HMS Galatea has been used for at least six ships in the
Royal Navy. They were named after a sea-nymph from
Greek mythology.
One
HMS Galatea was a sail-powered wooden
frigate which was part of the Royal Navy during the
American Revolution and the
Napoleonic wars. Under Captain Sayer, she captured a
French 10 gun
schooner off
Guadelope[?] on
November 12,
1806. Both ships had become becalmed, and
Galatea dispatched her boats to row over and capture the other ship.
Another
HMS Galatea was a wooden steam-powered frigate. In
1866 she went on a World cruise, under the command of the
Prince Alfred[?],
Duke of Edinburgh.
The next
HMS Galatea was an Orlando Class
first-class cruiser built in
Glasgow, and
launched on
March 10,
1887 and sold for scrapping on
April 5,
1905.
- Displacement: 5600 tons
- Length: 300 feet
- Beam: 56 feet
- Draft: 22.5 feet mean
- Complement: 484
- Armament: two 22 ton 9.2 inch guns, ten 6 inch guns, six 6 pounder guns, ten 3-pounder quick-firing guns, six 18 inch torpedo tubes (one bow, one stern, four beam).
- Armour: 10 inch partial belt, 2 inch deck, 12 inch conning tower
- Propulsion: Two coal fired triple expansion steam engines, 4 boilers, 8500 indicated HP, twin screws
- Speed: 18.1 knots maximum
The following
HMS Galatea was an Arethusa Class
light cruiser launched on
May 14,
1914 at
Beardmore[?] shipyard.
At the Battle of Jutland, she was the flagship of the First Light Cruiser Squadron under Commodore E.S. Alexander-Sinclair. She was the first ship to report the presence of German ships, triggering the battle.
Galatea was part of the screen around the Battle Cruiser Force under Admiral Beatty which was on a sweep across the North Sea on May 31, 1916. She was sent in company with HMS Phaeton[?] to investigate a stopped merchant vessel, the Danish N J Fiord. At the same time, two destroyers B-109 and B-110 from the the German battlecruiser and cruiser Scouting Groups under Admiral Hipper[?] were sent to investigate the ship. The two fleets were previously unaware that they were less than 50 miles apart.
She was sold for scrapping in October, 1921.
- Displacement: 3720 tons
- Length: 410 feet
- Beam: 39 feet
- Draft: 13.5 feet mean
- Complement: 318
- Armament: three 6 inch, four 4 inch, two 3 inch guns, eight 21 inch torpedo tubes
- Armour: 3 inch amidships, 2 inch at ends, 1 inch deck, 6 inch conning tower
- Propulsion: Oil fired steam turbine, 40 000 HP
- Speed: 28.5 knots maximum
The next
HMS Galatea was a
light cruiser of (another) Arethusa Class,
launched on
August 9,
1934 at
Scotts[?] shipyard in
Greenock[?],
Scotland.
She was sunk by a German submarine, U-557[?] on December 15, 1941 near Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 470 lives.
- Displacement: 5220 tons
- Length: 480 feet
- Beam: 51 feet
- Draft: 14 feet mean
- Complement: 500
- Armament: three dual 6 inch, four dual 4 inch guns, two quad 0.5 anti-aircraft machine guns, two 21 inch torpedo tubes, seaplane
- Armour: 2.25 inch belt, 1 to 3 inches around magazines, 1 inch deck and turrets
- Propulsion: Oil fired steam turbine, 64 000 HP
- Speed: 32.25 knots maximum
The most recent
HMS Galatea (F18) was a
Leander class[?] anti-submarine
frigate built by
Swan Hunter[?] shipyards, launched
May 23,
1963 and commisioned on
April 25,
1964. She was rammed in the bow and damaged by an
Icelandic Coast Guard ship,
Baldur during the
Cod War on
March 26,
1976. She was decommissioned on
January 31,
1987 and sunk as a target during exercises in the
North Sea on
June 21,
1988.
- Displacement: 2450 tons
- Length: 372 feet
- Beam: 41 feet
- Draft: 18 feet
- Complement: 251 (257 after Ikara[?] upgrade)
- Armament: Twin 4.5 inch guns (subsequently replaced by Ikara anti-submarine missile launcher, two 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, Limbo antisubmarine mortar, Wasp helicopter[?]
- Armour: None
- Propulsion: Twin oil fired steam turbines, 30 000 HP
- Speed: 30 knots maximum