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Monument to HMS / HMCS Aurora

by Christopher J. Cole 2016

HMCS Aurora (Photo from the Canadian Navy Heritage website. Image Negative Number E–6546–2. )

HMS Aurora was an Arethusa–class light cruiser built at Devonport Dockyard, and commissioned into the Royal Navy in September 1914. She served with the Grand Fleet 1914–1916. She was teh first ship in action at the Battle of the Dogger Bank in 1915 and was present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in November 1918.

Following the war, Aurora was placed in reserve and in 1920, the cruiser was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. After her arrival in Canada she set out on a training cruise to Esquimalt BC via teh Panama Canal and returning to Halifax. Her service with the Royal Canadian Navy was brief, being paid off in 1922. The cruiser was sold for scrap in 1927 and broken up by A.A. Lasseque, Sorel, QC.

Plaque outside the Merchant Navy, Army, Navy & Air Force (ANAF) Hall at Sidney BC. (Photo from the Christopher James Cole collection. )

There is an error on the plaque. She was the first ship into action at the battle of Dogger Bank, 24 Jan 1915, not Jutland.

HMCS Aurora, Quick–Fire 4–inch/45 Mk IV Gun, on display in front of the Merchant Navy, Army, Navy & Air Force (ANAF) Hall, 9831 4th St, Sidney, BC. (Photo from the Christopher James Cole collection. )

This gun was one of six of this type carried by the Aurora.

HMCS Aurora, Quick–Fire 4–inch/45 Mk IV Gun, on display in front of the Merchant Navy, Army, Navy & Air Force (ANAF) Hall, 9831 4th St, Sidney, BC. (Photo from the Christopher James Cole collection. )

To quote from this article please cite:

Cole, Christopher J. (2016) Monument to HMS / HMCS Aurora. Nauticapedia.ca 2016. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Monument_Aurora.php

Site News: February 12, 2025

ANOTHER MILESTONE REACHED

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 95,146 vessel histories (with 16,409 images and 14,064 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 4000 images).

My thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of the vessel histories in the vessel database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.

Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he continues to contribute to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.

My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

Thanks to John Spivey who is beginning his 4th year of fact checking all of the entries in the vessel database.

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