HMS Pathfinder

• A light cruiser sunk at the start of the First World War.
• A destroyer built in 1941.

The light cruiser HMS Pathfinder had the unhappy distinction of being the first ship ever to be sunk by a torpedo fired by submarine. The only ship which had been sunk by a submarine before her was the USS Housatonic during the American Civil War. She was the lead ship of the Pathfinder class, having a sister ship HMS Patrol[?].

She was built by Cammell Laird[?], Birkenhead, launched on July 16, 1904 and commissioned on July 18, 1905.

Pathfinder was sunk off St. Abbs Head Berwickshire[?] in Scotland on Saturday September 5, 1914 by the German U-21 submarine commanded by Leutnant zur See Otto Hersing. At the time, she was the leader of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla based at the Rosyth[?], Scotland. The ship was struck in a magazine, which exploded causing the ship to sink within a few minutes with the loss of 259 men. There were 11 survivors.

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 2,940 tons
• Length: 385 feet (117.3m) overall
• Beam: 38.4 feet (11.7m)
• Draft: average 13.8 feet (4.2m)
• Complement: 270
• Armament: 9 4-inch guns, 2 18 inch torpedo tubes
• Propulsion: Two 4 cylinder triple expansion oil fired steam engines driving twin screws
• Speed: max 25 knots
• Armour: 2 inch belt, 0.6-1.5 inch deck

There was also an HMS Pathfinder in the Second World War. She was a P Class Destroyer, penant G 19. Built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co., launched on 10 April 1941; commissioned on April 13, 1942. She was involved in the sinking the German submarines U-162 and U-203, but was bombed off Ramree Island[?], Burma on February 11, 1945.