Like the earlier scout cruisers, the Boadicea class was designed to provide destroyer flotillas with a command ship, theoretically offering the ability to scout ahead of the group and locate targets for the smaller ships to attack.

They were enlarged and more powerfully armed versions of the earlier ships, fitted with steam turbines.

Curiously, they were no faster than the older ships and equally unsuccessful in their intended role as they lacked the speed of the destroyers they were supposed to escort.

[3] The main armament of the Boadicea class consisted of six breech-loading (BL) four-inch (102 mm) Mk VII guns.

[6] Both ships were assigned to positions at the rear of their squadrons and did not fire their guns during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916.

[9] After her conversion, Boadicea was assigned to the 4th Battle Squadron in January 1918[10] and neither ship was reassigned before the end of the war.