Her air arm's first recorded wartime actions were as part of the Cuxhaven Raids of Christmas Day, 1914. The bombing sortie was entirely ship-based and targeted German airship housing structures at Cuxhaven and, despite only minor damage to enemy targets being noted, the mission proved a victory of sorts for the Royal Navy - especially in the use of offshore aerial strikes which added another tool in the warplanner's toolbox.
In February of 1915 the vessel now lay under the complete ownership of the Royal Navy (she was purchased outright that month) and underwent more formal military-minded modifications to her design. This meant that her temporary three-aircraft hangar was now replaced with a solid, permanent structure able to house four total warplanes. The derricks were given up in favor of two heavy-duty multi-use cranes for aircraft recovery and setup. Additionally she was outfitted with Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns in the form of 4 x 12-pounder 12 cwt guns and 2 x 3-pounder QF guns. With these changes HMS Engadine was officially made into a bonafide warship.
As part of the Battlecruiser Fleet (from late 1915 onwards), her next wartime participation saw her at the famous Battle of Jutland (May 31st to June 1st, 1916). The battle involved a combined force of British, Australian and Canadian ships against the German Fleet and represented the war's largest naval confrontation (and the largest to feature battleships). While a strategic victory for the Allies, the battle was regarded as tactically inconclusive for both sides. For her part in the Battle, HMS Engadine conducted the first "heavier-than-air" reconnaissance flight over a naval battle. Surviving this engagement, Engadine was then transferred to the Mediterranean in early 1918 and used in the anti-submarine role until the Armistice of November which officially ended World War 1.
In December of 1919, the vessel, stripped of its military value, was sold into private service and eventually fell to the Southern Railway in 1923. In 1933 she was sold once again, this time to American-based Fernandez Hermanos, Incorporated to operate in the Philippines where she served under the name of SS Corregidor. It was during this phase of her career that the vessel met her untimely end - she was sunk by a naval mine in Manila Bay on December 17th, 1941 during what became the early phases of World War 2 in the Pacific Theater. Because of her civilian-minded transport role, she may have carried as many as 1,500 souls of which fewer than 300 were saved in the subsequent rescue operation.
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