HMS Black Prince was a Duke of Edinburgh-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the early 1900s.

The new design was significantly larger than the previous Monmouth and Devonshire-class cruisers, mounting a heavier main armament of six 9.2 in (234 mm) guns in single turrets.

She was powered by four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, driving two shafts, which produced a total of 23,000 indicated horsepower (17,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).

[4] Black Prince was laid down on 3 June 1903 at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company's shipyard at Blackwall, London.

[5] On 6 November, she was ordered to Gibraltar to join a squadron of French and British ships to search for German warships still at sea off the African coast.

[6] Black Prince joined the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot.

Black Prince briefly engaged the German battleship Rheinland at about 23:35 GMT, scoring two hits with 6-inch shells.

[14] Separated from the rest of the British fleet, Black Prince approached the German lines shortly after midnight.

Up to five other German ships, including the battleships Nassau, Ostfriesland, and Friedrich der Grosse, joined in the bombardment, with return fire from Black Prince being ineffective.

Most of the German ships were between 750 and 1,500 yards (700 and 1,350 m) of Black Prince[15] – effectively point-blank range for contemporary naval gunnery.