The four Alaotra were ordered as two pairs in 1911 and 1912. Speeded up production at wars start meant all four completed in 1914, just, Ambatosoa completing on the 23rd December. The two Karikala class armoured cruisers were at the Palk and Mozambique channels guarding the entrances to the Lemurian Sea. Two each of the Alaotra class were sent to join the Karikala's on completion.
The Alaotra were the Lemurian Scout/Light Cruiser type based on the Boadicea type. Lemuria did not build any of the Town class at all. The main difference between the Boadicea and the Alaotra was the Alaotra had a 3" armour belt and 1" of deck armour. That coupled with extra horsepower in the engine room made for a bigger ship than the Boadicea. The armament was eight 4" with two on the bow, four on the broadside and two inline aft. Four 18" torpedoes in two pairs, one on each broadside, finished the armament.
With the finish of the German East Asiatic Squadron (Von Spee), the two straits into the Lemurian Sea could be guarded by lesser ships, the two pairs of Alaotra class went, one to the Mediterranean, and the other pair to the North Sea to join Admiral Goodenough's cruiser Squadron. The pair in the Med undertook all sorts of duties from guardships at Imbros to fast packets carrying Senior Officers to and from conferences at Malta. It was during one of these trips to Malta that the Atsinanana was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat in 1916. The classes only casualty of the war. The only addition to the armament during the war was the fitting of a 3" AA gun on the deck above the torpedo mountings.
The three remaining members of the class joined the fleet at Donbon by 1920 and were used in the scout role. All good till the early 1930's when the three were due for replacement and discarding. The decision was made for the ships to have a thorough refit of systems to take the three through to 1944. All of the single 4" low angle guns would be replaced on a one for one basis with 4" AA guns. Except the pair on the bow which would be replace with a twin 4" mounting. A quad 2pdr mounting would replace the 3" and four more single 2pdr would be placed beside the fore bridge and after bridge. This would turn them into AA cruisers. Further additions such as a larger bridge to take a Dual Purpose director, with a new mast behind it, were fitted as time and money made them available.
Refits during the war added 10x20mm removing the old single 2pdr guns. The quad 2pdr with predictor was kept. No thought was given to replacing it with a twin 40mm as happened with most ships, these last two ships were too old to spend that money on. Which means that one was lost some time during the early part of the war. The Mangoro was in the Med, escorting convoys along the coast to and from Tobruk. The convoy was set upon by a squadron of Stukas which went for the largest escort hitting it with four 500kg bombs, more than enough to sink the old Mangoro. The Alaotra was seconded to the Sierra Leone Escort Force which ran the convoys from SL to Gibraltar (if still in Commonwealth hands) and then onto Britain. If using Atlantis and Gibraltar is Axis, then the route is Sierra Leone - Atlantis - Britain. The other ship was with the Fleet Train escort force and spent a lot of time running the convoys from Trincomalee to either Singapore or Darwin. Once the Fleet moved forward, the base of operations was Singapore with the destination being wherever the Fleet was.
Both ships were retired when they returned to Lemuria at wars end. They were then struck from the active list and sold for scrap in 1946.
