HMS Patrol (1904)

HMS Patrol was a Pathfinder-class scout cruiser which served with the Royal Navy before and during the First World War. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name HMS Patrol.

Design

To save weight and increase her speed she sported a partially armoured deck, with side armour protecting the engine rooms, rather than the standard protective deck of most cruisers. Speed was the key as she was designed to work with the destroyer flotillas. She was built at yards of Cammell Laird, where she was laid down in October 1903 and completed in September 1905 at a cost of around £279,000. She carried a full complement of 268 officers and men. Originally armed with ten 12 pounder and eight three pounder guns with two 18inch torpedo tubes mounted above the water, she was upgraded with nine 4 inch guns and six 6 pounder guns in 1911/12.

Career

She joined the Home Fleet in October 1907 and then the 3rd Fleet at the Nore Command in 1908. In 1909 she served a short spell as leader of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth, then moved to the 3rd Flotilla and then the 1st in 1910. In 1911 she was stationed at Harwich with the 1st Flotilla under Captain Francis M Leake. In 1913–14 she was stationed at Haulbowline, a naval base in Cork and now the headquarters of the Irish Navy.