HMS Hermes (1898)

HMS Hermes at anchor, Dar es Salaam, German East Africa, before 1913
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Hermes
Namesake	Hermes
Ordered	1897
Builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering, Govan
Laid down	30 April 1897
Launched	7 April 1898
Christened	Lady Kelvin
Completed	5 October 1899
Reclassified	Fitted to carry seaplanes in 1913
Fate	Sunk by U-27, 31 October 1914
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Highflyer-class protected cruiser
Displacement	5,650 long tons (5,740 t)
Length	350 ft (110 m) (pp.) 372 ft (113 m) (o/a)
Beam	54 ft (16.5 m)
Draught	21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
Installed power	10,000 ihp (7,500 kW) 18 × Belleville boilers
Propulsion	2 × shafts 2 × 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	470
Armament	11 × single QF 6 in (152 mm) guns 8 × single QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns[Note 1] 6 × single QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns 2 × single 18 in (45 cm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Deck: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) Gun shields: 3 in (76 mm) Conning tower: 6 in (152 mm) Engine hatches: 5 in (127 mm)

HMS Hermes was a Highflyer-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. She spent much of her early career as flagship for various foreign stations before returning home in 1913 to be assigned to the reserve Third Fleet. The ship was modified later that year as the first experimental seaplane carrier in the Royal Navy. In that year's annual fleet manoeuvers, she was used to evaluate how aircraft could cooperate with the fleet and if aircraft could be operated successfully at sea for an extended time. The trials were a success and Hermes was paid off in December at their conclusion. She was recommissioned at the beginning of World War I in August 1914 for service as an aircraft ferry and depot ship for the Royal Naval Air Service. She was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Straits of Dover that October, with the loss of 21 lives.
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