HMS Chester was one of two Town class light cruisers originally ordered for the
Greek Navy in 1914.
She was to be named Lambros
Katsonis. The order
was placed with Cammell Laird and
production continued for the Greek account after the outbreak of
World War I in August
1914. In 1915, however, the two
cruisers were purchased by the British
government.
Design
The two Greek ships differed from standard British practice in
several ways: the main armament consisted of the new
5.5 inch Coventry Ordnance Works gun. This
weapon was significantly lighter than the standard 6 inch gun and
fired an 85 lb shell rather than the 100 lb shell of the 6 inch
weapon. It therefore had a higher rate of fire with little loss in
hitting power .
Chester adopted oil firing machinery which
was novel practice for the Royal Navy at the time.
Service
The ship
was laid down on 7 October 1914, launched on 8 December 1915 and
entered service in May 1916, three weeks before the Battle of
Jutland
. At Jutland she fought as part of the 3rd
Battle Cruiser Squadron and came under withering fire from German
forces. She was hit by 17 150mm shells and suffered casualties of
29 men killed and 49 wounded; many of the wounded lost legs because
the open backed gun-shields did not reach the deck and give
adequate protection. Amongst the gun crew fatalities was 16 year
old
John Cornwell who received the
Victoria Cross for his dedication to
duty though mortally injured.
Chester served with the 3rd
Light Cruiser Squadron until the
Armistice
and was subsequently placed in reserve. She was offered for re-sale
to Greece but the offer was declined and the ship was sold for
scrapping on 9 November 1921 to Rees, of Llanelly.
The gun served by
Cornwell is preserved in the Imperial War Museum
in London.
Mount Chester
in the Canadian
Rockies was named after this ship, with nearby Mount Cornwell named after John
Cornwell.
Notes
References
.jpg/250px-HMS_Chester_(damaged).jpg)
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