The Blonde class followed a Royal Navy experiment in which several civilian yards produced their own versions of the best scout cruiser. Pembroke Royal Dockyard then built the navy's in-house response, intended to combine the most useful features of those private designs. Construction from 1909 to 1911 placed the ships firmly in the dreadnought era. Both ships survived the First World War and spent substantial periods attached to battle squadrons, showing how the Navy used the design in practice.
Notable Point · 6:37-7:46
Pembroke Dockyard synthesizes the scout-cruiser experiments
The Royal Navy followed competing private-yard scout cruisers by building the Blonde class at Pembroke as its own synthesis of the type.