Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 62
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[Page 62]
intervals were twenty six Australian Troopships – The two warships quickly gathered speed as they entered open sea, and majestically they cut their way thru the ripless water, throwing up a bow wave on either side, and churning the water at their stern. One could not abstain from possessing that feeling of security as these vessels passed out of harbour
The leading ship was the most powerful, by far, she carried much larger guns 9.2 inch and also thicker armour plating adorned her sides; her speed being about equal to our own, which averaged approximately 24 Knots, - her radius of action was also much greater than that of ours – she was cleared ready for action, and her upper deck gave her a good freeboard; - she was a much larger vessel altogether, and posessed four funnels the same as our class of ship but did not rake as much as ours did (that is on the slope)
Our class of Light Cruiser were designed mostly for scouting purposes and for duties on trade routes and were in consequence excellent sea boats.