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HMS Galatea

HMS Galatea has been used for at least six ships in the Royal Navy. They were named after a sea-nymph from Greek mythology.


One HMS Galatea was a sail-powered wooden frigate which was part of the Royal Navy during the American Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. Under Captain Sayer, she captured a French 10 gun schooner off Guadelope[?] on November 12, 1806. Both ships had become becalmed, and Galatea dispatched her boats to row over and capture the other ship.


Another HMS Galatea was a wooden steam-powered frigate. In 1866 she went on a World cruise, under the command of the Prince Alfred[?], Duke of Edinburgh.


The next HMS Galatea was an Orlando Class first-class cruiser built in Glasgow, and launched on March 10, 1887 and sold for scrapping on April 5, 1905.

Table of contents

General Characteristics

  • Displacement: 5600 tons
  • Length: 300 feet
  • Beam: 56 feet
  • Draft: 22.5 feet mean
  • Complement: 484
  • Armament: two 22 ton 9.2 inch guns, ten 6 inch guns, six 6 pounder guns, ten 3-pounder quick-firing guns, six 18 inch torpedo tubes (one bow, one stern, four beam).
  • Armour: 10 inch partial belt, 2 inch deck, 12 inch conning tower
  • Propulsion: Two coal fired triple expansion steam engines, 4 boilers, 8500 indicated HP, twin screws
  • Speed: 18.1 knots maximum


The following HMS Galatea was an Arethusa Class light cruiser launched on May 14, 1914 at Beardmore[?] shipyard.

At the Battle of Jutland, she was the flagship of the First Light Cruiser Squadron under Commodore E.S. Alexander-Sinclair. She was the first ship to report the presence of German ships, triggering the battle.

Galatea was part of the screen around the Battle Cruiser Force under Admiral Beatty which was on a sweep across the North Sea on May 31, 1916. She was sent in company with HMS Phaeton[?] to investigate a stopped merchant vessel, the Danish N J Fiord. At the same time, two destroyers B-109 and B-110 from the the German battlecruiser and cruiser Scouting Groups under Admiral Hipper[?] were sent to investigate the ship. The two fleets were previously unaware that they were less than 50 miles apart.

She was sold for scrapping in October, 1921.

General Characteristics

  • Displacement: 3720 tons
  • Length: 410 feet
  • Beam: 39 feet
  • Draft: 13.5 feet mean
  • Complement: 318
  • Armament: three 6 inch, four 4 inch, two 3 inch guns, eight 21 inch torpedo tubes
  • Armour: 3 inch amidships, 2 inch at ends, 1 inch deck, 6 inch conning tower
  • Propulsion: Oil fired steam turbine, 40 000 HP
  • Speed: 28.5 knots maximum


The next HMS Galatea was a light cruiser of (another) Arethusa Class, launched on August 9, 1934 at Scotts[?] shipyard in Greenock[?], Scotland.

She was sunk by a German submarine, U-557[?] on December 15, 1941 near Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 470 lives.

General Characteristics

  • Displacement: 5220 tons
  • Length: 480 feet
  • Beam: 51 feet
  • Draft: 14 feet mean
  • Complement: 500
  • Armament: three dual 6 inch, four dual 4 inch guns, two quad 0.5 anti-aircraft machine guns, two 21 inch torpedo tubes, seaplane
  • Armour: 2.25 inch belt, 1 to 3 inches around magazines, 1 inch deck and turrets
  • Propulsion: Oil fired steam turbine, 64 000 HP
  • Speed: 32.25 knots maximum


The most recent HMS Galatea (F18) was a Leander class[?] anti-submarine frigate built by Swan Hunter[?] shipyards, launched May 23, 1963 and commisioned on April 25, 1964. She was rammed in the bow and damaged by an Icelandic Coast Guard ship, Baldur during the Cod War on March 26, 1976. She was decommissioned on January 31, 1987 and sunk as a target during exercises in the North Sea on June 21, 1988.

General Characteristics

  • Displacement: 2450 tons
  • Length: 372 feet
  • Beam: 41 feet
  • Draft: 18 feet
  • Complement: 251 (257 after Ikara[?] upgrade)
  • Armament: Twin 4.5 inch guns (subsequently replaced by Ikara anti-submarine missile launcher, two 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, Limbo antisubmarine mortar, Wasp helicopter[?]
  • Armour: None
  • Propulsion: Twin oil fired steam turbines, 30 000 HP
  • Speed: 30 knots maximum



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