HMS Southampton was a 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...

 warship that served in the First World War.

Southampton was one of the third batch of "Town" class

Town class cruiser (1910)

The Town class was a group of twenty-one light cruisers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . These vessels were long-range cruisers, suitable for patrolling the vast expanse covered by the British Empire...

 light cruisers, her sister ships were Dublin and Chatham

HMS Chatham (1911)

HMS Chatham was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy launched on 9 November 1911 from Chatham Dockyard. She was the lead ship of the Chatham subgroup....

. The first three "Town" ships of the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (HMAS Melbourne

HMAS Melbourne (1912)

HMAS Melbourne was a Town class light cruiser operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Commissioned in 1913, the cruiser served during World War I. She was paid off in 1928, and broken up for scrap in 1929.-Design and construction:...

, HMAS Sydney

HMAS Sydney (1912)

HMAS Sydney was a Chatham class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy . Laid down in 1911 and launched in 1912, the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN in 1913....

, and HMAS Brisbane

HMAS Brisbane (1915)

HMAS Brisbane was a Town class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy . Built in Sydney between 1913 and 1916 to the Chatham subtype design, Brisbane operated in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Australian coastal waters during World War I.Following the end of the war, the cruiser was...

) were virtually identical.

Southampton differed from her sisters, having different machinery. Chatham had two screws. The sister ships, with Parsons

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for...

 turbines

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

, had four screws

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

.

She was flagship 1st Light Cruiser Squadron Grand Fleet. participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight. Southampton 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...

. She torpedoed the cruiser SMS Frauenlob

SMS Frauenlob

SMS Frauenlob was a Gazelle-class light cruiser in the German Imperial Navy. She was the second ship of that name, after a schooner launched in 1853.-History:Frauenlob was built at A.G. Weser in Bremen...

, which subsequently sank. She took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank. 1915 she became flagship 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron Grand Fleet, and took part in the battle of Jutland. 1917 she took part in the 8th light cruiser squadron grand fleet.

Southampton was sold for scrapping on 13 July 1926 to Ward, of Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...

.