HMS Amphion (1911)

Amphion about 1914
History
United Kingdom
NameAmphion
Ordered1910 Naval Programme
BuilderPembroke Dockyard
Laid down15 March 1911
Launched4 December 1911
CompletedMarch 1913
FateSunk by mine, 6 August 1914
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeActive-class scout cruiser
Displacement3,340 long tons (3,390 t) (normal)
Length405 ft (123.4 m) (o/a)
Beam41 ft (12.5 m)
Draught14 ft 6 in (4.4 m)
Installed power
Propulsion4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets
Speed25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range4,630 nmi (8,570 km; 5,330 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement293
Armament
Armour

HMS Amphion was an Active-class scout cruiser built for the Royal Navy before the First World War. Completed in 1913, she was initially assigned to the First Fleet and became a destroyer flotilla leader in mid-1914. When the war began, her flotilla was assigned to the Harwich Force. While patrolling on the first full day of the war, Amphion and her destroyers encountered and sank a German minelayer, SMS Königin Luise, but not before she had laid many of her mines. While returning from patrolling the following morning, Amphion struck a mine on 6 August 1914 off the Thames Estuary and sank with the loss of 132 crewmen killed. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the First World War. The wreck site is protected and may not be dived upon without permission from the Ministry of Defence.