HMS Thetis (1890)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Thetis.

HMS Thetis was an Apollo-class second-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 December 1890. Her first significant mission was service in the Bering Sea Patrol with American warships in a combined effort to suppress poaching in the Bering Sea.

Protected cruiser HMS Thetis
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Thetis
Builder	J & G Thomson, Clydebank
Laid down	29 October 1889
Launched	13 December 1890
Commissioned	April 1892
Fate	Deliberately sunk in the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918
General characteristics
Class & type	Apollo-class 2nd class protected cruiser
Displacement	3,400 tons
Length	314 ft (95.7 m)
Beam	43 ft (13.1 m)
Draught	17.5 ft (5.3 m)
Propulsion	Twin triple-expansion coal-fired steam engines, 7,000 indicated hp (5 MW), twin screws
Speed	18.5 knots (34 km/h) maximum
Complement	273 to 300 (Officers and Men)
Armament	As built: 2 × QF 6-inch (152.4 mm) guns 6 (later 4) × QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns 8 × 6-pounder (3 kg) Hotchkiss 1 × 3-pounder Vickers 4 × Maxim machine guns 4 × 14 inch torpedo tubes 100 mines Converted pre-1914 to a lightly armed minelayer.
Armour	1.3 to 2 in (33 to 51 mm) deck, no belt

She served on the Mediterranean Station until relieved in March 1901.^[1] She was paid off at Chatham in early June 1901, and was placed in the Fleet reserve.^[2] She was commissioned at Chatham on 25 November 1902 with a complement of 273 officers and men for service on the China Station.^[3] She left Sheerness on 14 December, stopping in Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden, Colombo and more places before arriving in Shanghai in early February the following year.^[4][5]

The latter half of her career was spent as a mine-layer. Laden with concrete, she was deliberately sunk at 51°21′28.66″N 3°11′50.64″E as a blockship in attempt to block the canal in the Zeebrugge Raid during the First World War, on 23 April 1918.

The White Ensign flying on wreck of the Thetis in the harbour at Zeebrugge outside the mouth of the ship canal, 24 October 1918

Post-war, Thetis was beached on a sandbank west of the harbour entrance. The wreck was cleared in 1957.^[6]