HMS Undaunted (1914) explained

HMS Undaunted was one of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s.

Design and description

The Arethusa-class cruisers were intended to lead destroyer flotillas and defend the fleet against attacks by enemy destroyers. The ships were 456feet long overall, with a beam of 49feet and a deep draught of 15feet. Displacement was 5185LT at normal[1] and 5795LT at full load. Undaunted was powered by four Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, which produced a total of 40000ihp. The turbines used steam generated by eight Yarrow boilers which gave her a speed of about 28.5kn.[2] She carried 840LT tons of fuel oil[1] that gave a range of 3200nmi at .[3]

The main armament of the Arethusa-class ships consisted of two BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XII guns that were mounted on the centreline fore and aft of the superstructure and six QF 4-inch Mk V guns in waist mountings. They were also fitted with a single QF 3-pounder 47mm anti-aircraft gun and four 21abbr=onNaNabbr=on torpedo tubes in two twin mounts.[2]

Construction and career

She was launched on 28 April 1914 at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's shipyard at Govan. Undaunted participated in numerous naval operations during the First World War. On commissioning she was assigned as the leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force, guarding the eastern approaches to the English Channel. On 28 August 1914, Undaunted took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, and on 17 October 1914 she was involved in an action off the Dutch island of Texel with German torpedo boats. On 25 December 1914 she participated in the Cuxhaven Raid, and on 24 January 1915 she took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank. In April 1915 Undaunted was damaged in collision with the destroyer, and on 24 March 1916 she was again damaged in a collision, this time with the light cruiser while covering the a raid on a Zeppelin base believed to be at Hoyer in Schleswig-Holstein. In November 1918 was reassigned to the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet. She survived to see the end of the First World War, and was sold for scrap on 9 April 1923 to Cashmore, of Newport.[4]

Bibliography

. Julian Corbett. Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. 2nd, reprint of the 1938. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. I. Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. London and Nashville, Tennessee. 0-89839-256-X.

. Julian Corbett. Naval Operations. reprint of the 1929 second. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. II. 1997. Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press. London and Nashville, Tennessee. 1-870423-74-7.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Friedman 2010, p. 384
  2. Gardiner & Gray, p. 55
  3. Pearsall, Part I, p. 210
  4. Gardiner & Gray, pp. 55–56