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HMS Blonde (1910)
Encyclopedia
HMS Blonde was a Blonde class
Blonde class cruiser
The Blonde class cruisers were a two ship class of light scout cruisers of the British Royal Navy. They were developments of the earlier Boadicea class class, though were slightly bigger with ten 4 inch guns as their main armament.-History:...
light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. She was laid down in December 1909 in Pembroke Dockyard, launched on 22 July 1910 and completed in May 1911.
Like her sister ship, , she was a development of the earlier Boadicea-class
Boadicea class cruiser
The Boadicea class was a two ship class of scout cruisers of the Royal Navy, consisting of HMS Bellona and HMS Boadicea. They were the first class to be fitted with turbine machinery, propulsion which became standard for all future cruisers...
, designed to operate with destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
flotilla
Flotilla
A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...
s.
Blonde spent 1911-1912 in the Mediterranean as Senior Officer’s ship of the Seventh Flotilla, but by 1912 she was already at least 2.5 kn (3 mph; 4.9 km/h) slower than the majority of destroyers.
During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she served with the Grand Fleet, and was attached to a variety of Battle Squadrons, beginning with the Fourth Battle Squadron. She was no longer with that squadron by the summer of 1916, and missed the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
. In September 1917, she was she was converted to lay mines but was never used in active service in this role. Surplus to requirements after the end of hostilities, she was sold for scrap on 6 May 1920 to T. C. Pas, and was broken up in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.