HMS Attentive (1904)

HMS "Attentive" was an "Adventure" class scout cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Armstrong Whitworth at their yards at Elswick, Tyne and Wear and launched on 24 November 1904. She served before and during the First World War.

Career

She joined the Nore division of the Home Fleet in March 1907 and a little over a year later, on 27 April 1908, was involved in a series of accidents during a live firing exercise at night with the Eastern Destroyer Flotilla. She collided with the destroyer HMS "Gala" in the engine room and sliced the smaller ship in two. The forward part of the ship sank immediately, with the crew clinging on to the wreckage of her stern. This part sank as well during an attempt to tow it to shallow water. The "Gala" went down with the loss of Engineer Lieutenant Fletcher. The hapless "Attentive" then collided with the destroyer HMS "Ribble", damaging her enough to force her to return to port in Sheerness.

After repairs she was recommissioned at Chatham in July 1909 and became leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, then joined the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in 1910. She spent most of the First World War as part of the Dover Patrol. On 7 September 1915 she became an early victim of air power. While supporting a naval bombardment of German positions at Ostend, the "Attentive" was bombed, suffering two killed and seven wounded. The air attack forced the squadron to briefly disperse, before returning to carry out the bombardment. She took part in the famous Zeebrugge Raid on 25 April 1918 before escorting convoys to Gibraltar. She spent a few months off Murmansk, North Russia, supporting British forces in the Russian Civil War. "Attentive" was paid off in December 1918, after hostilities ended, and was sold for scrapping on 12 April 1920.

References

*Colledge
*Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/light-cruiser/hms-Adventure.html Adventure class in World War I]
* [http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_adventure_class_cruisers.html History of the Adventure class]
* [http://www.worldnavalships.com/adventure_class.htm The Adventure class]