Arethusa-class cruiser (1913)

The Arethusa class was a group of eight oil-fired light cruisers ordered for the Royal Navy in September 1912, designed to lead destroyer flotillas in the North Sea at about 30 knots. They were the first cruisers to use destroyer-type high-speed steam turbines, with four direct-drive turbines and oil-fired Yarrow boilers, and they carried two 6-inch guns on the centreline with six 4-inch guns in waist mounts. Crews found them very cramped. All eight served in the First World War, and HMS Arethusa, the name ship, was built at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 25 October 1913 and lost to a mine off Felixstowe in February 1916. The other seven came from Devonport and private yards, and were sold for breaking up in the early 1920s.