HMS ''Liverpool'' was a 4,800 ton light cruiser 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 F ...

commissioned in 1909. Named for the port city of ''Liverpool'', the cruiser served continuously in home waters subordinated to the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

from 1909 through the initial stages 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 ...

. During the war, ''Liverpool'' fought in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, operated off the coast of

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

, and served in the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

and Aegean. On 27 October 1914, the cruiser assisted in the rescue of the crew of ''

Audacious Audacious may refer to: * ''Audacious'' (album), a 2016 album by Cupcakke * Audacious (software), an open-source media player Ships * List of ships named ''Audacious'' * HMS ''Audacious'', various ships of the British Royal Navy * ''Audaci ...

''. ''Liverpool'' made efforts to tow the battleship to port, but ''Audacious'' eventually capsized and exploded. After the Armistice was signed, ''Liverpool'' operated in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

until placed in reserve in June 1919.

History

Grand Fleet (1914-1915)

Built by

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 in 18 ...

Sons & Maxim at

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, 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 Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

, she was the first ''Liverpool'' to be named for the port city in the 20th Century and the first to be constructed of steel. Launched on 30 October 1909 and commissioned in 1910, ''Liverpool'' was one of five cruisers ordered to the ''Bristol'' sub-class specification. The ''Bristol'' sub class was the first medium (or 2nd class) cruiser design to be built for the Royal Navy since the late 19th Century. Their main armament consisted of two and ten guns — a mixed configuration deemed "unsatisfactory" and discontinued in the subsequent Weymouth sub-class in favour of a uniform complement of eight guns. She was assigned to the

1st Battle Squadron The 1st Battle Squadron was a naval squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 1st Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. After World War I the Grand Fleet was reverted to its original name, t ...

of the Home Fleet on commission and transferred to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in 1913. At the beginning of the First World War, ''Liverpool'' was serving with the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron. She participated in the first engagement of the war, the Battle of Heligoland Bight, on 28 August 1914 grouped with five other Town cruisers under command of Commodore

William Goodenough Admiral Sir William Edmund Goodenough (2 June 1867 – 30 January 1945) was a senior Royal Navy officer of World War I. He was the son of James Graham Goodenough. Naval career Goodenough joined the Royal Navy in 1882. He was appointed Commande ...

. After the German cruiser was heavily damaged and disabled, Goodenough ordered his ships to cease firing on her at 12:55 pm and a rescue operation was subsequently undertaken. ''Liverpool'', accompanied by the destroyers and , manoeuvred close to the cruiser in an effort to recover the surviving crew. Small craft from ''Liverpool'' were deployed to retrieve crewmembers who had abandoned ship while ''Lurcher'' positioned alongside ''Mainz'' to transfer the remaining personnel on board. ''Liverpool'' detached from the main force at 7:45 pm to transport 86 embarked prisoners to Rosyth, including a son of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Two-months later, on 27 October, ''Liverpool'' was in the company of when the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

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 ...

during a morning exercise by the Grand Fleet off the coast of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Unsure of the circumstances of the incident, the Admiralty ordered the fleet to withdraw as a precaution while ''Liverpool'' remained as an escort. ''Audacious'' attempted to proceed to Lough Swilly but the flooding proved to be grievous. Other vessels, including the liner , converged on the position after ''Audacious'' transmitted an

SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, that was originally established for maritime use. In formal notation is written with an overscore line, to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" ...

. Repeated attempts to tow the immobile ''Audacious'' were ineffectual and the crew was steadily evacuated. The battleship capsized and exploded at 20:45 with the loss of a petty officer on board ''Liverpool'', killed by scattered debris fragments.

Adriatic and Aegean (1915-1918)

In 1915, ''Liverpool'' was detached from the Grand Fleet and sent to patrol the coast of

in support of a search for the

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

. ''Liverpool''s mission was unsuccessful and the cruiser arrived at her namesake port in June for boiler repairs. After the repairs were completed, ''Liverpool'' deployed to the Mediterranean in November. She was ported in

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

, which functioned as a naval base for

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

warships operating in the

against

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. The cruiser, in concert with the Italian , pursued the Austrian destroyer ''Wildfang'' in February 1916, necessitating the latter's retreat to Cattaro. During the Battle of the Otranto Straits, ''Liverpool'' was under command of Captain G.H. Vivian and at a reduced state of readiness. Her unpreparedness was compounded by the captain's decision to use the cruiser's reduced state as an opportunity to undergo routine maintenance of the cruiser's boilers.Halpern, Paul G. (2004), ''The Battle of the Otranto Straits: Controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in WWI'', p71 Signals received from Saseno classified as "Urgent" were intercepted at 0350 am and disregarded because ''Liverpool''s wireless room was unable to read Italian and had been the recipient of similar signals previously. Ultimately, ''Liverpool'' remained in port and no order was issued by Admiral

Alfredo Acton Alfredo Acton, 1st barone Acton (12 September 1867 – 26 March 1934) was an Italian admiral, politician and Chief of Staff of the ''Regia Marina'' (Italy's Royal Navy). He was born in Castellammare di Stabia, a descendant of the Acton famil ...

for ''Liverpool'' to sail despite the cruiser's eventual readiness and Captain Vivian's personal request. ''Liverpool'' was transferred to the

Aegean Squadron The Eastern Mediterranean Squadron later known as the British Aegean Squadron was a naval formation of the Mediterranean Fleet based at Mudros from 1914 to 1916. It then alternated between Mudros and Salonika from 1917 to 1919. History The Easter ...

in January 1918. Armistices with the Central Powers were signed later that year. With the

's accessibility restored and the Allies committed to intervention during the

, ''Liverpool'' was ordered to the region and engaged in operations supporting the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

from November. On the 23rd, ''Liverpool'' and the French

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

, escorted by two Australian destroyers, transported military delegations to the port of

Novorossisk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

to establish contact with Russian General

Denikin Anton Ivanovich Denikin (russian: Анто́н Ива́нович Дени́кин, link= ; 16 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New St ...

. She returned to Britain in mid-1919 and was relegated to reserve status in June, berthed at Devonport Dockyard. Placed on the disposal list in March 1920, ''Liverpool'' was sold to Stanlee, then acquired by Slough Trading Company in November 1921 and broken up in Germany. A silver bell and plate were preserved and presented to the

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

-built battleship . The objects came into the possession of the sixth in the late 1930s as gifts following the light cruiser's commission.A City’s Gift to Warship. H.M.S. Liverpool in the Mersey
The Times, 9 January 1939, ancs.ac.uk. Accessed 25 April 2008.

Image gallery

File: HMS_Liverpool_tows_HMS_Audacious.jpg, HMS ''Liverpool'' and another naval vessel, together with RMS ''Olympic'', try to take HMS ''Audacious'' in tow. The view is from the passenger areas of RMS ''Olympic'' File:HMS Liverpool_attemps_to take HMS Audacious in tow.jpg, View from the passenger decks of RMS ''Olympic'' as HMS ''Liverpool'' (left) strains to tow the sinking HMS ''Audacious'' (bow seen on right), dated October 26 (sic) 1914. File:HMS_Audacious_crew_take_to_lifeboats.jpg, After aborting the attempts to tow, the crew of HMS ''Audacious'' take to lifeboats to be taken aboard RMS ''Olympic''. The ''Olympic'' passengers and amateur photographers, Edith and Mabel Smith of Derby, dated the event in their album as 26 October (sic) 1914. File:HMS Liverpool (Bristol-class cruiser).jpg, HMS ''Liverpool'' (Bristol-class cruiser)

Notes

References

* * Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company * Gray, Randal (1985), ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921'', Conway Maritime Press.

External links

Warships1.com - Bristol-class cruiser (webarchive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liverpool (1909) Town-class cruisers (1910) of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1909 ships World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom