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New Type of Cruiser

HMS Chatham is launched by the Marchioness Camden in this earliest surviving item from the Topical Budget newsreel.

Non-Fiction 1911 Silent

Overview

This celebration of British naval might from Kent's Chatham dockyard welcomes the new 'light cruiser' HMS Chatham - another volley in the pre-WWI arms race. The cruiser is launched by society beauty Joan Pratt, the Marchioness Camden. Ship launches were important national and local public events, with a natural immediacy and drama well suited to short film stories. This film, the earliest surviving item from the successful Topical Budget newsreel (1911-31), follows a winning format, with views of the crowds, the dignitaries on the launching platform and of the ship moving down the slips into the river.

HMS Chatham was one of the new 'Town' class light cruisers built by the Royal Navy in response to a new class of ships developed in Germany, all of them named after German towns. This class of cruiser was built for speed and manoeuvrability to support the main battle fleet. The ship would see action during WWI, in the legendary pursuit of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau towards the Dardanelles, and in the Gallipoli landings.

Original title

New Type of Cruiser Topical Budget 11-2

Genres

Non-Fiction

Country

United Kingdom

Location

Chatham

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

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