HMS Hyacinth (1898)

History
HMS Hyancinth circa. 1915
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Hyacinth
Builder:	London & Glasgow Shipbuilding, Govan
Laid down:	21 January 1897
Launched:	27 October 1898
Completed:	3 September 1900
Decommissioned:	August 1919
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 11 October 1923
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 Hyacinth was one of three Highflyer-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Initially assigned to the Channel Fleet, she spent much of her early career as flagship for the East Indies Station. She was reduced to reserve in 1912 after a lengthy refit before becoming the flagship of the Cape of Good Hope Station in 1913. After the beginning of World War I in August 1914, she spent the first few months of the war escorting convoys around South Africa. In early 1915, she was deployed to German East Africa to blockade the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg. She destroyed a German blockade runner attempting to bring supplies through the blockade in April and sank a German merchant vessel in early 1916. Hyacinth remained on the Cape Station for the rest of the war and was paid off in 1919, although she was not sold for scrap until 1923.

Hyacinth 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 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). 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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