Cressy-class cruiser

Until 1908, the ships served in Home waters, the Mediterranean and the Far East. On the outbreak of the First World War Cressy, Aboukir, Hogue, Bacchante and Euryalus formed the Seventh Cruiser Squadron. Due to the obsolescence of the ships and because they were crewed by inexperienced reservists the squadron was known as the "Live Bait Squadron". This epithet proved prophetic when Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir were sunk in a single action on 22 September 1914 by the German submarine U-9 near the Dutch coast. After the first cruiser had been hit, the following cruisers both came to a dead halt to pick up survivors, making themselves easy targets for torpedoes.^[2]

• HMS Cressy: launched 4 December 1899, torpedoed and sunk 22 September 1914
• HMS Sutlej: launched 18 November 1899, scrapped 9 May 1921
• HMS Aboukir: launched 16 May 1900, torpedoed and sunk 22 September 1914
• HMS Hogue: launched 13 August 1900, torpedoed and sunk 22 September 1914
• HMS Bacchante: launched 21 February 1901, scrapped 1 July 1920
• HMS Euryalus: launched 20 May 1901, scrapped 1 July 1920

The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Cressy class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. The compilers of The Naval Annual revised costs quoted for British ships between the 1905 and 1906 editions.

• 
  Right elevation and deck plan, from Brassey's Naval Annual 1906
• 
  Right elevation of 9.2 inch gun turret
• 
  Rear elevation of 9.2 inch gun turret

1. All three ships Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir were sunk under an hour by the German submarine SM U-9.

• Brassey, T.A. (ed) The Naval Annual 1904
• Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Corbett, Julian. Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol. I (2nd, reprint of the 1938 ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-256-X.
• Friedman, Norman (2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-59114-068-9.
• Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
• Leyland, J. and Brassey, T.A. (ed)The Naval Annual 1906
• Massie, Robert K. (2004). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-04092-8.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cressy class cruiser.

• Loss of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue
• Cressy class description