HMS Dartmouth was a Town-class

Town class cruiser (1910)

The Town class was a group of twenty-one light cruisers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . These vessels were long-range cruisers, suitable for patrolling the vast expanse covered by the British Empire...

 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...

 launched on 14 December 1910 from the yards of Vickers Limited

Vickers Limited

Vickers Limited was a famous British engineering conglomerate that merged into Vickers-Armstrongs in 1927.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

. She was part of the Weymouth subgroup.

On the outbreak of the First World War, she was stationed in the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

 and in October that year she captured the German tug Adjutant. In January 1915 Dartmouth was reassigned to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet but was detached to operate in the South Atlantic in the search for the commerce raider SMS Karlsruhe

SMS Karlsruhe (1912)

SMS Karlsruhe was a light cruiser of the built by the German Kaiserliche Marine . She had one sister ship, ; the ships were very similar to the previous s. The ship was laid down in 1911, launched in November 1912, and completed by January 1914...

. In February 1915 Dartmouth was operating off the Dardanelles

Dardanelles

The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...

 in support of the allied landings at Gallipoli

Battle of Gallipoli

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...

. In May 1915 she was reassigned to the 8th Light Cruiser Squadron at Brindisi

Brindisi

Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...

, and took part in the Battle of the Otranto Straits

Otranto Barrage

The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations...

 on the night of 14 May. She later took part in the Battle off Durazzo (28 December-29 1915), with her sister, HMS Weymouth

HMS Weymouth (1910)

HMS Weymouth was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy launched on 18 November 1910 from the yards of Armstrong Whitworth. She was the lead ship of the Weymouth subgroup....

. On 15 May 1917 Dartmouth was damaged by a torpedo from the submarine UC-25

SM UC-25

SM UC-25 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 29 August 1915 and was launched on 10 June 1916...

.
Dartmouth was repaired and went on to survive the war. She was sold for scrapping on 13 December 1930 to Metal Industries.