HMS Ariadne (1898)

History
HMS Ariadne
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Ariadne
Builder:	J&G Thompson, Clydebank
Launched:	22 April 1898
Christened:	Lady Balfour of Burleigh
Reclassified:	Minelayer, March 1917
Fate:	Sunk by UC-65, 26 July 1917
General characteristics
Class and type:	Diadem-class protected cruiser
Displacement:	11,000 long tons (11,000 t)
Length:	435 ft (133 m) (462 ft 6 in (140.97 m) o/a)
Beam:	69 ft (21 m)
Draught:	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Installed power:	16,500–18,000 ihp (12,300–13,400 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × triple expansion engines 2 × shafts
Speed:	20–20.5 knots (37.0–38.0 km/h; 23.0–23.6 mph)
Complement:	760
Armament:	Original: 16 × QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns 14 × QF 12-pounder (76 mm) guns 3 × QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 2 × 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes As Minelayer: 4 × 6 in (150 mm) guns, 1 × 12-pounder gun, 354 mines
Armour:	Casemates: 6 in (15 cm) Deck: 2–4.5 in (5.1–11.4 cm)

HMS Ariadne was a Diadem-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy, which was launched in 1898, In March 1913, she was converted to a stokers' training ship and in 1917 was converted to a minelayer and assigned to the Nore Command. She was torpedoed and sunk off Beachy Head by the German submarine UC-65 (Otto Steinbrinck) on 26 July 1917.

Ariadne was built by J&G Thompson of Clydebank and launched on 22 April 1898, when she was named by Lady Balfour of Burleigh, wife of Lord Balfour of Burleigh, who served as Secretary of State for Scotland.

In March 1902 she was ordered to prepare for service on the North America and West Indies Station, where she would act as flagship to Vice-Admiral Sir Archibald L. Douglas when he took up command on the station in July that year. She was commissioned at Portsmouth on 5 June 1902 by Captain Montague Browning, who was appointed flag captain in command of the ship from the same day. Leaving Portsmouth in early July, she arrived at Halifax and formally succeed the HMS Crescent as flagship on 15 July. In August 1902 she visited St Johns, Newfoundland and Quebec City.