H.M.S. Royal Arthur (1891)

H.M.S. Royal Arthur (1891)
Pendant Number:	A0 (1914) N.10 (Sep 1915) N.86 (Jan 1918)
Builder:	Portsmouth Royal Dockyard
Laid down:	20 Jan, 1890
Launched:	26 Feb, 1891
Commissioned:	2 Mar, 1893
Sold:	22 Sep, 1921
Fate:	to Cohen

H.M.S. Royal Arthur was one of nine Edgar class protected cruisers completed between 1893 and 1896. She started the war serving with the Tenth Cruiser Squadron. In 1918, she became a submarine depot ship and was attached to the Twelfth Submarine Flotilla.

Service

Recommissioned at Portsmouth 18 June, 1913 for work with the Third Fleet.

Recommissioned at Sheerness 19 August, 1913.

At the start of the war, the Edgar class cruisers were operating with the Tenth Cruiser Squadron.

In May, 1918, she started work as a depot ship for the Twelfth Submarine Flotilla, which was operating with the Grand Fleet.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Captain Frederick P. Trench, 2 March, 1893 – 10 May, 1895  (died while in command)
• Acting Captain Robert H. S. Stokes, 10 May, 1895 – 24 June, 1895
• Captain Frank Finnis, 30 May, 1895 – 25 September, 1896
• Captain George F. King-Hall, 15 June, 1897  (for Naval Review at Spithead and the Annual Manoeuvres of 1897)
• Captain Charles G. Dicken, 4 November, 1897 – 15 April, 1901
• Captain Thomas P. Walker, 4 February, 1901 – 16 January, 1903
• Captain Richard P. F. Purefoy, 17 January, 1903 – 30 June, 1904
• Captain A. Gordon H. W. Moore, 18 July, 1905 – 15 May, 1906
• Captain George A. Ballard, 15 May, 1906 – 3 July, 1906  (in reserve)
• Captain Norman C. Palmer, 6 July, 1906 – 4 May, 1907
• Commander George E. S. Petch, 4 May, 1907 – 11 June, 1907
• Captain Robert E. R. Benson, 11 June, 1907 – 6 January, 1909
• Captain Edwin V. Underhill, 6 January, 1909 – 23 July, 1909  (for trooping)
• Commander Herbert W. James, 23 July, 1909 – 20 March, 1910  (sick with pneumonia)
• Captain Francis W. Caulfeild, 24 June, 1910 – 15 August, 1911
• Captain Charles B. Miller, 15 August, 1911 – 1 September, 1911  (and for command of a group of 4th Division ships)
• Captain Basil H. Fanshawe, 20 October, 1911 – 8 February, 1912
• Commander George B. W. Young, 1 May, 1912 – 26 June, 1912
• Captain Bentinck J. D. Yelverton, 1 July, 1912 – 22 October, 1912  (and for charge of a group of ships of 3rd Fleet)
• Captain John F. E. Green, 22 October, 1912 – 3 February, 1913
• Captain Theobald W. B. Kennedy, 23 June, 1913 – 17 June, 1913
• Captain Edmund R. Pears, 15 July, 1913
• Commander George C. Hardy, 23 June, 1913 – 1 July, 1914
• Commander Ernest O. Ballantyne, 1 July, 1914 – 23 November, 1914
• Captain Adolphus H. Williamson, 1 August, 1914 – 7 December, 1914
• Captain Frederic A. Whitehead, c. February, 1915 – 10 December, 1915
• Acting Captain James D. D. Stewart, 10 December, 1915 – 19 March, 1918  (first appointed to the ship in February, 1915)
• Lieutenant-Commander Clyfford H. Warren, 17 February, 1919 – 14 January, 1920  (and for duty with submarines)
• Commander William R. D. Crowther, 13 January, 1920 – 1 July, 1920
• Commander Gilbert H. Kellett, 10 June, 1920 – December, 1920  (and for duty with submarines)

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).