HMS Nottingham (1913)

The fifth HMS Nottingham was launched in 1913 and commissioned in 1914. A light Town class light cruiser of 5440 LT, 430 ft in length and a complement of 401 men, she had 2 in thick armour plating and was armed with nine 6 in guns, one 13-pounder anti-aircraft gun and two 21 in torpedo tubes. Seeing action for the first time off Heligoland on 28 August 1914 as one of eight British light cruisers supported by destroyers and submarines, she entered the Heligoland Bight to intercept German vessels employed on coastal protection duties, an action that developed into the Battle of Heligoland Bight.

The ship then saw action in the Yorkshire Raid on 16 December and shortly after that at the Battle of Dogger Bank on 23 January 1915. On 31 May came the Battle of Jutland, where Nottingham was attached to the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. On 19 August 1916, she was engaged in a sweep of the North Sea in thick mist 120 mi south-east of the Firth of Forth when, at 06:00, she was hit by two torpedoes from U-boat U-52, and another just 25 minutes later. At 07:10, she eventually sank with the loss of only a few hands.

In December 1993, during a ceremony at Emden, Admiral Otto H Ciliax of the Federal German Navy presented the Commanding Officer of the sixth and current HMS Nottingham with a Plaque, Cap Ribbon and the Ensign from the fifth Nottingham as a gesture of goodwill and reconciliation. Admiral Ciliax's grandfather, Otto Ciliax, was the watch-officer of U-52; he recovered these items off a boat from the ship while picking up survivors and they currently reside in the Captain's Cabin Flat. The Union Jack from the ship hangs in St Mary's Church, Nottingham. It was presented by Admiral Sir William George Tennant.