HMS Nottingham (1913)

The fifth HMS "Nottingham" was launched in 1913 and commissioned in 1914. A light Town class cruiser of 5,440 tons, convert|430|ft|m|0 in length and a complement of 401 men, she had 2 inch thick armour plating and was armed with nine six-inch (152 mm) guns, one thirteen-pound anti-aircraft gun and two twenty-one inch torpedo tubes. Seeing action for the first time off Heligoland on the 28 August 1914 as one of eight British light cruisers supported by destroyers and submarines, she entered the Heligoland Bight to intercept German vessels employed on coastal protection duties, an action that developed into the Battle of Heligoland Bight.

The ship then saw action in the Yorkshire Raid on 16 December and shortly after that at the Battle of Dogger Bank on 23 January 1915. On the 31 May came the Battle of Jutland, where the "Nottingham" was attached to the Second Light Cruiser Squadron. Two and a half months later on 19 August 1916 she was engaged in a sweep of the North Sea in thick mist convert|120|mi|km|0 south-east of the Firth of Forth when, at 0600, she was hit by two torpedoes from U boat U 52, and another just 25 minutes later. At 0710 she eventually sank with the loss of only a few hands.

In December 1993, during a ceremony at Emden, Admiral Otto H Cilax of the Federal German Navy presented the Commanding Officer of the sixth and current HMS "Nottingham" with a Plaque, Cap Ribbon and the Ensign from the fifth "Nottingham" as a gesture of goodwill and reconciliation. Admiral Cilax's grandfather was the Captain of U52; he recovered these items off a boat from the ship while picking up survivors and they currently reside in the Captain's Cabin Flat.

References

*Colledge
*Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Birmingham.html Ships of the Birmingham group]