HMS Raleigh (1919)

HMS "Raleigh" was a "Hawkins"-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned as part of the British North Atlantic squadron in 1921.

She had a full load displacement of 12,000 tons (light, 9,700 tons), an overall length of 605 feet, and carried a complement of 700 officers and men. She was the only unit of the "Hawkins" class to be completed with 70,000 shp machinery, and on trials off Isle of Arran on 7–9 September 1920 reached her designed speed of 31 knots at full power of 71,350 shp. At half power, 35,000 shp, she still managed to make 28 knots. [ Raven and Roberts, "British Cruisers of World War Two" (London: Arms & Armour Press, 1980), p. 60, note the 31 knot full speed but state that the other details of the trials are not known. In fact the trials were written-up in detail in "Engineering", issue of 24 September 1920.] After trials the ship proceeded to Devonport for completion as a flagship.

In April 1922, Sir William Christopher Pakenham was Admiral of the Royal Navy's America and West Indies Station and he designated HMS "Raleigh" as his flagship. Sir Arthur Bromley was captain of HMS "Raleigh". It was through his negligence that the ship was lost.Fact|date=February 2008 On August 8 1922, Captain Bromley sped the flagship through a thick fog and ran her aground at Point Amour in Forteau Bay, Labrador. Eleven sailors were drowned in the shipwreck.

The cruiser was a total write-off. The ship remained hard-aground and upright for four years. During this period, she was stripped of all salvageable items and was destroyed with explosives in September 1926. [ M. J. Whitley, "Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia" (London: Arms & Armour Press, 1995), p. 80 states that "Raleigh" was blown up in July 1928 by a party from HMS "Calcutta".]

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