HMS Chester (1915)

HMS "Chester" was one of two Town class light cruisers originally ordered for the Greek Navy in 1914. She was to be named "Lambros Katsonis". The order was placed with Cammell Laird and production continued for the Greek account after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. In 1915, however, the two cruisers were purchased by the British government.

Design

The two Greek ships differed from standard British practice in several ways: the main armament consisted of the new 5.5 inch (140mm) Coventry Ordnance Works gun. This weapon was significantly lighter than the standard 6 inch gun and fired an 85 lb shell rather than the 100 lb shell of the 6 inch weapon. It therefore had a higher rate of fire with little loss in hitting power [cite web | url=http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_55-50_mk1.htm | title=British5.5"/50 (14 cm) BL Mark I |accessdate=2006-12-15 | author=Tony DiGiulian | date=2006-11-10 | format=html |work=NavWeaps: Naval Weapons, Naval Technology and Naval Reunions ] . "Chester" adopted oil firing machinery which was novel practice for the Royal Navy at the time.

ervice

The ship was laid down on 7 October 1914, launched on 8 December 1915 and entered service in May 1916, three weeks before the Battle of Jutland. At Jutland she fought as part of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron and came under withering fire from German forces. She was hit by 17 150mm shells and suffered casualties of 29 men killed and 49 wounded; many of the wounded lost legs because the open backed gun-shields did not reach the deck and give adequate protection. Amongst the fatalities was John Cornwell VC. "Chester" served with the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron until the Armistice and was subsequently placed in reserve. She was offered for re-sale to Greece but the offer was declined and the ship was sold for scrapping on 9 November 1921 to Rees, of Llanelly. The gun served by Cornwell is preserved in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Mount Chester in the Canadian Rockies was named after this ship.

References

*Colledge
*Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Birkenhead.html Ships of the Birkenhead group]
* Conway's All the World's Fighting ships 1906-1922
* DK Brown. The Grand Fleet, Warship Design and Development 1906-1922, Chatham Publishing 1999