Cleopatra sometime between 1915 and 1919
History
United Kingdom
Name	Cleopatra
Builder	Devonport Dockyard
Laid down	26 February 1914
Launched	14 January 1915
Completed	June 1915
Commissioned	June 1915
Decommissioned	1921
Recommissioned	1923
Decommissioned	1924
Recommissioned	January 1925
Decommissioned	December 1926
Recommissioned	December 1927
Decommissioned	March 1931
Identification	Pennant number: 1A (1914); 40 (Jan 18);[1] 88 (Apr 18); P.03 (Nov 19)[2]
Fate	Sold forscrap, 26 June 1931
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	C-classlight cruiser
Displacement	4,219long tons (4,287 t)
Length	446 ft (135.9 m) (o/a)
Beam	41 ft 6 in (12.6 m)
Draught	16 ft (4.9 m) (mean)
Installed power	8 ×Yarrow boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 ×steam turbines
Speed	28.5knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph)
Complement	301
Armament	2 × single6 in (152 mm) guns 8 × single4 in (102 mm) guns 1 × single6 pdr (2.2 in (57 mm))AA gun 2 × twin21 in (533 mm)torpedo tubes
Armour	Waterline belt: 1–3 in (25–76 mm) Deck: 1 in (25 mm) Conning tower: 6 in

The fourthHMSCleopatra was aC-classlight cruiser of theRoyal Navy that saw service duringWorld War I and theRussian Civil War. She was part of theCaroline group of the C class.

Constructed byDevonport Dockyard,Cleopatra waslaid down on 26 February 1914,launched on 14 January 1915, and completed in June 1915.^[3]

Commissioned into service in the Royal Navy in June 1915,Cleopatra was assigned to the 5th Light CruiserSquadron inHarwich Force, which operated in theNorth Sea to guard the eastern approaches to theStrait of Dover andEnglish Channel. In 1915, she was fitted with arunway on herforecastle to launchFrench-madeRoyal Naval Air Servicemonoplanes to attack Germanairships flying over the North Sea, but the aircraft proved unable to achieve the altitude necessary to attack the airships, and the runway had been removed by early 1916.^[3] In August 1915, she took part in the hunt in the North Sea for theImperial German Navyauxiliary cruiserSMS Meteor. In February 1916, she replaced the recently lost light cruiserHMS Arethusa asflagship for Harwich Force's commander,CommodoreReginald Tyrwhitt. She was part of the force covering a Royal Naval Air Serviceseaplane raid against the Imperial German Navyairshiphangars atTondern, then in northernGermany, on 24 March 1916^[4] and, during the return journey, sighted the GermandestroyerG 194 ahead of her. She turned towardG 194 and rammed her, cutting the destroyer in half and sinking her immediately, but the maneuver tookCleopatra across thebows of the light cruiserHMS Undaunted, and the two cruisers collided;Cleopatra returned to base with the force despite the damage she suffered in the two collisions, butUndaunted was so badly damaged that it took her four days to reach port.^[5]

Cleopatra completed repairs and returned to service in time to take part in Royal Navy operations opposing the Lowestoft Raid – a German navalbombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft – on 24–25 April 1916, and was part of the force under Commodore Tyrwhitt that found the Germanbattlecruisers carrying out the raid.^[5] She was involved in an engagement with German destroyers in the North Sea on 18 July 1916. On 4 August 1916, she struck amine offThornton Ridge off the coast ofBelgium,^[4][5] but soon returned to action after repairs.^[5]

In January 1917,Cleopatra participated in an unsuccessful operation to attack German destroyers off the Belgian coast.^[5] She underwent modernisation during 1917,^[4] and in October 1917 joined the other Harwich Force cruisers in a patrol zone to intercept any German attempt to interceptconvoys steaming to and fromScandinavia.^[5] She was assigned to the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron of theGrand Fleet in August 1918 as squadron flagship, and served in that capacity through the end of World War I in November 1918 and until March 1919.^[4]

After leaving the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron in March 1919,Cleopatra rejoined the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in April 1919 and served in theBaltic Sea from 1919 to 1920 during theBritish campaign there againstBolshevik and German forces during theRussian Civil War. After returning to the United Kingdom, she recommissioned in October 1920 to serve in theAtlantic Fleet. She wasdecommissioned in 1921 and placed in theNoreReserve.^[4]

Cleopatra recommissioned in 1923 to serve in the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron, then entered the Devonport Reserve in 1924. She again recommissioned in January 1925 and was assigned to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Atlantic Fleet, serving until decommissioned again in December 1926 and placed under dockyard control. In December 1927, she commissioned into the Nore Reserve, and was its flagship from September 1928 to March 1931. While in the Nore Reserve, she transported troops to theMediterranean in October 1928 and toChina in 1929. In March 1931, she was decommissioned and placed under dockyard control atChatham Dockyard.^[4]

Cleopatra was sold on 26 June 1931 toHughes Bolckow ofBlyth,Northumberland, forscrapping.

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020).Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-5267-9327-0.
• Corbett, Julian (1997).Naval Operations. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol. III (reprint of the 1940 second ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press.ISBN 1-870423-50-X.
• Dunn, Steve R. (2022).The Harwich Striking Force: The Royal Navy's Front Line in the North Sea, 1914-1918. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-3990-1596-7.
• Friedman, Norman (2010).British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
• Newbolt, Henry (1996).Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. IV (reprint of the 1928 ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: Battery Press.ISBN 0-89839-253-5.
• Newbolt, Henry (1996).Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. V (reprint of the 1931 ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: Battery Press.ISBN 0-89839-255-1.
• Preston, Antony (1985). "Great Britain and Empire Forces". In Gray, Randal (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–104.ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980).British Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-922-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHMS Cleopatra (1915).

• Ships of the Caroline class

• C-class cruisers
• Ships built in Plymouth, Devon
• 1915 ships
• World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom
• Maritime incidents in 1916

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