HMS Cornwall (1902)

HMS "Cornwall" was a 9,800 ton "Monmouth"-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Pembroke, Wales in 1902, and commissioned in 1904.

On August 6th, 1911 the "Cornwall" ran aground on Pinnacle Rock, off Cape Sable Island (Nova Scotia). At the time, she was assisting HMCS "Niobe", which had also run aground. Both cruisers were refloated. [cite web
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title = Monmouth class cruisers
work = Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk
publisher = Cranston Fine Arts
date = 2001 - 2008
url = http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/monmouth_class.htm
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accessdate = 1 Jul 2008 ]

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914 she was dispatched to West Africa to intercept German merchant shipping. She then proceeded to the Falkland Islands in the squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee, consisting of the battlecruisers "Inflexible" and "Invincible", the pre-dreadnought battleship "Canopus", two armoured cruisers, three light cruisers and one armed merchant cruiser.

On 8 December 1914 Sturdee's squadron encountered a German squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee, consisting of the heavy cruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" together with the light cruisers "Nürnberg", Leipzig and "Dresden".

In the ensuing battle of the Falkland Islands "Cornwall" assisted in the sinking of "Leipzig". Of the five ships of the Kaiserliche Marine only "Dresden" escaped.

Following the battle "Cornwall" returned to West Africa. In June 1915 she was sent to support the Dardanelles Campaign.

In October 1916 she was sent to the East Indies and China Stations to protect Allied shipping from surface raiders. She returned to the United Kingdom in 1917 where she was refitted. For the remainder of the war she escorted convoys between Canada and the UK.

She paid off early in 1919 and was scrapped in 1920.

References

*Colledge