HMS Comus (1914)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name: | HMS Comus |
| Namesake: | Comus |
| Builder: | Swan Hunter, Wallsend |
| Laid down: | 13 November 1913 |
| Launched: | 16 December 1914 |
| Completed: | May 1915 |
| Commissioned: | 15 May 1915 |
| Decommissioned: | December 1924 |
| Recommissioned: | September 1925 |
| Decommissioned: | December 1933 |
| Fate: | Sold 28 July 1934 for scrapping[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | C-class light cruiser |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 420 ft (130 m) (446 ft (136 m) overall) |
| Beam: | 41.5 ft (12.6 m) |
| Draught: | 16 ft (5 m) maximum. |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 28.5 knots (53 km/h) |
| Range: | carried 405 tons (772 tons maximum) of fuel oil |
| Complement: | 325 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: |
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The fourth HMS Comus was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw service in World War I. She was part of the Caroline group of the C class.
Construction
Built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend, Comus was laid down on 13 November 1913 and launched on 16 December 1914.[3]
Service history
World War I
Commissioned into service in the Royal Navy on 15 May 1915, Comus was assigned to the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet. She and the destroyer HMS Munster sank the Imperial German Navy merchant raider Greif in the North Sea on 29 February 1916, and she fought in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916[4] under the command of Captain Alan Geoffrey Hotham.
Postwar
After the conclusion of World War I, Comus served in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron from March to April 1919, then underwent a refit at Rosyth, Scotland. She recommissioned in October 1919 for another tour of duty with the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, and served on the East Indies Station until June 1923, temporarily serving as the station's flagship in 1921. While still assigned to the East Indies Station in November 1922, she began a refit at Portsmouth that lasted until July 1923. She then was attached to the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet until December 1924, when she entered the Nore Reserve.[4]
Comus left the reserve in September 1925 to commission for service in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Atlantic Fleet. After a refit, she recommissioned for the same service in August 1927. The new heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk relieved her in May 1930, and she went into reserve at Devonport, becoming the Senior Naval Officer's flagship there in April 1931 and remaining flagship until being decommissioned in December 1933 and placed under dockyard control.[4]
Disposal
Comus was sold on 28 July 1934 to Thos W Ward of Barrow-in-Furness for scrapping.
Notes
- ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914-1918, p. 47.
- ↑ http://dreadnoughtproject.org/docs/notes/ADM_186_216.php
- ↑ Gardiner, Robert, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-907-3, OCLC 423834653, LCCN 84-42782, p. 56, (preview of 2006 reprint); this sources also states on p. 56 that Comus was completed in January 1915, but that is too soon after her December 1914 launch date and too long before her May 1915 commissioning.
- 1 2 3 Gardiner, Robert, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-907-3, OCLC 423834653, LCCN 84-42782, p. 57, (preview of 2006 reprint).
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
- Ships of the Caroline class