HMS Cadmus (1903)

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

300px Sister ship Clio dressed overall at Tasmania in 1905
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Cadmus
Builder:	Sheerness Dockyard
Cost:	£76,657
Laid down:	1902
Launched:	29 April 1903
Commissioned:	1904
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1 September 1921
General characteristics
Class & type:	Cadmus-class sloop
Displacement:	1,070 long tons (1,087 t)
Length:	210 ft (64 m) oa 185 ft (56 m) pp
Beam:	33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught:	11 ft 3 in (3.4 m)
Installed power:	1,400 ihp (1,000 kW)
Propulsion:	Three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engine Coal-fired Niclausse boilers Twin screws
Speed:
Range:	3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement:	150
Armament:	6 × QF 4-inch (102 mm) guns 4 × QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 3 × machine guns

HMS Cadmus was a Cadmus-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Sheerness in 1903, spent her entire career in the Far East and was sold at Hong Kong in 1921.

Design

Cadmus was constructed of copper-sheathed steel to a design by William White, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction. Her propulsion was provided by a J. Samuel White three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing 1,400 horsepower (1,000 kW) and driving twin screws. She and her sisters were an evolution of the Condor-class sloop, carrying more coal, which in turn gave a greater length and displacement. This class comprised the very last screw sloops built for the Royal Navy, and Espiegle was the last Royal Navy ship built with a figurehead.

Sail plan

As designed and built the class was fitted with a barquentine-rigged sail plan. After HMS Condor was lost in a gale in 1901, the Admiralty abandoned sails entirely. Espiegle was never fitted with sails, and the rest of the class had their yards removed in 1914. The official attitude to sails and the loss of yards did not completely prevent the use of sails, and log entries show that fore-and-aft sails were being used in Odin as late as April 1920.

Armament

The class was armed with six 4-inch/25pdr (1ton) quick-firing breech loaders and four 3-pounder quick-firing breech loaders, as well as several machine guns.

Construction

Cadmus was laid down at Sheerness Dockyard on 11 March 1902, and launched on 29 April 1903. She was commissioned in 1904 for the Far East.

Service history

Cadmus started her career on the Australia Station, where she arrived on 13 July 1904; her maiden voyage to Australia was accomplished in record time for a sloop. She was refitted at Cockatoo Island, Sydney in 1905.

In May 1905, she was ordered to follow Clio to the China Station and served there for the rest of her career. She recommissioned at Hong Kong on 18 October 1912, and remained on the China Station during World War I. In November 1914 she arrived at Direction Island in the Indian Ocean a week after the battle between Emden and Sydney to bury the sailors killed in action. In 1920, she was listed as "unallocated" at Hong Kong.

Fate

She was sold at Hong Kong on 1 September 1921.

References

• Bastock, John (1988), Ships on the Australia Station, Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. ISBN 0-86777-348-0
• Transcription of ship's logbooks October 1913 to July 1920