An item reported that the British cruiser HMS Thetis (1) rebuilt as a minelayer was commissioned on 1 August. As third minelayer was now the cruiser Latona (2) also of the Apollo-class at Chatham being rebuilt as minelayer.
Notes
1. Part of the Apollo-class 2nd class cruisers, , designed by William Henry White, preceded by the Pearl-class and succeeded by the Astrea-class, consisting of the Andromache, Apollo, Latona, Melampus, Naiad, Sappho, Scylla, Sybille, Terpsichore, Thetis, Tribune, Aeolus, Brilliant, Indefatigable, Intrepid, Iphigenia, Pique, Rainbow, Retribution, Sirius and Spartan and which were built under the 1889 Naval Defence Act. Laid down at the shipyard of J.&G. Thomson, Clydebank, Scotland on 29 October 1889, launched on 13 December 1890, completed in April 1892, later converted into a minelayer and finally scuttled in the canal of Zeebrugge, Belgium used as a block ship on 23 April 1918.
2. Part of the Apollo-class 2nd class cruisers, designed by William Henry White, preceded by the Pearl-class and succeeded by the Astrea-class, consisting of the Andromache, Apollo, Latona, Melampus, Naiad, Sappho, Scylla, Sybille, Terpsichore, Thetis, Tribune, Aeolus, Brilliant, Indefatigable, Intrepid, Iphigenia, Pique, Rainbow, Retribution, Sirius and Spartan and which were built under the 1889 Naval Defence Act. Laid down at the shipyard of Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, England on 22 August 1889, launched on 22 May 1890, completed in April 1891, paid off on 8 February 1900, recommissioned on 1 June 1908, converted into a minelayer in 1910, paid off while at Malta on 23 December 1910, used for harbour duties since and finally sold on 22 December 1920.
