HMS Arethusa was the name ship of her class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. She saw a considerable amount of action during the early years of the First World War, participating in the Battle of Heligoland Bight and the Battle of Dogger Bank.
Design and description
The Arethusa-class cruisers were intended to lead destroyer flotillas and defend the fleet against attacks by enemy destroyers. The ships were long overall, with a beam of and a deep draught of . Displacement was at normal and at full load. Arethusa was powered by four Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, which produced a total of . The turbines used steam generated by eight Yarrow boilers which gave her a speed of about . She carried of fuel oil
The main armament of the Arethusa-class ships consisted of two BL Mk XII guns that were mounted on the centreline fore and aft of the superstructure and six QF Mk V guns in waist mountings. They were also fitted with a single QF 3-pounder anti-aircraft gun and four British 21-inch torpedo| torpedo tubes in two twin mounts. Approximately near Harwich (51.925, 1.295)
Legacy
One of the four relief panels on Brierley Hill War Memorial, in Dudley, England, depicts Arethusa sending out its boats to rescue German sailors from a ship it had sunk.
One of Arethusas 4-inch guns was salvaged from the wreck on 27 March 1916. It was fitted to the yacht Vittoria, serving as a minesweeper, until 27 February 1918. It was then taken on by the drill ship HMS Satellite on 25 September 1920, where it was used in anti-submarine training until the beginning of the Second World War. It was presented by the shipbreaking firm J. G. Potts to the Armstrong & Aviation Museum at Bamburgh Castle on 16 February 1948, where it remains as of 2024.