HMS Topaze was a Topaze-class protected or third-class cruiser which served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Launched on 23 June 1904, Topaze joined the Channel Fleet and often acted as a flotilla leader for the destroyers of the Navy.

Topaze escorted shipping in the Indian Ocean and captured the Ottoman Army garrison on the island of Kamaran in 1917, but returned to the Mediterranean before the end of the year.

On trials, the engines peaked at more than 10,000 shaft horsepower (7,500 kW) to give a maximum speed exceeding 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).

[1] Laid down by Laird Brothers at Birkenhead on 14 August 1902 and launched on 23 July the following year, Topaze was completed in November 1904.

[8] On 1 April 1913, the cruiser was recommissioned at Chatham and reassigned back to Portsmouth as part of the Sixth Battle Squadron.

[22] After 27 November the arrangement was systematised so that a typical patrol would involve the cruiser and one or two destroyers spending 30 hours off the coast of Albania.

[24] In addition, the cruiser was involved in escorting Italian troops and supplies to serve in the Balkans theatre, including 20,000 soldiers carried to Vlorë.

[28] The reinforcements proved invaluable in providing safety to shipping navigating crucial trade routes, from Freemantle to Colombo, the Red Sea and Cape Town, and between Mumbai and the Persian Gulf.

[27] The cruiser also supported the South Arabian Campaign, helping with the blockade and participating in the attack on the Ottoman Army on the island of Kamaran.

Two days later, the ship was stationed off the port of As-Salif, remaining so close to the coast that the defenders could not get the warship's range and their guns overshot.

[31] The need at the time was for escorts to protect convoys as the routes across the Mediterranean grew from seven in November 1917 to nineteen in June 1918.

[32] After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and the end of the First World War, the Royal Navy no longer needed as many vessels in service.