of an Agricultural Exhibition by King Victor Emmanuel,[7] and in August 1902 she toured the Aegean Sea, visiting Salonica and Lemnos.[8] She was at Argostoli in early October before returning to Malta.[9]

Footnotes

1. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36068). London. 17 February 1900. p. 11.
2. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36077). London. 28 February 1900. p. 11.
3. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36344). London. 5 January 1901. p. 8.
4. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36337). London. 28 December 1900. p. 5.
5. "The Duke of Cornwall´s visit to the colonies". The Times (36401). London. 13 March 1901. p. 5.
6. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36753). London. 28 April 1902. p. 8.
7. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36778). London. 27 May 1902. p. 10.
8. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36852). London. 21 August 1902. p. 8.
9. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36896). London. 11 October 1902. p. 12.

References

• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• McBride, Keith (2012). "The Cruiser Family Talbot". In John Jordan (ed.). Warship 2012. London: Conway. pp. 136–41. ISBN 978-1-84486-156-9.