HMS Niobe (1897)

HMS Niobe
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Niobe
Namesake:	Niobe
Builder:	Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness
Launched:	20 February 1897
In service:	1898
Fate:	Transferred to Royal Canadian Navy on 6 September 1910
Canada
Name:	Niobe
Acquired:	January 1910
Commissioned:	6 September 1910
Out of service:	6 September 1915 to depot ship
Struck:	1920
Homeport:	Halifax, Nova Scotia
Fate:	Broken up in 1922
General characteristics
Class and type:	Diadem-class protected cruiser
Displacement:	11,000 long tons (11,000 t)
Length:	435 ft (133 m) 462 ft 6 in (140.97 m) o/a
Beam:	69 ft (21 m)
Draught:	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Propulsion:	2 shaft triple expansion engines 16,500 ihp (12,300 kW)
Speed:	20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Complement:	760
Armament:	16 × single QF 6 in (152 mm) guns 14 × single QF 12-pounder (76 mm) guns 3 × single QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 3 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Casemates 6 in (152 mm) Decks 4.5–2 in (114–51 mm)

HMS Niobe was a ship of the Diadem class of protected cruisers in the Royal Navy. She served in the Boer War and was then given to Canada as the second ship of the newly created Naval Service of Canada as HMCS Niobe. The Naval Service of Canada became the Royal Canadian Navy in August 1911. The ship was nearly lost when she went aground off Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia overnight 30–31 July 1911. Repairs were completed at the end of 1912 and the ship returned to service in late 1914. During the First World War, Niobe patrolled the approaches to the St. Lawrence River and then joined the Royal Navy's 4th Cruiser Squadron to patrol off New York City. The cruiser returned to Halifax, Nova Scotia on 17 July 1915 and never put to sea again. Niobe was paid off in September and served as a depot ship in Halifax. Damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, she was sold for scrap and broken up in the 1920s.

The Diadem-class cruisers were reduced versions of the preceding Powerful class. The first four ships of the class, of which Niobe was one, displaced 11,000 long tons (11,000 t) and were 435 feet (133 m) long between perpendiculars and 462 feet 6 inches (140.97 m) overall. They had a beam of 69 feet (21 m) and a draught of 25 feet 6 inches (7.77 m). The first four cruisers of the class were propelled by two shafts powered by steam from 30 Belleville boilers driving a four-cylinder triple expansion engine that created 16,500 indicated horsepower (12,300 kW). This gave the ships a maximum speed 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph). The cruisers carried 1,900 long tons (1,900 t) of coal as fuel.

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