HMS Sapphire (1904)
HMS "Sapphire" was a protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She saw active service in World War I and was sold for scrap in 1921. Design and description. Rated as third-class cruisers, the "Topaze"-class ships had a length between perpendiculars of , a beam of and a draught of . They displaced and their crew consisted of 313 officers and other ranks. Sapphire was fitted with a pair of four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by 10 water-tube boilers. The  engines were designed to produce a total of which was intended to give a maximum speed of . They carried a maximum of of coal which gave them a range of at and at . The main armament of the "Topaze" class consisted of a dozen quick-firing (QF) guns. One gun each was mounted on the forecastle and the quarterdeck. The remaining ten guns were placed port and starboard amidships. They also carried eight QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two above water 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. The ships' protective deck armour ranged in thickness from . The main guns  were fitted with gun shields and the conning tower had armour thick. Construction. She was laid down in January 1904 at Palmers in their Jarrow shipyard, launched on 17 March 1904 and completed in February 1905. World War I. "Sapphire" was commissioned on 2 July 1914 at Chatham Dock, Kent, before moving out into Kethole Reach, in the estuary of the Medway. On 16 July, "Sapphire" set sail from Sheerness Docks, Kent, for Spithead, Hampshire, where she took part in the Royal Fleet Review on 20 July. On 8 January 1918, "Sapphire" arrived at Aden where Commander W. F. Sells  joined from HMS "Minto" and took over command. "Sapphire" was sold to TW Ward Ltd for breaking up at Grays, Essex on 9 May 1921.