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Career
Class and type:	C-class light cruiser
Name:	HMS Caroline
Builder:	Cammell Laird
Laid down:	January 1914
Launched:	29 September 1914
Commissioned:	4 December 1914
Status:	Active as headquarters and training ship for Royal Naval Reserve
General characteristics
Displacement:	Nominal:3,750 tons Loaded: 4,219 tons Deep: 4,733 tons
Length:	420 ft (446 ft overall)
Beam:	41.5 ft (12.6 m)
Draught:	16 ft (5 m) maximum.
Propulsion:	4 shaft Parsons turbines Power: 40,000 shp
Speed:	28.5 knots (53 km/h)
Range:	carried 405 tons (772 tons maximum) of fuel oil
Complement:	325
Armament:	As built: 2 × 6 in (152 mm) /45 Mk XII (2 × 1), 8 × 4 in (102 mm) /45 Mk IV 1 × 6 pounder, 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes Later: 4 × 6 in (152 mm) /45 Mk XII 2 × 3 in (76 mm) anti-aircraft 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes.
Armour:	Belt: 3 to 1 in Decks: 1 inch
Motto:	Tennax Proposti
Honours and awards:	Jutland 1916

HMS Caroline is a C-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy (RN). Caroline was launched and commissioned in 1914, making her the second-oldest ship in RN service, after HMS Victory. She acts as a static headquarters and training ship for the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), based in Alexandra Dock, Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is the last remaining British World War I light cruiser in service, and the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland still afloat.

Contents 1 Construction and service 1.1 Early service 1.2 World War II 1.3 Post War 2 Records 3 References 4 Further reading

HMS Caroline was built by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead. She was launched in 1914 and commissioned on 4 December 1914.

She served in the North Sea throughout the First World War. She spent much of the war with the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron: Caroline fought with the squadron in 1916 in the Battle of Jutland, under the command of Captain H. R. Crooke.

Caroline later served on the East Indies Station before being placed in Reserve and converted to a headquarters and training ship for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve's (RNVR) Ulster Division in 1924.

During World War II Caroline served as the Royal Navy's headquarters in Belfast Harbour which was used as a home base by many of the warships escorting Atlantic and Russian convoys including Captain-class frigates of the 3^rd Escort Group.

As Belfast developed into a major naval base during World War II, it outgrew the confines of HMS Caroline herself and occupied different establishments in various parts of the city. Eventually several thousand ratings were wearing Caroline cap tallies. The first such establishment was set up in the Belfast Custom House. Later, Belfast Castle was taken over and included a radio station. There were depth charge pistol and Hedgehog repair workshops associated with HMS Caroline some of which would have been on the quays beside her berth in Milewater Basin.

During the early part of World War II when RAF Belfast occupied Sydenham (Belfast harbour) airfield, Fleet Air Arm personnel based there were were lodged under HMS Caroline. In 1943 the airfield was transferred to the Admiralty and commissioned as HMS Gadwell.

Caroline is the last afloat training establishment in the RNR and is expected to be decommissioned by 2011, to be replaced by a "stone frigate" onshore training establishment. When she is decommissioned, Caroline may be moved to Portsmouth as a museum ship.

Although no longer capable of making way under her own steam, she remains afloat and in excellent condition. Several years ago, she tore out her moorings after being buffeted by a manoeuvring hydrofoil ferry, and left her quay before some auxiliary moorings arrested her bid for freedom. She does still try to escape during particularly high winds - in 2005, during a storm, she ripped several huge bollards out of the jetty concrete, but failed to break free entirely. Entrance can be gained every year during Titanic celebrations, on application to the Belfast City Council tourist office.

As well as being the second-oldest ship in RN service, the last British World War I light cruiser in service, and the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland still afloat, HMS Caroline is also the third oldest commissioned warship in the world — behind HMS Victory (launched in 1765 and commissioned in 1778) and USS Constitution (launched and commissioned in 1797) — and the second oldest commissioned warship afloat, as Victory has been in drydock since 1922.

Caroline retains the record of having the fastest build time of any significant warship - nine months from her keel being laid till her launch. Her Parsons steam turbines are the last surviving examples of the kind introduced after the notable event of Parson's Turbinia cutting up the fleet at the Spithead review in 1897. Harland & Wolff of Belfast removed her weaponry and boilers on arrival in Belfast around 1924.

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475. 
• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
• Ships of the Caroline class
• Royal Navy - HMS Caroline
• Jane's Fighting Ships for 1919 - Caroline-class (webarchive)
• Warships1.com - Caroline-class (webarchive)

• Allison, R.S. (1974). HMS Caroline: a brief account of some warships bearing the name, and in particular of HMS Caroline (1914-1974), and of her part in the development of the Ulster Division, RNVR, and later RNR. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press. ISBN 085640 056 4. 

v • d • e C class cruisers
Caroline class	Caroline · Carysfort · Cleopatra · Comus · Conquest · Cordelia
Calliope class	Calliope · Champion
Cambrian class	Cambrian · Canterbury · Castor · Constance
Centaur class	Centaur · Concord
Caledon class	Caledon · Calypso · Cassandra · Caradoc
Ceres class	Cardiff · Ceres · Coventry · Curacoa · Curlew
Carlisle class	Cairo · Calcutta · Capetown · Carlisle · Colombo
Preceded by: Arethusa class · Followed by: Danae class List of cruisers of the Royal Navy

Commissioned Royal Navy Ships

Aircraft carriers Invincible-class HMS Illustrious | HMS Ark Royal Submarines Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine HMS Vanguard | HMS Victorious | HMS Vigilant | HMS Vengeance Swiftsure-class fleet submarine HMS Superb | HMS Sceptre Trafalgar-class fleet submarine HMS Trafalgar | HMS Turbulent | HMS Tireless | HMS Torbay | HMS Trenchant | HMS Talent | HMS Triumph Destroyers Type 42 (Sheffield/Manchester-class) HMS Exeter | HMS Southampton | HMS Nottingham | HMS Liverpool | HMS Manchester | HMS Gloucester | HMS Edinburgh | HMS York Frigates Type 22 (Broadsword-class) HMS Cornwall | HMS Cumberland | HMS Campbeltown | HMS Chatham Type 23 (Duke-class) HMS Argyll | HMS Lancaster | HMS Iron Duke | HMS Monmouth | HMS Montrose | HMS Westminster | HMS Northumberland | HMS Richmond | HMS Somerset | HMS Sutherland | HMS Kent | HMS Portland | HMS St Albans Landing vessels Albion-class Landing Platform, Docks HMS Albion | HMS Bulwark Landing Platform, Helicopter HMS Ocean Mine countermeasures vessels Sandown-class HMS Walney | HMS Penzance | HMS Pembroke | HMS Grimsby | HMS Bangor | HMS Ramsey | HMS Blyth | HMS Shoreham Hunt-class HMS Ledbury | HMS Cattistock | HMS Brocklesby | HMS Middleton | HMS Chiddingfold | HMS Atherstone | HMS Hurworth | HMS Quorn Patrol vessels Antarctic ice-patrol ship HMS Endurance River-class HMS Mersey | HMS Severn | HMS Tyne | HMS Clyde Castle- class HMS Dumbarton Castle Archer-class HMS Archer | HMS Biter | HMS Smiter | HMS Blazer | HMS Puncher | HMS Charger | HMS Ranger | HMS Trumpeter | HMS Express | HMS Example | HMS Explorer | HMS Exploit | HMS Tracker | HMS Raider | HMS Pursuer | HMS Dasher Scimitar-class HMS Scimitar | HMS Sabre Survey vessels Ocean-going survey vessel HMS Scott Coastal survey vessel HMS Roebuck Echo-class multi-role survey vessel HMS Echo | HMS Enterprise Survey launch HMS Gleaner Miscellaneous vessels Type 82 destroyer HMS Bristol (Static training vessel) C class cruiser HMS Caroline (Shore establishment) First-rate ship of the line HMS Victory (Flagship of the Second Sea Lord)

List of Royal Navy ship names