HMS Amethyst (1903)

HMS Amethyst was a third-class protected cruiser of the Topaze class of the Royal Navy, built by Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick. She was laid down in January 1903, launched on 5 November 1903 and completed in March 1905. She was notable as the largest warship of her day fitted with steam turbines, since until she was built only destroyers had them, and the turbines cost her range at 10 knots but gave her more at 20 knots than her sister ships. In the First World War she served with the Harwich force at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, then at the Dardanelles, where she covered the minesweeping effort and was hit by field artillery on 14 March 1915 with heavy loss of life, and at the Gallipoli landings, where she carried troops to Y beach and took off wounded survivors. She then served in the Mediterranean and off South America, where she searched for the German raider Moewe. She paid off in February 1919 and was sold for scrap in October 1920.