HMS Cambrian was a second-class protected cruiser, of the Royal Navy, built at the Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 30 January 1893.

[2] In March 1901 she was commissioned at HMNB Devonport by Captain Frederick Sidney Pelham, with a crew of 345, to become senior officer's ship on the South East Coast of America Station.

[6] She continued to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro the following months,[7] and visited the Falkland Islands in early 1903.

She commenced service on the Australia Station on 3 October 1905 under the command of Captain Ernest Gaunt arriving in Sydney in December.

[1] In December 1905 Cambrian took possession of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Indian Ocean on behalf of the United Kingdom.