HMS Caroline – The Last Survivor of Jutland

If you ask someone about the Battle of Jutland, they'll probably tell you about the battlecruisers. For better or worse, that's what people remember. Maybe Warspite or the German Pre-Dreadnoughts in the night. The lighter forces? Often overlooked.

Despite one of those lighter ships, HMS Caroline, being the last survivor of that battle. Her story isn't the most exciting. In fact, it's easy to argue Caroline only survived to the modern day by a twist of fate. By good fortune.

Nonetheless, I think she's worth looking at. Both as the last survivor of Jutland, and the last of an extinct breed of ship.

Further Reading:

[alephalon]

She isn't a HMS Warspite or a HMS Iron Duke. But HMS Caroline outlasted every other ship that fought at Jutland and continues to exist today. That's an impressive achievement itself.

[TheVargr]

I volunteer onboard Caroline and she is a very beautiful ship and considered lucky. She only ever lost 3 crew members; one who fell overboard in 1914 and two killed at the Battle of Jutland who were onboard another ship during the battle. After her 1919 tour in India she had issues raising steam and returned to the uk at low speeds. So she was to be scrapped, however the first prime minister of Northern Ireland asked for her to be used in the RNVR so her boilers, screws, and rudder were removed and she was towed to Belfast where she has been ever since. She was deemed too impractical to be restored to seaworthiness during WW2. Apart from going into drydock at least 2 times prior to becoming a station in Belfast she remained at dock (although she was moved from one part of the harbour to Alexandria dock where she remains today.) Restored to a museum ship in June 2016 (100th anniversary of Jutland) and closed that Autumn to be drydocked. After the hull was restored from that she was returned to Alexandria dock but turned 180* from how she previously sat, and had two clamps attached to prevent her breaking loose. I highly recommend everyone go visit this ship. She is located behind Titanic Studios (where GOT was filmed) and within close walking distance of the Titanic Experience and SS Nomadic.

[connorarmstrong]

With the string of videos on ships that ultimately got scrapped, I got worries when he got to the section of "how her career ended". Glad to see such an important ship surviving for over a century.

[Cider]

My Great Father, Arthur Edward Holmes was killed at the battle of Jutland. He was a Stoker, 2nd class aboard HMS Defence which sunk by German fire and internal explosions.
RIP. Never Forgotten.

[BHuang]

Its quite contrasting when the last surviving warship of the Battle of Jutland which was fought with big dreadnought battleships is a small cruiser!

[OriginalCoalRollers]

Yo this is by far the best warship channel hands down, ocean liner designs, big old boats, the great big move, battleship NJ, they all don’t hold a candle to this channel, keep it up bro I love you content

[AnchoredPast_E.M.H]

I'm going to be honest. I was really excited when I saw that you had uploaded this video. I had uploaded a video 10 months ago on the HMS Caroline. That video at the time of uploading, and until you uploaded this video today. It remained the only history video to be made on this ship. I'm so glad that I can no longer say that I have the only history video on her. This video is absolutely amazing, and very well done. Please keep it up, and I can't wait for more.

[rarevhsuploads]

I’ve been looking for WW1 era surviving ships around the world ‘Aurora, USS Texas, Georgios Averoff, IJN Mikasa’ but somehow missed the existence of this one. The fact it’s turbines survived is a bonus. It’s within the realm of possibility for me to visit this one so I’ll add it to my list. In general the Royal Navy hasn’t saved much from this time period.

[andrewturner]

We saw her in 2022 and I couldn't get over how sleek she was.

[whippersnapper]

i am 73 years old, as a youth my best friend was danish, his dad lived in denmark and saw several drowned sailors washed up on shore during that great naval sea battle

[josephhungerford]

Very interesting topic keep it up the great work

[Aren-]

You forgot to mention Carolines most famous action at Jutland which involved her dueling with the Dreadnought SMS Nassau, and then firing two torpedos at the ship which passed in front and underneath.

[colvinator]

Excellent video. I didn't realise she existed !

[moosifer]

I always wondered HOW Caroline survived. Another quality Video, looking to 500k? Patience, your content Deserves more attention.

[jamielawn]

I visited the ship a few years ago and I thought it was brilliant.

[jayfelsberg]

The anti-aircraft conversions are an interesting story

[steveclarke]

Caroline survived in the same way as Unicorn, the admiralty essentially forgot she was there acting as a "reserve training establishment" for 50 years. I was her in Belfast in the 1990's but as she was still an active training facility, but you could not visit her as a civilian without an appointment. She looked a bit sad from the Stranraer ferry i was on at the time, she certainly needed a she still exists.

[robmarsh]

There's a 6" gun off of a 'C' class cruiser at the Sidney BC Legion. The ship was at Jutland. I bet the gun was too. Kinda cool

[moosifer]

Please do a full insight into C/D/E Cruisers Come on sweet Caroline, a Valuable memory of past events.

[peteredwards]

HMS Caroline was my dad's pay ship in WW2.