HMS Decoy (1894)

HMS Decoy
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Decoy
Builder:	John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick
Cost:	c.£36,000
Yard number:	288
Laid down:	July 1892
Launched:	7 February 1894
Completed:	June 1895
Fate:	Sunk in collision, 13 August 1904
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Daring-class torpedo boat destroyer
Displacement:	260 long tons (264 t) light 287.8 long tons (292 t) full load
Length:	185 ft (56 m) oa
Beam:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Draught:	7 ft (2.1 m)
Installed power:	4,200 hp (3,100 kW)
Propulsion:	2 Thornycroft water-tube boilers 2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 shafts
Speed:	27 kn (31 mph; 50 km/h)
Crew:	46-53
Armament:	1 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun 3 × 6 pounder QF guns 3 × 18 inch (450mm) torpedo[Note 1] tubes

HMS Decoy was a Daring-class torpedo boat destroyer which served with the Royal Navy in home waters. She was launched in 1895 and sunk in a collision with the destroyer HMS Arun in 1903.

Construction

She was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Chiswick and was launched on 7 February 1894.^[2]

Although fitted with multiple torpedo tubes, her bow tube proved useless in practice as — while running at high attack speeds — the ship was prone to overtake its own torpedo. The clumsy tube also reduced living quarters and made the bridge very prone to flooding.

Service

Decoy took part in the 1896 British Naval Manoeuvres, attached to the Channel Fleet operation from Berehaven in southern Ireland.^[3] She served as instructional tender to the Cambridge, gunnery school ship, until August 1901.^[4] Lieutenant Cyril Asser was appointed in command in February 1902, when she was based at Plymouth,^[5] and was succeeded by Lieutenant H. R. Heathcote on 1 July the same year.^[6]

Fate

Decoy was lost in a collision with the destroyer Arun off the Scilly Islands on 13 August 1904.^[7] while taking part in night exercises.^[8] One man was killed while the remaining 40 members of the crew were rescued by Arun and Sturgeon.^[8]

Courts martial regarding the sinking were subsequently assembled aboard the battleship Conqueror. The first, on 22 August,^[9] attributed blame on the commander of Arun, Reginald Tyrwhitt. The second, an appeal, was held on 30 August,^[10] and dismissed the charge of neglect but confirmed the charge of hazarding both vessels.

Notes

1. British "18-inch torpedoes" were 450mm (17.72 inches) in diameter.

References

1. Lyon (1996), pp.40-41.
2. The Times (London), Thursday, 8 February 1894, p.4
3. Brassey (1897), pp. 141–143, 149.
4. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36535). London. 16 August 1901. p. 6.
5. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36696). London. 20 February 1902. p. 10.
6. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36790). London. 10 June 1902. p. 12.
7. The Times (London), Wednesday, 15 August 1904, p.5
8. Kemp (1999), p. 1.
9. The Times (London), Thursday, 23 August 1904, p.9
10. The Times (London), Friday, 31 August 1904, p.4

Publications

• Brassey, T.A. (1897). The Naval Annual 1897. Portsmouth, UK: J. Griffin and Co.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• Kemp, Paul (1999). The Admiralty Regrets British Warship Losses of the 20th Century. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-1567-6.
• Lyon, David (1996). The First Destroyers. ISBN 1-84067-364-8.
• Manning, T.D. (1961). The British Destroyer. Putnam and Co.