HMS Mercury (1878)
HMS Mercury was an Iris Class second class cruiser of the Royal Navy. The two ships were the first all steel ships in the Royal Navy. She was distinguished from the Iris by her straight bow, which gave her a slightly shorter length of 315 feet. The ship carried a complement of 275 officers and men.
Mercury was laid down at Pembroke Dockyard on 16 March 1876, launched on 17 April 1878 and completed on 18 September 1879. Originally equipped with a light barque rig, her sails were soon removed and the class became the first "mastless cruisers.[1] She had an "unprecedented amount of space taken up with machinery", but was thought of so highly that she was rearmed three times during her service.[2]
Mercury served with the Portsmouth Reserve from 1879 to 1890, in China from 1890 to 1895 and with the Portsmouth Reserve again from 1895 to 1903. She served as a Navigation School Ship for Navigating Officers from 1903 to 1905 and a Submarine Depot Ship from 1906 to 1913. Hulked at Chatham in 1914 for service at Rosyth and renamed Columbine, she was eventually sold for scrap in 1919.
References
Footnotes
Sources
- Archibald, E.H.H.; Ray Woodward (ill.) (1971). The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy 1860-1970. New York: Arco Publishing Co.. ISBN 0-6680-2509-3.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Morris, Douglas, (1987), Cruisers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies Maritime Books. ISBN 0 907771 35 1.
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