HMS Champion (1915)

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

HMS Champion during World War I.
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Champion
Builder
Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Laid down9 March 1914
Launched29 May 1915
CompletedDecember 1915
Commissioned20 December 1915
DecommissionedOctober 1924
RecommissionedMay 1925
DecommissionedDecember 1933
FateSold 28 July 1934 for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and typeC-class light cruiser
Displacement3,750 tons
Length446 ft (136 m)
Beam41.5 ft (12.6 m)
Draught14.5 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion
  • Two Parsons turbines
  • Eight Yarrow boilers
  • Two propellers
  • 40,000 shp
Speed28.5 knots (53 km/h)
Rangecarried 405 tons (772 tons maximum) of fuel oil
Complement324
Armament
  • 4 ×
    BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XII guns
  • 1 ×
    QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk V AA gun
  • 1 × 3-pounder gun
  • 6 ×
    21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour
  • 4 inch side (amidships)
  • 2¼-1½ inch side (bows)
  • 2½ - 2 inch side (stern)
  • 1 inch upper decks (amidships)
  • 1 inch deck over rudder

HMS Champion was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service during World War I. She was part of the Calliope group of the C class.

Construction

Eight light cruisers were ordered for the Royal Navy in the 1913 budget. The six ships of the Caroline class used conventional direct-drive

turbine engines but two, Champion and Calliope, had experimental engine designs using geared reduction to match optimum working speeds of turbines and propellers. This followed experimental designs ordered in 1911 using geared high-pressure turbines for the destroyers Badger and Beaver and in 1912 using gearing for both high-pressure and low-pressure turbines in the destroyers Leonidas and Lucifer. Champion and Calliope tested different designs.[1]

Built by

launched on 29 May 1915, and completed in December 1915.[2]

Champion had two

knots using 470 tons of fuel per day, while Caroline achieved 29 knots using 550 tons of fuel per day. The ship could achieve 28 knots operating at the lower power of 31,000 shp (23 MW).[1]

Service history

World War I

Photograph taken from HMS Champion on 31 May 1916 at the beginning of the Battle of Jutland.

Champion was commissioned into service in the Royal Navy on 20 December 1915. She was assigned to the Grand Fleet upon completion, serving as the leader of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla through the end of World War I and until early 1919. She fought in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916, during which she also was the flagship of Commodore (D), the senior commander of the fleet's destroyers.[3]

Postwar

Champion briefly served in the 2nd Light Cruiser

decommissioned and placed under dockyard control at Portsmouth in October 1924.[3]

In May 1925, Champion was recommissioned to serve as

Signal School in 1928,[3] and was used as a testbed for the Royal Navy's first remote-power-control (RPC) gunnery systems that year.[4] She was decommissioned in December 1933 and placed under dockyard control.[3]

Disposal

Champion was sold on 28 July 1934 to Metal Industries of Rosyth, Scotland, for scrapping.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Brown, pp. 24–25
  2. ^ Preston, p. 57
  3. ^ a b c d Preston, p. 58
  4. ^ Rippon, Peter, 1988. Evolution of Engineering in the Royal Navy: 1927–1939, Volume one, p. 258

References

  • ISBN 1-55750-315-X
    .
  • ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8
    .
  • ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8
    .
  • ISBN 0-85177-245-5
    .

External links

External links

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