Name HMS Pyramus Completed 1900 Construction started May 1896 Length 96 m Draft 4.9 m | Laid down May 1896 Displacement 2,135 tons Launched 15 May 1897 Weight 2,169 tons | |
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Fate Sold for scrapping 21 April 1920 Class and type Pelorus-class third-class cruiser Builder Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company | ||
HMS Pyramus was a Pelorus-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy. There were eleven ""Third class"" protected cruisers in the class, which was designed by Sir William White. While well armed for their size, they were primarily workhorses for the overseas fleet on "police" duties and did not serve with the main battlefleet.
They displaced 2,135 tons, had a crew complement of 224 men and were armed with eight QF 4 inch (102 mm) (25 pounder) guns, eight 3 pounder guns, three machine guns, and two 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes. With reciprocating triple expansion engines and a variety of boilers, the top speed was 20 knots (37 km/h).
HMS Pyramus was laid down at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow in May 1896, and launched on 15 May 1897.
She served in various colonial posts, including in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1901.
In 1914 she formed part of the escort for the New Zealand Force which occupied German Samoa (now Samoa). In July 1915 she was present at the Rufiji river delta action when the monitors HMS Severn and HMS Mersey destroyed the German cruiser SMS Königsberg.
She was sold for scrap on 21 April 1920.