Station Ships
In peacetime Aden always had
a designated Station Ship,
sometimes referred to as
station guardship. Up to the
1890s this was usually a
ship of the Royal Indian
Marine. Although still
under command of the admiral
commanding the East Indies
Squadron, the Aden Resident
had priority call on how his
station ship was used.
HMS Perseus
She was the Station Ship at
Aden for quite some time,
perhaps five or six years
altogether. Her first
commission was at Aden,
where she relieved HMS
Racoon as Station Ship in
May 1901. She was also there
in 1907 when the Suffolks
were the infantry battalion
in Aden. She has been
described as a ‘2nd
Class Protected Cruiser’ of
the Pelorous Class, although
by 1914 her rating had
dropped to ‘3rd
Class’.
Two
cruisers at Steamer Point
off the Saluting Bunder, by
the coal storage yards. The
Perseus is the right-hand
ship.
She was laid down 1896-97,
being launched on 15 July
1897. She was completed
between 1897 and 1901 and is
a prime example of how
quickly a warship built in
the late 1890s could become
obsolete. She was sold for
scrap on 26 May 1914. The
main problem was her speed –
a maximum of 20 knots. Her
tonnage was 2,135 and she
mounted eight 4-inch and
eight 3-pdr guns.
HMS Perseus
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