HMS Adventure's adaptable service career

Laid down in 1904, launched that September and commissioned in October 1905, Adventure had originally been intended to carry the name Eddystone. She entered reserve because the Navy wanted the ship before it needed her in active service. Early changes added two 12-pounders and replaced the 3-pounders with six 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns, while a later refit gave her nine 4-inch guns. She led the First and Second Destroyer Flotillas, joined the Harwich Force and Dover Patrol, and served with the Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron on the Humber against Zeppelins. As flagship at Queenstown, she rescued the crew of the stricken steamship Heronian on Boxing Day 1915 and later escorted a convoy to Gibraltar. Her career shows how a small specialist design could be reassigned as operational demands changed.