Philomel is often described as the Royal Navy's oldest fighting ship of World War I, but Protector, Rattler, and other older small craft complicate that claim. She escorted New Zealand's expedition to Samoa, carried news of war to Tonga, searched for Emden, and protected troop movements. She then fought in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, where a 1915 landing in southern Turkey produced the first wartime deaths of New Zealanders serving in a New Zealand formation. Worn machinery eventually made a major refit uneconomical and ended her cruising career. As a depot and training ship, however, she became a foundation for the personnel base that New Zealand would need in World War II.
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HMS Philomel becomes a foundation of New Zealand naval power
Philomel's claim to be World War I's oldest fighting Royal Navy ship is contested, but her wartime cruises and training role clearly made her foundational to New Zealand naval power.