HMS Empress ( 1914 ) HMS " Empress " was a seaplane carrier of the Royal Navy ( RN ) that served during World War I . Converted from the Cross - Channel packet ship " Empress " , the ship ' s aircraft conducted aerial reconnaissance , observation and bombing missions in the North Sea and Eastern Mediterranean . During the last year of the war , she conducted anti - submarine patrols in the Mediterranean . " Empress " was returned to her owners in 1919 and was then sold to a French company in 1923 . She was scrapped in 1933 . Description . " Empress " had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of . She displaced and was rated at . Each of the ship ' s three sets of direct - drive steam turbines drove one propeller shaft . The ship ' s six boilers generated enough steam to produce from the turbines . The ship had a designed speed of , but she made a speed of during her sea trials with . " Empress " carried of coal , enough to give her a range of at . Service . Built as a fast packet for the South East and Chatham Railway Co . , " Empress " was requisitioned for service during World War I by the Admiralty on 11 August 1914 , and was commissioned on 25 August . During that month , the ship transported equipment for the Eastchurch Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service to Ostend , Belgium . Beginning on 30 August , she was converted by Chatham Dockyard to carry and operate three seaplane s . One aircraft was stowed forward and two aft , housed in canvas hangars , and handled with newly fitted cargo booms . During her career with the RN , the ship operated Fairey Hamble Baby , Short Admiralty Type 74 , Short Type 184 , Sopwith Schneider and Baby floatplanes . Two or three QF 2 - pounder guns also were fitted at this time . Upon completion of the modifications on 30 September , " Empress " was assigned to the Harwich Force along with and . On Christmas Day 1914 , nine aircraft from all three ships took part in the Cuxhaven Raid on hangars housing Zeppelin airships . Seven of the nine seaplanes successfully took off for the attack , but they inflicted little damage . Only three of the aircraft returned to be recovered , but the crews of the other three ditched safely and were recovered by a British submarine and the Dutch trawler " Marta van Hattem " . From 9 May to 18 July 1915 , the ship was modified by Cunard at Liverpool with a permanent , four - aircraft , hangar in the rear superstructure and a pair of cranes were mounted at the rear of the hangar to hoist the seaplanes in and out out of the water . The 2 - pounders were apparently removed during this refit and four QF 12 - pounder 12 cwt guns , each with 130 rounds , and two Vickers QF 3 - pounder anti - aircraft gun s , each with 65 rounds , were fitted . " Empress " was transferred afterwards to Queenstown for the rest of the year , before moving to the Mediterranean . She arrived there in January 1916 and was assigned to the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron with the carriers , , and . The squadron was under the command of the General Officer Commanding , Egypt and its primary duty was watch and to attack Turkish positions and movements in southern Palestine and the Sinai in early 1916 . In April , " Empress " was detached from the squadron to support operations off the Aegean coast of Bulgaria , where her aircraft observed for several naval bombardments . After a refit at Genoa , the ship rejoined the squadron and supported operations off the Syrian and Palestinian coasts until November . In January 1918 , she was assigned anti - submarine duties , first at Port Said and later at Gibraltar . She was returned to her owners in November 1919 and was sold to the Société Anoynyme de Gérance et d ' Armament of France in 1923 . On 12 January 1926 , " Empress " collided with the British schooner in the English Channel and sank her . " Empress " was scrapped in France in 1933 .