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HMCS Niobe can be seen to the right, sending out a plume of coal smoke,
surrounded by the devastation of the Halifax Explosion in December of 1917.
| Name: Niobe, HMCS | Official Number: | Signal Letters: |
| Name Changes: |
| Tonnage: 11000 Gross |
Dimensions: 466' long, 69' breadth, 26' deep |
| Built: Barrow In Furness, Great Britain | Builder: Vickers Yard | Year: 1898 |
| Owners: Canadian Navy, Canada |
| Engines: Steam reciprocating |
Horsepower: |
| Crew: 677 |
| Career: HMCS Niobe, along with HMCS Rainbow, became the first ships of the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910. She served until 1920, patrolling in World War I and training the first generation of Canadian naval recruits. Built for Britain's Royal Navy in 1898, she served in the Boer War and was presented to Canada in 1910. With a crew of 677, her large size proved a burden for Canada's infant navy. Niobe spent much of her career in port. She went to war in 1914, intercepting German ships along the American coast for a year. For the remainder of the war, she served as a depot and headquarters ship in the Halifax Dockyard. Several of her crew were killed and she was damaged by the Halifax Explosion in 1917. She continued however to serve as a depot ship until 1920 when she was sold for scrap. |
| Sources: Armstrong, John Griffith, The Halifax Explosion and the Royal Canadian Navy (2002).; "The Halifax Explosion: A Marine Disaster" by David B. Flemming (1985); Shattered City by Janet Kitz (1989). |
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