  |
|
HMS Caroline is well worth seeing if your in Belfast, located close to the Thompson Dock and Pumphouse (Titanic) . Built by the Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead in 1914, this C – Class light cruiser is the only surviving example of her class and also the oldest commissioned warship in the Royal Navy. Sister ships where HMS Cleopatra, Comus, Conquest, Carysfort and Cordelia.
She was the fastest warship of her time and even by today's standards would match the pace. Four Yarrow boilers supplied four independently geared Parson turbines and although oil fired the ship could also burn coal.
The 40,000-horse power which was developed turned four propellers and gave the ship a top speed of 29 knots.
Caroline displaces 3,750 tons, measures 446ft in length, has a beam of 31.5ft and a draught of 14ft 9ins. The armour plating around the ship is four inches at the top and thins to two inches at the keel. Her armament consisted of two six-inch guns aft, one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun just fwd of the six-inch gun, two four-inch guns and twin 21-inch torpedo tubes amidships on both sides of the ship and four, four-inch guns around the bridge area.
After commissioning she joined the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron as part of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, here she spent most of the time carrying out sweeps of the north and western approaches for enemy submarines.
In May 1916 she took part in the Battle of Jutland acting as lead sweep for battlecruisers moving to engage the German Fleet. She is the only surviving warship from the Battle of Jutland.
|