HMS Carysfort (1914)

HMS Carysfort at anchor, 1920s
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Carysfort
Namesake:	Earl of Carysfort
Ordered:	July–August 1913
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard, Pembroke Dock, Wales, or Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Tyneside, England
Laid down:	25 February 1914
Launched:	14 November 1914
Completed:	June 1915
Decommissioned:	September 1923
Recommissioned:	September 1924
Decommissioned:	April 1931
Fate:	Sold for scrap, August 1931
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	C-class light cruiser
Displacement:	4,219 long tons (4,287 t)
Length:	446 ft (135.9 m) (o/a)
Beam:	41 ft 6 in (12.6 m)
Draught:	16 ft (4.9 m) (mean)
Installed power:	40,000 shp (30,000 kW) 8 × Yarrow boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts; 2 × steam turbines
Speed:	28.5 kn (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph)
Complement:	301
Armament:	2 × single BL 6 in (152 mm) Mk XII guns 8 × single QF 4 in (102 mm) Mk IV guns 1 × single QF six-pounder 57 mm (2.2 in) Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun 2 × twin 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Waterline belt: 1–3 in (25–76 mm) Deck: 1 in (25 mm) Conning tower: 6 in

HMS Carysfort was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was one of six ships of the Caroline sub-class and was completed in 1915. Assigned to the Grand Fleet, the Harwich Force, and the Dover Patrol during the war, the ship served as a flagship for part of the war. Her only known combat was a short battle against German torpedo boats in the English Channel, although she was very active patrolling the North Sea and unsuccessfully searching for German ships. Carysfort was assigned to the Home and Atlantic Fleets after the war and was sent to the Mediterranean Fleet during the Chanak Crisis of 1922–23 to support British interests in Turkey. In 1922, she patrolled off the Irish coast during the Irish Civil War. The ship was placed in reserve after returning home in 1923 and, aside from ferrying troops overseas, remained in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1931.

The C-class cruisers were intended to escort the fleet and defend it against enemy destroyers attempting to close within torpedo range. Ordered in July–August 1913 as part of the 1913–14 Naval Programme, the Carolines were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding Arethusa-class cruisers. The ships were 446 feet (135.9 m) long overall, with a beam of 41 feet 6 inches (12.6 m) and a mean draught of 16 feet (4.9 m). They displaced 4,219 long tons (4,287 t) at normal load and 4,733 long tons (4,809 t) at deep load.Carysfort was powered by four direct-drive Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, which produced a total of 40,000 indicated horsepower (30,000 kW). The turbines used steam generated by eight Yarrow boilers which gave her a speed of 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph). She carried 916 long tons (931 t) tons of fuel oil. The ship had a crew of 301 officers and other ranks.