HMS Centaur (1916)
{{other ships|HMS Centaur}}
{{short description|Royal Navy C-class light cruiser}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Centaur (1916).jpg |Ship caption=Centaur sometime between 1916 and 1919 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship class=C-class light cruiser |Ship name=Centaur |Ship namesake=centaur |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Vickers Limited |Ship laid down=24 January 1915 |Ship launched=6 January 1916 |Ship completed=August 1916 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=August 1916 |Ship decommissioned=October 1923 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=yes |Ship recommissioned=8 April 1925 |Ship decommissioned=March 1932 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Sold February 1934 for scrapping |Ship identification=Pennant number: 36 (Sep 15); 34 (Jan 18);{{cite book |last1=Colledge |first1=J J |title=British Warships 1914–1919 |date=1972 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Shepperton |page=48}} 10 (Apr 18); 63 (Nov 19){{cite journal |last1=Dodson |first1=Aidan |title=The Development of the British Royal Navy’s Pennant Numbers Between 1919 and 1940 |journal=Warship International |date=2024 |volume=61 |issue=2 |page=134–66}} }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship displacement=3,750 tons |Ship length={{convert|446|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|42|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|14.6|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*Parsons turbines
|Ship speed=28.5 knots |Ship range=carried 300 tons (824 tons maximum) of fuel oil |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=329-336 |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*5 × BL 6 inch Mk XII naval gun (152 mm) guns
|Ship armour=*3 inch side (amidships)
|Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Centaur was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. She was the name ship of the Centaur group of the C-class of cruisers.
Construction
The Ottoman Empire had ordered a pair of scout cruisers in 1914. When the First World War started, construction was halted. A considerable amount of material had already been prepared, and much of this was used in the construction of HMS Centaur and her sister {{HMS|Concord|1916|6}}. Built by Vickers Limited, Centaur was laid down in January 1915 and launched on 1 January 1916.
Service history
=World War I=
Upon being commissioned into the Royal Navy in August 1916, Centaur was assigned to the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, which operated as a part of Harwich Force in the North Sea to defend the eastern approaches to the Strait of Dover and English Channel. On 5 June 1917 she and the light cruisers {{HMS|Canterbury|1915|6}} and {{HMS|Conquest|1915|6}} sank the German torpedo boat S20 in the North Sea near the Schouwen Bank off Zeebrugge, Belgium. On 13 June 1918 she struck a mine and had to undergo repairs at Hull.Preston, pp. 57, 59, 60
=Postwar=
After the First World War, Centaur was sent to the Baltic Sea in December 1918 to take part in the British campaign there against Bolshevik and German forces during the Russian Civil War. In March 1919, she was reassigned from Harwich Force to the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet, recommissioning at Malta in June 1920 and Gibraltar in October 1922 to continue that service.Preston, p. 60
In October 1923, Centaur was decommissioned, transferred to the Reserve Fleet, and placed in reserve at Devonport Dockyard. After undergoing a refit in 1924 and 1925, she was recommissioned at Portsmouth on 8 April 1925 to serve as the flagship of Commodore (D) – the officer in command of all destroyers – in the Atlantic Fleet, recommissioning in February 1928 and September 1930 to continue in this role. She was decommissioned again in March 1932 and placed in reserve at Portsmouth.
Disposal
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book |last1=Colledge |first1=J. J. |title=Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present |date=2020 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-1-5267-9327-0 |edition=5th revised and updated|first2=Ben|last2=Warlow|first3=Steve|last3=Bush|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Steve R. |title=The Harwich Striking Force: The Royal Navy's Front Line in the North Sea, 1914-1918 |date=2022 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-1-3990-1596-7}}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After|year=2010|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-59114-078-8 |author-link=Norman Friedman}}
- {{cite book|editor1-last=Gray|editor1-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1985 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-85177-245-5 |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Great Britain and Empire Forces|first1=Antony|last1=Preston|author-link=Antony Preston|pages=1–104}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|HMS Centaur (1916)}}
- [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Centaur.html Ships of the Centaur class]
{{C class cruiser}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centaur}}