HMS Caroline

A POTTED HISTORY OF HMS CAROLINE

The present CAROLINE was laid down by Admiralty order on the 28th January 1914 at Cammel Laird’s yard in Birkenhead. She was the name ship of her class; the others in her class were HMS CARYSFORT, HMS CLEOPATRA, HMS COMUS, HMS CONQUEST and HMS CORDELIA.

Lady Lawrence Power, wife of Admiral Sir Lawrence Power KCB CVO launched HMS CAROLINE on the 21st September 1914. The ship was then commissioned into active service on the 17th December 1914 making her the fastest built major warship ever, and so far this fact has not been disputed.

When the ship was commissioned the crew consisted of the following: -

On the 18th December 1914 she joined the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow as part of the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron and spent most of her time carrying out ‘sweeps’ of enemy waters. Then in May 1916 she and the Grand Fleet met with the German High Sea Fleet resulting in the ‘Battle of Jutland’. Caroline was heavily engaged for some eight minutes by a German Battleship of the Deutschland Class and was very fortunate not to sustain severe damage. She also pressed home a torpedo attack to 5,200 yards, unfortunately without success.

The remainder of 1916 was uneventful and in January 1917 Caroline went to the Clyde for a major refit which was carried out at Fairfield’s Yard in Govan. The most notable alteration carried out was the fitting of a new Tripod Mast in place of the single ‘stick’. The main armament was also altered by replacing the four, 4 inch guns on the Fo’c’sle by a single 6” gun on the centre line just forward of the bridge and a 3 inch high angle mounting on either side of the Upper Deck beneath the Bridge wings. The Conning Tower, being obsolete, was also removed.

On completion of the refit Caroline was once again sent to Scapa Flow. Then on or about the 27th March 1918 the Admiralty decided to conduct an experiment. A platform was built over the forward 6” gun to enable a light aircraft (a Sopwith Camel) to be launched. This was a rather messy procedure and not approved of by the Captain. The aircraft was launched successfully three times. The only problem was that wherever the aircraft landed it had to have a barge and crane standing by to return the plane to Caroline and crane it back onboard.

However, after the third successful launch it is reported that the pilot flew too far down the coast and it was going to take some five hours to get the barge and crane to where the aircraft landed. It is claimed that the Captain informed the pilot he could now fly as far as he wished as the Captain was not having the pilot or the aircraft back onboard his ship. Regrettably Caroline was having some minor repairs done and was not present when the German High Sea Fleet surrendered later that year and on 30th January 1919, the ship being at Pembroke Dock, she paid off. Her next commission commenced on 26th June 1919 when she was sent to the East Indies Station.

She returned to England on the 17th February 1922, when she was once more Paid Off and placed on the Reserve List. This ended 9 years 2 months and 13 days of active service with the Fleet, she was always a lucky ship and very popular with all her various ship’s companies. The rest of the Squadron were either to be sold off or scrapped but Caroline’s luck held.

In January 1924, after nearly two years on the Reserve List, the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, succeeded in having Caroline transferred to Northern Ireland as the Headquarters for the newly formed Ulster Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Force. (The Royal Naval Reserve has been in existence since 1859 when a corps of Merchant seaman was formed to supplement the Royal Navy in times of war. With the rising threat from the German Navy, a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, all civilian volunteers, was formed in 1905).

On her arrival in Belfast the ship was handed over to Harland and Wolff Shipyard to convert her into a Depot and Training Ship. Her boilers were removed and the space converted into workshops and classrooms. Also, a superstructure was built aft of the funnels to provide the Drill Space, on completion of this work Caroline was moored in Musgrave Channel.

In 1939, Reservists, both RNR and RNVR, were called to active service and Caroline become a depot ship for patrol craft based in Belfast, providing workshops and other facilities. In 1940 Caroline was moved to Milewater Basin, in the same year the Captain’s Quarters were constructed on the deck formally used for ‘X’ Gun. Her contribution to the War effort should not be under estimated.

After the War, the RNVR was reformed in 1946 once again in HMS CAROLINE. However, there was some doubt about her future. She was then over 30 years old and various alternatives were considered. However, once again her luck held. The Commanding Officer of the division at that time (Captain Shillington) was well aware of the affection in which Caroline was held, not only by the members of the Ulster Division but also by many of the citizens of Belfast, who took considerable pride in her presence in the Port. He made representation to the Admiralty and their Lordships granted a reprieve.

The Admiralty decided in 1958 to combine the RNVR and RNR into one organisation, the RNR. Training was undertaken in harbour onboard Caroline and at sea in the Units’ Minesweeper. This continued up till 1993 when the Admiralty withdraw all minesweepers attached to reserve units and also renamed the division: Reserve Training Centre – HMS CAROLINE. The unit was given new tasking, to recruit and train RNR officers and ratings to support the Royal Navy in times of stretch, tension and war.

Caroline is unique in more then one way, she was the first Light Cruiser to be provided with geared turbines and while she was primarily Oil fired, she could, if necessary, burn Coal. The eight Yarrow boilers supplied four Parson’s independent geared turbines, which developed 40,000-horse power to drive four propellers, giving the ship a top speed of 29 knots.

Caroline displaces 3,750 tons, measures 446ft in length, has a beam of 31.5ft and a draught of 14ft 9ins. The armour plating around the ship is four inches at the top and deprecating to two inches at the keel. Her armament consisted of two six-inch guns aft, one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun just fwd of the six-inch gun, two four-inch guns and twin 21-inch torpedo tubes amidships on both sides of the ship and four, four-inch guns around the bridge area. In 1917 during her refit the four, four-inch guns were removed and replaced with one six-inch gun and two three-inch high angle anti-aircraft guns.

Now berthed in Alexander Wharf, the ship has been a part of Belfast City Docks for the last 82 years and at the moment it is intended for her to stay as a commissioned ship conducting training for the Royal Naval Reserves for the foreseeable future.

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