HMS Weymouth History

Design
HMS Weymouth was designed and constructed as an improved variant of the Town cla
ss cruiser. These ships were intended to fulfill numerous tasks such as escort d
uty for fleets and convoys. Weymouth retained the same machinery and protective
scheme as the original Town class design but traded numerous 102mm guns for addi
tional 152mm guns. She also suffered from the same drawbacks as the older cruise
rs. The ship, due to her size, had a tendency to roll severely during storms and
swells.
Throughout her sevice, Weymouth received directors for her main armament guns an
d additional small caliber anti-aircraft guns. The ship was eventually fitted an
aircraft platform over her conning tower in 1918 but this was removed at the co
nclusion of World War I.
Service
The Weymouth class a sub-class of the Town class of light cruisers - consisted o
f four ships, Weymouth, Dartmouth, Falmouth, and Yarmouth. All were commissioned
shortly before World War I and saw service from the North Atlantic to the Medit
erranean and Indian Ocean. With the exception of Falmouth, the other three cruis
ers participated extensively in the hunt for German raiding cruisers, notably Ka
rlsruhe and Emden, and also successfully initiated shipping attacks of their own
.
Falmouth spent the majority of her service in the North Atlantic. She participat
ed in the Battle of Jutland, but was torpedoed two months later. After having be
en successfully towed to safety, she was torpedoed again by yet another submarin
e the following day and was sunk.
The remaining three members of the Weymouth sub-class continued to participate i
n Mediterranean operations, notably the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns, and
survived the war, though Weymouth and Dartmouth were also torpedoed, but not su
nk, by submarines. All three remained in service until they were paid off and so
ld for scrapping from 1928-1930.