HMS Hyacinth (1898)

HMS Hyacinth was one of three Highflyer-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s. Initially assigned to the Channel Fleet, she spent much of her early career as flagship for the East Indies Station. She was reduced to reserve in 1912 after a lengthy refit before becoming the flagship of the Cape of Good Hope Station in 1913. After the beginning of World War I in August 1914, she spent the first few months of the war escorting convoys around South Africa. In early 1915, she was deployed to German East Africa to blockade the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg. She destroyed a German blockade runner attempting to bring supplies through the blockade in April and sank a German merchant vessel in early 1916. Hyacinth remained on the Cape Station for the rest of the war and was paid off in 1919, although she was not sold for scrap until 1923.

Design and description
Hyacinth was designed to displace 5650 LT. The ship had an overall length of 372 ft, a beam of 54 ft and a draught of 29 ft. She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 10000 ihp designed to give a maximum speed of 23 kn. The engines were powered by 18 Belleville boilers. She carried a maximum of 1125 LT of coal and her complement consisted of 470 officers and ratings.

Her main armament consisted of 11 quick-firing (QF) 6 in Mk I guns. One gun was mounted on the forecastle and two others were positioned on the quarterdeck. The remaining eight guns were placed port and starboard amidships. They had a maximum range of approximately 10000 yd with their 100 lb shells. Eight quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder 12 cwt guns were fitted for defence against torpedo boats. One additional 12-pounder 8 cwt gun could be dismounted for service ashore. Hyacinth also carried six 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes, one on each broadside. The ship's protective deck armour ranged in thickness from 1.5 to 3 in. The engine hatches were protected by 5 in of armour. The main guns were fitted with 3-inch gun shields and the conning tower had armour 6 inches thick.

Construction and service
Hyacinth was laid down by London and Glasgow Shipbuilding Company at their shipyard in Govan, Scotland on 27 January 1897 and launched on 27 October 1898, when she was christened by Mrs. Richmond, wife of David Richmond, Lord Provost of Glasgow. She was completed on 7 December 1899. She served with the Channel Fleet under Captain Douglas Gamble, and took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII. In 1903 she relieved her sister Highflyer as flagship of the East Indies Station. In April 1904 she took part in the Somaliland Campaign, including supplying men for the landing party that stormed and captured the forts at Illig, the ship's guns supporting the attack. She was in reserve at Devonport Royal Dockyard in 1906 until she again became flagship of the East Indies Station in February 1907. In December 1910, she was used to bombard the town of Dubai after a British search party had become pinned down by local forces protesting a British incursion to search for arms traders, the Hyacinth incident.

She returned home in March 1911 for a refit at Chatham Royal Dockyard and was transferred to the reserve Third Fleet in February 1912. She recommissioned a year later for service as the flagship of the Cape of Good Hope Station, relieving her other sister, HMS Hermes (1898).

Shortly before the beginning of the war, Rear-Admiral Herbert King-Hall, commander of the Cape Station, was ordered to find and shadow SMS Königsberg, based at Dar-es-Salaam, German East Africa. Two of his ships, including Hyacinth, spotted the German ship, but neither was fast enough to follow her. In early September she escorted the troopships transporting the garrison of the Cape Colony home up to the Central Atlantic before returning to the Cape. In November, King-Hall briefly transferred his flag to the armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur (1906) when his command was strengthened in anticipation of a battle with the German East Asia Squadron after its victory in the Battle of Coronel. Hyacinth hoisted his flag after Minotaur was ordered home as a result of the decisive victory over the German squadron in the Battle of the Falklands in early December 1914. When the predreadnought battleship Goliath arrived later that month, he transferred his flag to her and ordered Hyacinth north to German East Africa. She arrived at the end of January 1915 and blockaded Königsberg in the Rufiji delta. Goliath was ordered to the Dardanelles on 25 March and the ship again became King-Hall's flagship.

On 14 April Hyacinth intercepted the captured British merchantman SS Rubens making an attempt to deliver supplies to German East Africa. The cruiser spotted her bound for Tanga, but was not able to board and capture her when one engine broke down. Rubens was scuttled in shallow water in Manza Bay, out of sight of Hyacinth, which believed that shelling had set her afire, though this was a ruse by the crew, who had laid inflammable material on deck and retired to the shore. The fire was too hot for her cargo to be salvaged when Hyacinth's crew approached the stranded ship. The Germans, however, were able to salvage all the arms and ammunition cargo after the fire had burnt out.

Hyacinth remained on the Cape Station until the end of the war. On 23 March 1916 she sank the German merchant ship SS Tabora in Dar-es-Salaam. In January 1917 she was stationed off Tanganyika, where she served as the depot ship for the Royal Naval Air Service. On 6 January, Squadron Leader Edwin Moon was on a reconnaissance flight with Commander Richard Bridgeman as observer, when they were forced to land with engine trouble and came down in a creek of the Rufiji River delta. Moon and Bridgeman wandered for days in the river delta before eventually building a makeshift raft which was swept out to sea. Bridgeman died of exposure but Moon was blown back to shore where he was taken into captivity. Moon was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order for the display of "the greatest gallantry in attempting to save the life of his companion", together with the Royal Humane Society's silver medal for his attempts to save Bridgeman's life and the Legion of Honour – Croix de Chevalier. Bridgeman's body was recovered from the sea and is buried in Dar es Salaam Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. Hyacinth was paid off in August 1919 and sold for scrap on 11 October 1923.