HMS Highflyer (1898)

Highflyer at anchor
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Highflyer
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering, Govan
Laid down:	June 1897
Launched:	4 June 1898
Commissioned:	7 December 1899
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 10 June 1921
General characteristics
Class and type:	Highflyer-class protected cruiser
Displacement:	5,650 long tons (5,740 t)
Length:	350 ft (110 m) (p.p.) 372 ft (113 m) (o/a)
Beam:	54 ft (16.5 m)
Draught:	21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
Installed power:	10,000 ihp (7,500 kW) 18 × Belleville boilers
Propulsion:	2 × Shafts 2 × 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	470
Armament:	11 × single QF 6 in (152 mm) guns 8 × single QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns 6 × single QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns 2 × single 18 in (45 cm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) Gun shields: 3 in (76 mm) Conning tower: 6 in (152 mm) Engine hatches: 5 in (127 mm)

HMS Highflyer was the lead ship of the Highflyer-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. She spent her early career as flagship for the East Indies and North America and West Indies Stations. She was reduced to reserve in 1908 before again becoming the flagship in the East Indies in 1911. She returned home two years later and became a training ship. When World War I began in August 1914, she was assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron in the Central Atlantic to intercept German commerce raiders and protect Allied shipping.

Days after the war began, she intercepted a Dutch ship carrying German troops and gold. She then sank a German armed merchant cruiser off the coast of Spanish Sahara. Highflyer spent most of the rest of the war on convoy escort duties and was present in Halifax during the Halifax Explosion in late 1917. She became flagship of the East Indies Station after the war. The ship was sold for scrap in 1921.

Highflyer was designed to displace 5,650 long tons (5,740 t). The ship had an overall length of 372 feet (113.4 m), a beam of 54 feet (16.5 m) and a draught of 29 feet 6 inches (9.0 m). She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) designed to give a maximum speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). Highflyer reached a speed of 20.1 knots (37.2 km/h; 23.1 mph) from 10,344 ihp (7,714 kW), during her sea trials. The engines were powered by 18 Belleville boilers. She carried a maximum of 1,125 long tons (1,143 t) of coal and her complement consisted of 470 officers and enlisted men.

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