HMS Chatham (1911)

The Chatham sub-class were slightly larger and improved versions of the preceding Weymouth sub-class.Gardiner & Gray, p. 53 They were {{convert|457|ft|m|1}} long overall, with a beam of {{convert|49|ft|m|1}} and a draught of {{convert|16|ft|m|1}}. Displacement was {{convert|5400|LT|t|lk=on}} normalFriedman, p. 384 and {{convert|6000|LT|t}} at full load. Twelve Yarrow boilers fed Chatham{{'}}s Parsons steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts, that were rated at {{convert|25000|shp|lk=in}} for a design speed of {{convert|25.5|kn}}. The ship reached {{convert|26.1|kn}} during her sea trials from {{convert|26247|shp|abbr=on}}.Lyon, Part 2, pp. 59–60 The boilers used both fuel oil and coal, with {{convert|1200|LT|t|0}} of coal and {{convert|260|LT|t|0}} tons of oil carried, which gave a range of {{convert|4460|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}}.

The main armament of the Chathams was eight BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XI guns. Two of these guns were mounted on the centreline fore and aft of the superstructure and two more were mounted on the forecastle deck abreast the bridge. The remaining four guns amidships were raised to the extended forecastle deck, which meant that they could be worked in all weathers. All these guns were fitted with gun shields. Four Vickers 3-pounder (47 mm) saluting guns were also fitted. The armament was completed by two submerged 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes.Lyon, Part 2, pp. 55–57

The ship was laid down on 3 January 1911 by Chatham Royal Dockyard and launched on 6 November. Upon completion in December 1912, Chatham was assigned to the 2nd Battle Squadron and was transferred to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean in July 1913.Gardiner & Gray, pp. 53–54

Chatham remained part of the Mediterranean Fleet at the outbreak of the First World War, and was initially employed in the search for the German battlecruiser {{SMS|Goeben||2}} and cruiser {{SMS|Breslau||2}}, searching the Straits of Messina on 3 August.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 21 1923, pp. 1–2, 12–13. After the two German ships avoided the British forces and reached Turkey, Chatham was detached for operations in the Red Sea on 13 August 1914.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 21 1923, pp. 49–50.

On 20 September that year, the German light cruiser {{SMS|Königsberg|1905|2}} sank the old British cruiser {{HMS|Pegasus|1897|2}} in Zanzibar harbour. In response, Chatham was ordered to East Africa to join up with sister ships {{HMS|Weymouth|1910|2}} and {{HMS|Dartmouth|1911|2}} and take part in the hunt for Königsberg, with Chatham{{'}}s Captain, Sidney Robert Drury-Lowe commanding the operation. Chatham arrived at Zanzibar on 28 September, but her participation in the search was delayed when, during the night of 1 October, cruising off Mombasa, she ran aground on the Leven Reef, just to the northward of the entrance to Kilindini Harbour.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 10 1921, pp. 35-37. While Chatham was only lightly damaged, she was under repair at Mombasa from 3 October to 15 October.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 10 1921, pp. 36, 42.

File:Präsident DOAL.JPG

On 19 October Chatham{{'}}s boats found the German steamer Präsident {{convert|3.5|mi|km}} upriver from the coastal town of Lindi, German East Africa (now Tanzania). While the Germans claimed that Präsident was a hospital ship, the British found no medical equipment on board and had not been notified of the German ship's status and found documents aboard Präsident indicating that she had acted as a supply ship for Königsberg. The German ship was claimed as a Prize of war, but as Präsident{{'}}s engines were broken down, Chatham permanently disabled Präsident{{'}}s machinery before continuing the search for Königsberg.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 10 1921, pp. 43–45.The Naval Review Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 479–480.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 105-DOA3030, Deutsch-Ostafrika, Frachter.jpg

On 30 October Chatham found Königsberg and the supply ship Somali up the Rufiji River, but owing to the shallowness of the river delta, could not closely approach the two German ships.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 10 1921, pp. 44–45, 54–55. On 7 November Chatham hit Somali with a shell, causing a fire that destroyed the supply ship, while on 10 November the British scuttled the collier Newbridge in the main channel of the Delta, blocking Königsberg from escaping to sea.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 10 1921, pp. 56–60. Chatham left East African waters on 2 January 1915 for the Mediterranean.Naval Staff Memorandum No. 10 1921, p. 71.

From May 1915 Chatham supported the Allied landings at Gallipoli. On 12–13 July 1915 she provided gunfire support to an attack along the Achi Baba Nullah dry water course on Cape Helles,Corbett 1923, p. 72. and on 6–7 August took part in the Landing at Suvla Bay, acting as the flagship of Rear-Admiral John de Robeck, in command of Naval Forces during the operation.Corbett 1923, p. 94. On 20 December Chatham acted as the flagship for Admiral Weymss during the evacuation from Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove.Corbett 1923, pp. 238, 241.

In 1916 she returned to home waters and joined the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. On 26 May 1916, Chatham struck a mine off the Norfolk coast and had to be towed to Chatham for repairs. The ship was placed in reserve in 1918. After the war, Chatham was lent to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy from 1920 to 1924,J. O'C Ross, The White Ensign in New Zealand (1967); Howard, The Navy in New Zealand (1981). She proceeded via the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (home base of the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the North America and West Indies Station), before cruising to the West Indies and becoming the first Royal Naval vessel from Bermuda to pass through the Panama Canal in December, 1920 (the geographic limits of the station controlled from Bermuda had grown over the preceding century from the western North Atlantic to absorb the area of the Jamaica Station, and following the first World War would absorb the former areas of the South East Coast of America Station and, utilising the canal, the Pacific Station, demonstrating the amity and the convergence of national interests between the United Kingdom and the United States).{{cite news |author= |date=1920-12-04 |title=Cruiser on The Coast |page=22 |work=The Daily Colonist |location=Toronto |quote=This is the first occasion on which a ship from the Bermuda station has come through the Canal.}} During late June 1921, she carried out a search for the missing steamer SS Canastota.{{Cite news|date=1921-07-01|title=Missing Canastota.|pages=9|work=Sydney Morning Herald|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15936471|access-date=2018-02-13}}

She was sold for scrapping on 13 July 1926 to Thos. W. Ward, of Pembroke Dock.Lyon, Part 3, p. 51

In 1922, the crew of Chatham donated a cup to the New Zealand Football Association. This became the Chatham Cup, New Zealand's local equivalent of the FA Cup, and its premier knockout football trophy.{{cite book |last1=Hilton |first1=Tony |last2=Smith |first2=Barry |title=An Association with Soccer: The NZFA Celebrates Its First 100 Years |year=1991 |publisher=New Zealand Football |page=66 |isbn=978-0473012915}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Brown|first=David K.|title=The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922|year=2010|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-085-7}}
• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Corbett|title=Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands|edition=2nd, reprint of the 1938|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|date=March 1997|volume=I|publisher=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=0-89839-256-X}}
• {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Corbett|title=Naval Operations|edition=reprint of the 1929 second|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|volume=II|year=1997|publisher=Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=1-870423-74-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|title=Naval Operations: Vol. III|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.523439|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|year=1923|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co.|location=London}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After|year=2010|publisher=Seaforth|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK|isbn=978-1-59114-078-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Weapons of World War One|publisher=Seaforth|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84832-100-7}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-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}}
• {{cite journal|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Town Class 1908–31: Part 1|journal=Warship|issue= 1|volume= 1|year=1977|pages=48–58|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-132-7}}
• {{cite journal|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Town Class 1908–31: Part 2|journal=Warship|issue= 2|volume= 1|year=1977|pages=54–61|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-132-7}}
• {{cite journal|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Town Class 1908–31: Part 3|journal=Warship|issue= 3|volume= 1|year=1977|pages=46–51|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-132-7}}
• {{cite book|title=Monograph No. 10.—East Africa to July 1915|series=Naval Staff Monographs (Historical)|volume=II|year=1921|publisher=The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Naval-Staff-Monographs-Vol.II_opt.pdf|pages=2–148|ref={{Harvid|Naval Staff Monograph No. 10|1921}}}}
• {{cite book|title=Monograph No. 21: The Mediterranean 1914–1915|series=Naval Staff Monographs (Historical)|volume=VIII|year=1923|publisher=The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Naval-Staff-Monographs-Vol.VIII_opt.pdf|ref={{Harvid|Naval Staff Monograph No. 21|1923}}}}
• {{cite journal|title=Narrative of Proceedings of H.M.S. Chatham: Off East Coast of Africa in Search of German Light Cruiser Köningsberg|journal=The Naval Review| volume=3|issue=3|year=1915|pages=471–487}}
• {{cite book|last=Newbolt|first=Henry|title=Naval Operations|edition=reprint of the 1931|series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents|volume=V|year=1996|publisher=Battery Press|location=Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=0-89839-255-1}}

{{Commons category|HMS Chatham (1911)}}

• [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Chatham.html Ships of the Chatham group]

{{Town class cruiser 1910}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatham}}

Category:Town-class cruisers (1910) of the Royal Navy

Category:Ships built in Chatham

Category:1911 ships

Category:World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom