HMS Glasgow, the sixth ship of that name, was launched on the Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

 at Govan

Govan

Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

 in 1909 and 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...

.

On the outbreak of the First World War, she was operating off the coast of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 under Captain John Luce

John Luce (Royal Navy officer)

Rear Admiral John Luce CB was a senior officer in the Royal Navy during and after World War I.-Early and family life:...

, and on 16 August 1914 she captured the German merchant ship SS Catherina. In the South Atlantic on 1 November 1914, she saw action at the Battle of Coronel

Battle of Coronel

The First World War naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher...

, when, together with the cruisers HMS Good Hope

HMS Good Hope (1901)

HMS Good Hope was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the British Royal Navy; she was originally planned to be named Africa, but was renamed before she was launched...

 and HMS Monmouth

HMS Monmouth (1901)

The sixth HMS Monmouth of the British Royal Navy was the lead ship of a class of armoured cruisers of 9,800 tons displacement. She was sunk at the Battle of Coronel in 1914....

, she engaged the German East Asia Cruiser Squadron, including the new cruisers Scharnhorst

SMS Scharnhorst

SMS Scharnhorst was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She was the lead ship of her class, which also included her sister . Scharnhorst and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding ; they were equipped with a greater...

 and Gneisenau

SMS Gneisenau

SMS Gneisenau was an armored cruiser of the German navy, part of the two-ship . She was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was laid down in 1904 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and completed in March 1908, at a cost of...

. Having inflicted little damage on the enemy, Glasgow escaped with moderate damage considering that an estimated 600 shells were fired at her, although the other British cruisers were lost with all hands. Next month, in the battle of the Falkland Islands

Battle of the Falkland Islands

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...

, in company with the battlecruisers Invincible

HMS Invincible (1907)

HMS Invincible was a battlecruiser of the British Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class of three, and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. She participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in a minor role as she was the oldest and slowest of the British battlecruisers...

 and Inflexible, the battle with Admiral Von Spee

Maximilian von Spee

Vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee was a German admiral. Although he was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the counts von Spee belonged to the prominent families of the Rhenish nobility. He joined the Kaiserliche Marine in 1878. In 1887–88 he commanded the Kamerun ports, in German West...

 was resumed on more advantageous terms. The victory was convincing with HMS Glasgow helping sink Leipzig

SMS Leipzig

SMS Leipzig was a Bremen class light cruiser, of the German Imperial Navy. It was named after the German city of Leipzig.The ship was stationed off the west coast of Mexico at the outbreak of war in 1914...

. Another German ship, Dresden, escaped this particular battle, only to be later found by the Glasgow and HMS Kent

HMS Kent (1901)

HMS Kent was a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser of 9,800 tons displacement, of the British Royal Navy. She was launched on 6 March 1901, with her heaviest guns being 6 inch quick-firers...

 and forced to scuttle after a short battle near Mas a Tierra

Battle of Más a Tierra

The Battle of Más a Tierra was a First World War battle fought on 14 March 1915, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra, between a British squadron and a German light cruiser...

. After the sinking a sailor from Glasgow noticed a pig swimming in the water and after nearly being drowned by the frightened pig, succeeded in rescuing him. The crew named him 'Tirpitz'

Tirpitz (pig)

Tirpitz was a pig captured from the German Navy after a naval skirmish following the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. He subsequently became the mascot of the cruiser HMS Glasgow.- Early life :...

, and he served as the mascot of HMS Glasgow for a year and was then transferred to Whale Island Gunnery School, Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 for the rest of his career.
Glasgow was assigned to operate in the Mediterranean in 1915, and in 1917 was reassigned to the 8th Light Cruiser Squadron in the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

. In early 1917, "Glasgow" accompanied HMS Amethyst

HMS Amethyst (1903)

HMS Amethyst was a third-class protected cruiser of the Topaze class of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1904, served during World War I at the Dardanelles and Gallipoli, in the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic...

 in patrolling the Brazilian coast for German raiders, such as SMS Möwe

SMS Möwe

SMS Möwe was an merchant raider of the Imperial German Navy which operated against Allied shipping during World War I....

.

After the war Glasgow served briefly as a stokers' training ship before being paid off in 1922 and sold for scrapping on 29 April 1927 to Ward, of Morecambe.

Mt. Glasgow in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

is named after this ship.