|
In this earliest surviving item from the Topical Budget newsreel (1911-31), HMS Chatham is launched from the Chatham dockyard on 9th November 1911 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.
The ship was one of the new 'Town' class light cruisers built in response to a new class of similar ships developed in Germany, all of which were named after German towns. This class of cruiser was built for speed and manoeuvrability to support the main battle fleet. HMS Chatham would see action in the First World War and was ultimately lent to the New Zealand Navy. The film follows the format of other ship launch films, with views of the crowds, the dignitaries on the launching platform and of the ship moving down the slips into the river.
Bryony Dixon
| 
Complete film (0:28)
