HMS Astraea (1893)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
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| Name: | HMS Astraea |
| Builder: | Devonport Dockyard |
| Laid down: | August 1890 |
| Launched: | 17 March 1893 |
| Commissioned: | November 1895 |
| Fate: | Sold on 1 July 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Astraea-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 4,360 tons |
| Length: | 320 ft (98 m) (p/p) |
| Beam: | 49.5 ft (15.1 m) |
| Draught: | 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) |
| Propulsion: | Triple expansion engines Two shafts 7,500 ihp |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) (natural draught) 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) (forced draught) |
| Range: | Carried 1000 tons coal (max) |
| Complement: | 318 |
| Armament: | 2 × QF 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns 8 × QF 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 1 × 12-pounder gun 2 × 6-pounder guns 1 × 3-pounder gun 4 × machine guns 3 × 18-inch (457.2 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | Conning tower: 3–6 in (76–152 mm) Deck: 2 in (51 mm) Engine hatch: 5 in (130 mm) |
HMS Astraea was an Astraea-class second class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built towards the end of the nineteenth century, and survived to serve in the First World War.
Astraea was ordered as part of the eight-ship Astraea class under the Naval Defence Act of 1889. She was laid down at Devonport Dockyard in August 1890 and launched from there on 17 March 1893. She was completed and commissioned for service in November 1895.
Astraea served in the Mediterranean Sea in early 1900 under the command of Captain Alfred Paget, and was in China the following year under the command of Captain Casper Joseph Baker. She left Hong Kong on 27 March 1902, homeward bound, arriving in Singapore on 2 April, Colombo on 10 April, Suez on 27 April, Malta on 2 May, and in Plymouth on 14 May, having convoyed the destroyer Skate from the Mediterranean. She paid off at Chatham on 12 June 1902, and was placed in the B Division of the Fleet Reserve.
She was again sent to the China Station in 1906, followed by a period at Colombo between 1908 and 1911. She returned to Britain in January 1912, where she was refitted to return to service. She was recommissioned at the Nore in June 1912, and joined the Third Fleet. By April 1913 she had been reassigned to operate off the Cape of Good Hope as part of the squadron assigned to the West Africa Station. She was serving off East Africa at Zanzibar when the First World War broke out, and the squadron was initially assigned to protect British Empire shipping travelling on the trade routes around the African coast. On 8 August 1914 Astraea bombarded Dar-es-Salaam, part of the German colony of German East Africa.Astraea's guns destroyed a radio station, and fearing an imminent landing, the German authorities scuttled their floating dock to block the harbour. This had the subsequent effect of preventing the German commerce raider SMS Königsberg from being able to return to the port.Astraea was later one of the ships assigned to hunt and blockade Königsberg in the Rufiji Delta.
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