HMS Desperate (1896)

Fame, sister-ship to Desperate
History
Name:	HMS Desperate
Ordered:	10 May 1895[1]
Builder:	John I Thornycroft, Chiswick
Cost:	£54,579[1]
Yard number:	305
Laid down:	1 July 1895
Launched:	15 February 1896
Commissioned:	February 1897
Out of service:	Laid up in reserve 1919
Fate:	Sold for breaking, 20 May 1920
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Two funnel, 30 knot destroyer
Displacement:	272 t (268 long tons) standard 352 t (346 long tons) full load
Length:	210 ft (64 m) o/a
Beam:	19 ft 6 in (5.94 m)
Draught:	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Installed power:	5,700 shp (4,300 kW)
Propulsion:	3 × water tube boilers 2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines 2 shafts
Speed:	30 kn (56 km/h)
Range:	80 tons coal 1,310 nmi (2,430 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement:	65 officers and men
Armament:	1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 naval gun on a P Mark I low angle mount 5 × QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 gun on a Mark I* low angle mount 2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450mm) torpedoes
Service record
Operations:	World War I 1914 - 1918

HMS Desperate was a two funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1894 – 1895 Naval Estimates. She was launched in 1896, served in Home waters and the Mediterranean before World War I. She was based in Portsmouth during the war and was sold for breaking in 1920.

Construction

She was laid down as yard number 305 on 1 July 1895 at the John I. Thornycroft & Company shipyard at Chiswick on the River Thames. She was launched on 15 February 1896. During her builder’s trials her maximum average speed was 30.3 knots. She had her armament fitted in Portsmouth. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in February 1897. During her acceptance trials and work ups her average sea speed was 25 knots.

Service

After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla. On 26 June 1897 she was present at the Royal Naval Review at Spithead in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.^[2] She was reassigned to Sheerness in January 1900 for instructional purposes at the Sheerness school of gunnery,^[2] including as tender to HMS Wildfire.^[3]

She was involved in an accident at West Pier, Brighton in April 1900. The ship's boat carrying twelve seaman was swamped resulting in seven sailors drowning.^[2][4] Late in 1900 she was deployed to the British Mediterranean Fleet based at Malta where she remained in September 1913,^[5] being ordered to return to home waters in November that year.^[6] On her return to home waters she was assigned to the Portsmouth Local Defence Flotilla.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed that all destroyer classes were to be designated by letters. She was assigned to the D class along with other destroyers built to the same overall specification. After 30 September 1913, she was known as a D-class destroyer and had the letter ‘D’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.^[7]

For the test mobilization in July 1914 she was assigned to the Portsmouth Local Flotilla. In August 1914 she was in active commission tendered to HMS Excellent, the Portsmouth gunnery school.^[2] She remained there for the duration of the First World War.

Fate

In 1919 Desperate was paid off then laid up in reserve awaiting disposal. She was sold on 20 May 1920 to Thos W Ward of Sheffield for breaking at Milford Haven, Wales.^[8]

Pennant numbers

Pennant number[8]	From	To
P50	6 December 1914	1 September 1915
D40	1 September 1915	1 January 1918
D26	1 January 1918	13 September 1918

References

1. Lyon (1996), p.45.
2. "HMS Desperate at the Naval Database website".
3. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36052). London. 30 January 1900. p. 11.
4. "Disaster to Bluejackets - Boat Swamped at Brighton - Seven Seamen Drowned.". News of the World. 15 April 1900.
5. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Mediterranean Fleet". The Navy List: 270a. October 1913. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
6. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Mediterranean Fleet". The Navy List: 270a. November 1913. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
7. Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906 to 1922. Conway Maritime Press. 2006. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0 85177 245 5.
8. ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". Retrieved 1 Jun 2013.

• Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company.
• Jane, Fred T. (1990) [1919]. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing. ISBN 1 85170 378 0.
• David Lyon (1996). The First Destroyers. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-271-1. Retrieved 1 July 2013.