HMS Niobe (1897)

HMS Niobe was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy. She served in the Boer War and was then given to Canada as the first ship of the then newly created Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Niobe. After patrol duties at the beginning of the First World War, she became a depot ship in Halifax. Damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, she was scrapped in the 1920s.

Career
She was built by Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness and launched on 20 February 1897, entering service in 1898.

She was part of the Channel Squadron at the outbreak of the Boer War (1899–1900), and was sent to Gibraltar to escort troop transports ferrying reinforcements to the Cape. On 4 December 1899, Niobe and HMS Doris rescued troops from the SS Ismore, which had run aground. She saw further action in the Boer War and the Queen's South Africa Medal was subsequently awarded to the crew.

She returned to the English Channel, but later escorted vessels as far as Colombo in Ceylon.

In March 1901 she was one of two cruisers to escort HMS Ophir, commissioned as royal yacht for the world tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George and Queen Mary), from Spithead to Gibraltar, and in September the same year she again escorted the royal yacht from St. Vincent to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Royal Canadian Navy
She and HMS Rainbow were given to the Dominion of Canada to seed the new Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). She was transferred to the RCN on 6 September 1910, commissioning at Devonport Dockyard and reaching Halifax on 21 October that year. She ran aground off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, on the night of 30–31 July 1911. Repairs took 18 months and she had a permanently reduced maximum speed as a result.

With the outbreak of the First World War she joined the Royal Navy's 4th Cruiser Squadron on the North America and West Indies Station. She was engaged in intercepting German ships along the American coast for a year until as a result of being worn out, she was paid off on 6 September 1915 to become a depot ship in Halifax.

The Halifax Explosion of 1917 caused serious damage to upper works, and the deaths of several of her crew. However she remained in use as a depot ship until disposed of in 1920, decommissioned and sold for scrap. She was broken up in 1922 in Philadelphia.

Legacy
As the first large ship in the Royal Canadian Navy, Niobe′s name has considerable symbolic importance in the Canadian navy, being used among other things as the title of a series of scholarly papers. Models and collections of artefacts of Niobe can be found at several Canadian museums including the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and the Maritime Command Museum in Halifax. The latter devotes a room to Niobe which includes her original ship's bell.

Commanding officers

 * Captain John Denison, RN in 1901
 * Commander W. B. MacDonald RN 6 September 1910 - ?
 * Lt Commander C. E. Aglionby RN 20 June 1913 - ?
 * Captain R. G. Corbett RN 15 August 1914 - 1 September 1915
 * A(Acting)/Commander P. F. Newcombe RN 16 October 1916 - ?
 * Commander H. E. Holme RCN 22 December 1917 - 1 June 1920