HMS Newcastle (1909)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Newcastle.

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History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Newcastle
Namesake:	Newcastle upon Tyne
Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth
Laid down:	14 April 1909
Launched:	25 November 1909
Commissioned:	September 1910
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 9 May 1921
General characteristics
Class & type:	Town-class light cruiser
Displacement:	4,800 tons
Length:	453 ft (138 m) Overall
Beam:	47 ft (14 m)
Draught:	15.5 ft (4.7 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons turbines Four screws Twelve Yarrow boilers 22,000 hp
Speed:	25 knots (46 km/h)
Range:	carried 600 tons (1353 tons maximum) coal 260 tons fuel oil
Complement:	411
Armament:	2 × BL Mk XI guns 10 × BL Mk VII guns 1 × 3 inch guns 4 × 3 pdr guns 4 × machine guns 2 × 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	2 inch, 1¾ inch, ¾ inch deck 6 inch conning tower

HMS Newcastle was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy launched on 25 November 1909 from the yards of Armstrong Whitworth. She formed part of the Bristol subgroup.

Service history

On the outbreak of the First World War she was stationed in the Far East on the China and Pacific station, being involved in operations during the Shanghai Rebellion in 1913, that had arisen as a result of the Xinhai Revolution that had broken out two years earlier. When war broke out she bombarded Yap, prior to deploying to Valparaíso to search for the armed merchant raider Prinz Eitel Friedrich. In January 1916, Newcastle captured the German ship Mazatlan. From November 1916 she was under the command of Captain Aubrey Smith. In 1917 she was reassigned to the East Indies and in 1918 she was again moved to operate off South America. After an uneventful war service in comparison with her sisters, Newcastle was sold for scrapping on 9 May 1921 to the breaking firm of Ward. She arrived at the yards at Lelant on 3 May 1923 to be broken up.

References

• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
• Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5
• Ships of the Bristol group
• Bristol cruisers