HMS Pathfinder (1904)

The Loss of HMS Pathfinder. Painting by William Lionel Wyllie (1920), Imperial War Museum Art Collection. Formerly the property of Pathfinder's captain, Vice Admiral Francis Martin Leake
History
Name:	HMS Pathfinder
Builder:	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
Laid down:	August 1903
Launched:	16 July 1904
Commissioned:	18 July 1905
Fate:	Sunk 5 September 1914 by U-21
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Scout cruiser
Displacement:	2,940 long tons (2,987 t)
Length:	370 ft (112.8 m) (p/p)
Beam:	38 ft 9 in (11.8 m)
Draught:	15 ft 2 in (4.6 m) (deep load)
Installed power:	16,500 ihp (12,300 kW) 12 water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	2 Shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Complement:	289
Armament:	10 × QF 12-pounder 18 cwt guns 8 × QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 2 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Waterline belt: 2 in (51 mm) Deck: 0.375–1.5 in (9.5–38.1 mm) Conning tower: 3 in (76 mm)

HMS Pathfinder was the lead ship of the Pathfinder class of scout cruisers, and was the first ship ever to be sunk by a locomotive torpedo fired by submarine (the American Civil War ship USS Housatonic had been sunk by a spar torpedo). She was built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, launched on 16 July 1904, and commissioned on 18 July 1905. She was originally to have been named HMS Fastnet, but was renamed prior to construction.

Not long after completion, two additional 12 pounder guns were added and the 3 pounder guns were replaced with six 6 pounder guns. In 1911–12 they were rearmed with nine 4-inch guns. Pathfinder spent her early career with the Atlantic Fleet, Channel Fleet (1906) and then the Home Fleet (1907). At the start of the First World War she was part of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla based at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth and commanded by Capt Francis Martin-Peake.

Pathfinder was sunk off St. Abbs Head, Berwickshire, Scotland, on Saturday 5 September 1914 by the German U-21, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Hersing. Typical of the scout cruisers' poor endurance, she was so short of coal while on patrol that she could only manage a speed of 5 knots, making her an easy target. The ship was struck in a magazine, which exploded, causing the ship to sink within minutes with the loss of 259 men.