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HMS ''Blonde'' was the lead ship of the scout cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She led the 7th Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet from completion until 1912. During the First World War, she was assigned to battleship squadrons of the Grand Fleet. The ship was converted into a minelayer in 1917, but never actually laid any mines. She was sold for scrap in 1920. ==Design and description== Designed to provide destroyer flotillas with a command ship capable of outclassing enemy destroyers with her 10 guns, ''Blonde'' proved too slow in service from the start of her career. Her speed was inadequate to match the speeds of the destroyers she led in her flotilla.〔Gardiner & Gray, p. 50〕 Displacing ,〔 the ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a deep draught of . She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines, each driving one shaft. The turbines produced a total of , using steam produced by 12 Yarrow boilers, and gave a maximum speed of . She carried a maximum of of coal and of fuel oil.〔Friedman 2009, p. 295〕 Her crew consisted of 314 officers and enlisted men.〔 Her main armament consisted of 10 breech-loading (BL) four-inch Mk VII guns. The forward pair of guns were mounted side by side on a platform on the forecastle, three pairs were port and starboard amidships, and the two remaining guns were on the centreline of the quarterdeck, one ahead of the other.〔 The guns fired their shells to a range of about .〔Friedman 2011, pp. 75–76〕 Her secondary armament was four quick-firing (QF) s and two submerged torpedo tubes.〔 As a scout cruiser, the ship was only lightly protected to maximize her speed. She had a curved protective deck that was thick on the slope and on the flat.〔 Her conning tower was protected by four inches of armour.〔 ==Construction and service== ''Blonde'', the eighth and last ship of that name,〔 was laid down at Pembroke Royal Dockyard, on 6 December 1909 and launched on 22 July 1910. She was completed in May 1911 and became the leader of the 7th Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean through 1912.〔 She was assigned to the 4th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow at the start of the war and remained with it until detached before the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. She did not participate in the battle. ''Blonde'' was still detached in August.〔Corbett, Vol. I, p. 439; Vol. II, pp. 412, 417; Newbolt, Vol. IV, p. 34〕 In September 1917, she was converted into a minelayer, but never laid any mines in combat.〔 She was sold for scrap on 6 May 1920 to T. C. Pas, and was broken up in the Netherlands.〔Colledge, p. 42〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Blonde (1910)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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