HMS Blanche was a Blonde class

Blonde class cruiser

The Blonde class cruisers were a two ship class of light scout cruisers of the British Royal Navy. They were developments of the earlier Boadicea class class, though were slightly bigger with ten 4 inch guns as their main armament.-History:...

 scout cruiser

Scout cruiser

A scout cruiser was a type of warship of the early 20th Century, which were smaller, faster, more lightly armed and armoured than protected cruisers or light cruisers, but larger than contemporary destroyers...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was laid down in December 1909 at Pembroke Dockyard, launched on 25 November 1909 and completed in November 1910.

Design

Like her sister ship, HMS Blonde

HMS Blonde (1910)

HMS Blonde was a Blonde class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was laid down in December 1909 in Pembroke Dockyard, launched on 22 July 1910 and completed in May 1911....

, she was essentially a development of the earlier Boadicea class

Boadicea class cruiser

The Boadicea class was a two ship class of scout cruisers of the Royal Navy, consisting of HMS Bellona and HMS Boadicea. They were the first class to be fitted with turbine machinery, propulsion which became standard for all future cruisers...

 with more 4 inch guns and, for the first time on a cruiser, the potent 21 inch torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

. They were originally designed to operate with destroyer flotilla

Flotilla

A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...

s, and Blanche began her service career with the First Destroyer Flotilla (1911-1912), but was not really fast enough for this role – by 1912 the majority of destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s could make 27 kn (52.9 km/h).

Career

In August 1914 she joined the Grand Fleet, and was attached to the Third Battle Squadron at Rosyth

Rosyth

Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....

. In December 1914 she was away from the squadron, and was allocated to the force dispatched to deal with the German fleet that bombarded the Yorkshire Coast on 16 December. She was found to be too light to operate in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 in winter, and was forced to turn back after she was disabled by heavy seas off the east coast of Scotland. In February 1916 Blanche was one of three ships dispatched to guard the Norwegian coast during the hunt for the German raider

Commerce raiding

Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...

 SMS Greif

SMS Greif

SMS Greif was a converted freighter serving as a merchant raider with Imperial Germany.Originally named Guben, she was a steel-hulled steamship owned by the German-Australian Line , Hamburg. Greif was converted for military service at Kaiserliche Werft Kiel, in 1915...

, although she did not come into contact with the German ship before she was sunk.

Blanche was present at the Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

 whilst attached to the Fourth Battle Squadron. She did not see action though, as the four attached light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

s were sent to the rear to keep them out of danger. In March 1917 Blanche was converted into a minelayer

Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...

 in March 1917 and laid 1,238 mines on 16 sorties. During this later part of her career, she was commanded by Reginald Drax

Reginald Drax

Admiral The Hon. Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL was a British admiral...

, later to become an Admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

. Outdated and surplus to requirements after the war, Blanche was sold for scrap on 27 July 1921 and broken up by Fryer, of Sunderland.