Succeeded by Astraea class In commission 1889–1931 | Preceded by Pearl class Built 1889–1892 | |
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The Apollo class were a class of second-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the late 19th century that served during the Boer War and the First World War.
Contents
Latona, Apollo, Intrepid, Iphigenia, Andromache, Naiad and Thetis were converted into minelaying cruisers around 1907.
Service
Twenty-one of the Apollo class of second-class cruisers were built under the 1889 Naval Defence Act, along with eight to a modified design (the Astraea class).
By the last year of the First World War, the surviving ships were outdated, and six of this class were converted into blockships to be scuttled in the entrances to enemy-occupied ports in Belgium. The cruisers Intrepid, Iphigenia and Thetis were expended on 23 April 1918 in the raid on Zeebrugge; Brilliant and Sirius were unsuccessfully expended in the similar raid on Ostend. A further attempt to block Ostend took place in May, with Sappho and Vindictive (the latter being of the Arrogant class) as blockships, but Sappho broke down en route to Ostend and returned to port.