HMS Glasgow was one of five ships of the Bristol sub-class of the Town-class light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

They arrived in late November under the command of Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee and were considerably more powerful than the East Asia Squadron.

She was one of the ships tasked to hunt down the sole survivor which she finally did, together with another cruiser, in the Battle of Más a Tierra in March 1915.

The Bristol sub-class[Note 1] were officially rated as second-class cruisers suitable for a variety of roles including both trade protection and duties with the fleet.

[5] This armament was considered too light for ships of this size,[6] while the waist guns were subject to immersion in a high sea, making them difficult to work.

[9] Glasgow, the sixth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,[10] was laid down on 25 March 1909 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in their Govan shipyard.

They spent a day searching the area for any German ships before heading to the Falkland Islands where they arrived on 1 October.

The squadron coaled there and then Glasgow, Monmouth and Otranto returned to the Tierra del Fuego area on another unsuccessful search for German ships.

He sent Glasgow to scout ahead and to enter Coronel, Chile to pick up any messages from the Admiralty and acquire intelligence regarding German activities.

The cruiser departed on the morning of 1 November, but Spee had already made plans to catch her when informed of her presence the previous evening.

Vizeadmiral (Vice-Admiral) Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron, was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range.

His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the 16-knot (30 km/h; 18 mph) maximum speed of Otranto, and he opened up the range to 18,000 yards (16,000 m) until conditions changed to suit him.

The German shooting was very accurate, with both armoured cruisers quickly scoring hits on their British counterparts while still outside six-inch gun range, starting fires on both ships.

After disabling Monmouth around 19:35, Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on Good Hope when she continued to try to close the range.

Glasgow broke contact with the German squadron at 20:05 and discovered Monmouth, listing and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, 10 minutes later.

Glasgow's sister ship Bristol arrived the following day[14] and the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee reached the rocks on 26th.

Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the German squadron, had other plans and intended to destroy the radio station at Port Stanley on the morning of 8 December.

Glasgow cleared the harbour by 09:45 and was ordered by Sturdee to trail Spee's ships, keeping out of range, and to inform him of their actions.

[23] Glasgow, the fastest of the British ships, slowly increased her lead over the two armoured cruisers and Luce opened fire on Leipzig with his forward six-inch gun at 14:45 at a range of about 12,000 yards (11,000 m).

Cornwall closed on the German ship at full speed, trusting to her armour to keep out the 105-millimetre (4.1 in) shells, while the unarmoured Glasgow manoeuvred at a distance.

Leipzig fired two green flares at 20:12 and the British ships closed to within 500 yards (460 m) and lowered boats to rescue the Germans at 20:45.

The German cruiser successfully evaded the searching British for months by hiding in the maze of bays and channels surrounding Tierra del Fuego.

In the meantime, Kent had summoned Glasgow and the two ships entered Cumberland Bay in the island on the morning of 14 March and found Dresden at anchor.

By the time that Canaris returned to Dresden, her crew had finished preparations for scuttling and abandoned ship after opening her Kingston valves.

The crew named him 'Tirpitz', and he served as the ship's mascot for a year and was then transferred to Whale Island Gunnery School, Portsmouth, for the rest of his life.

[27] After re-coaling at Vallenar, Glasgow moved to the Atlantic coast of South America and searched for German ships, mostly around the estuary of the River Plate.

On 14 October, Glasgow arrived back in Simon's Town for another refit that was completed on 27 December, after which the ship returned to South America after a diversion to Sierra Leone.

[13] When Glasgow arrived at Abrolhos Rocks on 22 January 1917, Smith had to coordinate the search for the commerce raider SMS Möwe that was ultimately unsuccessful, with his own ship patrolling off the Brazilian coast.

Departing four days later, the ship reached Gibraltar on 30 January and continued onwards to Portsmouth where she began a refit on 18 February.