HMS Thetis (1890)

Protected cruiser HMS Thetis
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Thetis
Builder	J & G Thomson, Clydebank
Laid down	29 October 1889
Launched	13 December 1890
Commissioned	April 1892
Fate	Deliberately sunk in the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918
General characteristics
Class and type	Apollo-class 2nd class protected cruiser
Displacement	3,400 tons
Length	314 ft (95.7 m)
Beam	43 ft (13.1 m)
Draught	17.5 ft (5.3 m)
Propulsion	Twin triple-expansion coal-fired steam engines, 7,000 indicated hp (5 MW), twin screws
Speed	18.5 knots (34 km/h) maximum
Complement	273 to 300 (Officers and Men)
Armament	As built: 2 × QF 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns 6 (later 4) × QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns 8 × 6-pounder (3 kg) Hotchkiss 1 × 3-pounder Vickers 4 × Maxim machine guns 4 × 14 inch torpedo tubes 100 mines Converted pre-1914 to a lightly armed minelayer.
Armour	1.3 to 2 in (33 to 51 mm) deck, no belt

HMS Thetis was an Apollo-class second-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 December 1890. Her first significant mission was service in the Bering Sea Patrol with American warships in a combined effort to suppress poaching in the Bering Sea.

She served on the Mediterranean Station until relieved in March 1901.^[1] She was paid off at Chatham in early June 1901, and was placed in the Fleet reserve.^[2] She was commissioned at Chatham on 25 November 1902 with a complement of 273 officers and men for service on the China Station.^[3] She left Sheerness on 14 December, stopping in Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden and more places before arriving in China the following year.^[4]

The latter half of her career was spent as a mine-layer. Laden with concrete, she was deliberately sunk at 51°21′28.66″N 3°11′50.64″E / 51.3579611°N 3.1974000°E / 51.3579611; 3.1974000 as a blockship in attempt to block the canal in the Zeebrugge Raid during the First World War, on 23 April 1918.

Post-war, Thetis was beached on a sandbank west of the harbour entrance. The wreck was cleared in 1957.^[5]

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.

• Media related to HMS Thetis (ship, 1892) at Wikimedia Commons