HMS Diomede (1919)
HMS Diomede in 1938.
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Diomede |
| Ordered: | March 1918 |
| Builder: | Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down: | 3 June 1918 |
| Launched: | 29 April 1919 |
| Commissioned: | October 1922 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 April 1946 |
| In service: | 1922 |
| Out of service: | 1945 |
| Identification: | pennant number D92 |
| Motto: | Fortibus Feroces Frangitur |
| Fate: | 13 May 1946 Sold for scrap to Arnott Young of Dalmuir |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Danae-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 4,850 tons |
| Length: | 471 ft 2 in (143.61 m) |
| Beam: | 46 ft 3 in (14.10 m) |
| Draught: | 14 ft 3 in (4.34 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 Parsons geared turbines driving 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 29 knots (54 km/h) |
| Range: |
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| Endurance: | 24 days |
| Capacity: | 1,060 tons coal/oil |
| Complement: | 450 |
| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
Type 273 Radar |
| Armament: | 6 × 6 in/45 BL Mark XII |
| Armour: |
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HMS Diomede was a Danae-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. Constructed at Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, she was constructed too late to take part in World War I and was consequently completed at the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth. Between the wars, she served on the China Station, Pacific waters, East Indies Waters and from 1936 onwards, in reserve. In World War II she performed four years of arduous war duty, during which time she captured the German blockade runner Idarwald. Between 22 July 1942 and 24 September 1943 she was converted to a training ship at Rosyth Dockyard. In 1945 she was placed in reserve and scrapped a year later.
During World War I intelligence reports suggested that the Germans were building a new class of cruiser which could outgun the existing C-class light cruisers. It was believed that an improved C class with an added super-firing 6-inch (152 mm) gun in front of the deckhouse (and the requisite increase of beam and adapting of superstructure) would maintain British naval superiority in a battle. In September 1916 the first three ships of the new class (Danae, Dauntless and Dragon) were launched and a second group (Delhi, Dunedin and Durban) was ordered in July 1917.
Diomede, was part of a third tranche ordered in March 1918. This group was to have composed of six vessels but the end of the war saw this reduced to two, Diomede and Despatch. Diomede had been laid down Vickers Armstrong of Barrow-in-Furness in mid-1918, but after launching in 1919 work was suspended. However, in 1922 she was towed to the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth and completed on 22 February. Like the second group of Danae-class vessels, Diomede was fitted with a trawler bow. Diomede was unique in her class in having an experimental fully enclosed 6-inch mounting in the "A" position. Before completion, the suitability of her conversion to a royal yacht had been discussed, but nothing came of the idea.
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