HMS Aurora was an Arethusa-class light cruiser that saw service in World War I with the Royal Navy.

Based at Harwich under the command of Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt, the unit was ordered to sea on 14 December 1914 as part of the force sent to intercept a German fleet under Admiral Franz von Hipper raiding towns on the east coast of England.

[4] However, the flotilla was prevented from intervening in the resulting engagement due to poor weather and returned to Yarmouth.

[6] The message ordering the German mission was intercepted by the Admiralty and Tyrwhitt's force was among the units deployed for the coming battle.

The German cruiser SMS Kolberg opened fire on Aurora in response, hitting the ship three times.

[9] In February 1915, she was assigned as leader of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force, guarding the eastern approaches to the English Channel.

While a member of this unit, the cruiser was fitted with an aircraft flying-off platform over the forecastle allowing Aurora to launch a French monoplane.

The cruiser remained in commission at Devonport from March 1919 to August 1920 and was paid off in September after being transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy.

She sailed shortly afterward from the United Kingdom for Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving on 21 December with two ex-Royal Navy destroyers that had also been transferred.

After a minimal time in port at HMC Dockyard, the three ships set out for a training cruise via the Caribbean Sea to Esquimalt, British Columbia.

While on the cruise, the squadron was ordered to Puntarenas, Costa Rica, where their presence was used to strengthen the Canadian government position in negotiations over oil concessions.

Aurora's hulk was left alongside a jetty at the Canadian naval base in Halifax until 1927 when her deterioration resulted in city officials demanding the navy move her.

[16] The Royal Canadian Navy immediately sold her for scrap in August 1927 to A.A. Lasseque of Sorel, Quebec, and she was broken up.