HMS Niobe (1897)

HMS Niobe
Career
Name:	HMS Niobe
Builder:	Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness
Launched:	February 20 1897
Fate:	Transferred to Royal Canadian Navy September 6 1910
General characteristics
Displacement:	11,000 tons
Length:	435 feet (462 feet 6 inches o/a)
Beam:	69 feet
Draught:	25 feet 6 inches
Propulsion:	2 shaft triple expansion engines 16.500 - 18,000 hp
Speed:	20 - 20.5 knots
Complement:	760
Armament:	16 x single BL 6-inch Mark VII guns 14 x single QF 12-pounder guns 3 x single QF 3-pounder guns 2 x 18-inch torpedo tubes
Armour:	6 inch casemates 4.5-2 inch decks

HMS Niobe was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness and launched on February 20 1897. She was part of the Channel Squadron at the outbreak of the Boer War (1899-1900), and was sent to Gibraltar to escort troop transports ferrying reinforcements to the Cape. On 4 December 1899, Niobe and HMS Doris rescued troops from the SS Ismore, which had run aground. She saw further action in the Boer War and the Queen's South Africa Medal was subsequently awarded to the crew. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on September 6 1910. As HMCS Niobe, she formed part of the RCN's Fourth Cruiser Squadron on the North America and West Indies Station. She became a depot ship in Halifax, suffering damage and the deaths of several of her crew in the Halifax Explosion in 1917. She survived until 1920 when she was decommissioned and sold for scrap, being broken up in 1922 in Philadelphia.

See also

• HMCS Niobe for her service in the Royal Canadian Navy.

References

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475. 
• Diadem class at worldwar1.co.uk