HMS ''Cassandra'' was a

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. She was part of the ''Caledon'' group of the C class of cruisers. ''Cassandra'' had a short career, being commissioned in June 1917 and sunk by a mine during the British intervention in the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

on 5 December 1918. She was built by

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

, Barrow in Furness and laid down in March 1916, launched on 25 November 1916 and commissioned into the Navy in June 1917.

Design and construction

The ''Caledon'' sub-class was a slightly larger and improved version of the preceding ''Centaur'' sub-class with a more powerful armament. The ships were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, with a beam of and a deep draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was at normal and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

.Preston 1985, p. 60 ''Cassandra'' was powered by two sets of

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

geared steam turbines, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

, which produced a total of . The turbines used steam generated by six

Yarrow boiler Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships. The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...

s which gave her a speed of about . She carried tons of fuel oil. The ship had a crew of about 400 officers and ratings; this increased to 437 when serving as a flagship. The main armament of the ''Caledon''-class ships consisted of five BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XII guns that were mounted on the centreline. One gun was forward of the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, two were fore and aft of the two

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construct ...

s and the last two were in the stern, with one gun superfiring over the rearmost gun. The two QF 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns were positioned abreast of the fore funnel. The torpedo armament of the ''Caledon''s was eight

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in four twin mounts, two on each broadside. ''Cassandra'' was fitted with a flying-off deck and hangar for a fighter aircraft to counter German Zeppelins after August 1917. ''Cassandra'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

at the

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...

shipyard of

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...

in March 1916, was launched on 25 November that year and was completed in June 1917.

Service

''Cassandra'' initially joined the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron of the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the F ...

.Preston 1985, pp. 60–61 She suffered a mishap when she and sister ship ran aground on

Fair Isle Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...

on 15 August 1917 but both ships were successfully salvaged. In October 1917, ''Cassandra'' formed part of a large-scale operation, involving 30 cruisers and 54 destroyers, deployed in eight groups across the North Sea in an attempt to stop a suspected sortie by German naval forces in the North Sea. The 6th Light Cruiser Squadron, including ''Cassandra'', was tasked with patrolling off the

Horns Reef Horns Rev is a shallow sandy reef of glacial deposits in the eastern North Sea, about off the westernmost point of Denmark, Blåvands Huk.

. Despite these countermeasures, the two German light cruisers and managed to evade the patrols, which were deployed expecting German action further to the south, and attacked the regular convoy between Norway and Britain, sinking nine merchant ships and two destroyers, and before returning safely to Germany.Newbolt 1931, pp. 149–155 Following the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron, including ''Cassandra'', formed part of a force sent to the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

under the command of

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair Admiral Sir Edwyn Sinclair Alexander-Sinclair, (born Alexander; 12 December 1865 – 13 November 1945) was a Scottish Royal Navy officer, notable for firing the first shots of the Battle of Jutland, and for leading a squadron of light ...

to support the independence of the newly founded Baltic States against the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

.Bennett 2002, pp. 33–34 On 5 December 1918 Alexander-Sinclair's force was on passage to

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

, threatened by a Bolshevik army, when ''Cassandra'' struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

, part of an uncharted German minefield, near

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the isla ...

in the Gulf of Finland. ''Cassandra'' quickly sank, but most of her crew were rescued by the destroyers and with only eleven of her crew lost. (Ten were killed by the initial explosion while one man fell overboard during the rescue attempt).Bennett 2002, pp. 35–36Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 48

Rediscovery

The

Estonian Navy The Estonian Navy ( et, Merevägi) are the unified naval forces among the Estonian Defence Forces. With only six commissioned ships and displacement well under 10,000 tonnes, the Estonian navy is one of the smallest navies in the world. Its sh ...

and Estonian Maritime Museum announced in August 2010 that they had located the wrecks of ''Cassandra'', the sloop , and the near

in depths of . In 2021 the hydrographic research ship determined the location of the wreck in of water. The bow is torn apart and is located approximately from the rest of the hull of the cruiser.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * *

External links

Ships of the ''Caledon'' class
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassandra British involvement in the Russian Civil War C-class cruisers Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1916 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1918 Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Finland Ships sunk by mines