Acheron class destroyer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acheron or I class
General Characteristics
Displacement:	750 - 790 tons
Length:	246 ft (Acheron 252 ft)
Beam:	26 ft 9 in (Acheron 26 ft)
Draught:	8 ft 6 in (Acheron 9 ft)
Propulsion:	Yarrow-type (Ferret, Forester; White-Forster) oil-fired boilers, 3 shaft Parsons steam turbines (Hind, Hornet, Hydra; 2 shaft Brown-Curtis), 13,500 shp (Acheron; 20,000 shp)
Speed:	30–32 kts
Range:	150–180 tons oil
Complement:	?
Armament:	2 x BL 4 in L/40 Mark VIII, mounting P Mark V 2 x QF 12 pdr 12 cwt Mark I, mounting P Mark I 2 x single tubes for 21 in torpedoes

The Acheron class (officially rated as the I class in 1913) was a class of twenty destroyers of the Royal Navy completed between 1911 and 1912, which served during World War I (see [1]).

Originally 20 ships, including Acheron were ordered, but three were completed by Yarrow & Company to replace three orders transferred to the Royal Australian Navy as the River class (not to be confused with the River or E class).

The Acherons were generally repeats of the preceding Acorn or H class, although Acheron herself and five others were builders' specials. They differed from the Acorns in having only two funnels, both of which were short, the foremost being thicker than the after stack. The 12-pounder guns were mounted slightly further forward than in the Acorns.

Of the builders' designs, Acheron and Ariel were longer, had higher installed power and were consequently faster. Archer and Attack used steam at higher pressures and Badger and Beaver were completed with geared steam turbines for evaluation purposes. Fourteen of the class were completed to an Admiralty standard design, although those built by Clydebank had Brown-Curtis type turbines and only two shafts.

Sir Alfred Yarrow maintained that it was possible to build strong, seaworthy destroyers with a speed of 32 knots, and eventually a contract for three such boats was placed with the firm. They were a little larger than the rest of the class but carried the same armament. Firedrake, Lurcher and Oak were, however, distinctive in appearance and indeed much faster. They all exceeded their contract speed, Lurcher making over 35 knots.

This class of TBDs (Torpedo Boat Destroyers, usually called "boats") handled well and were excellent sea boats; like similar classes of TBDs of the time, they had open bridges but were much more dry at sea than was the norm.

1 Ships
2 Bibliography
3 See also

[edit] Ships

[edit] Builders I class

Acheron — built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, completed 1911, sold 1921
Archer — built by Yarrow & Company, Scotstoun, Govan, completed 1911, sold 1921
Ariel — built by Thornycroft, completed 1911, mined while minelaying in North Sea 2 August 1918
Attack — built by Yarrow, completed 1911, torpedoed by German U-boat off Alexandria 30 December 1917
Badger — built by R. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn, completed 1911, sold 1921
Beaver — built by Hawthorn Leslie, completed 1911, sold 1921

[edit] Admiralty I class

Defender — built by William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, completed 1911, sold 1921
Druid — built by Denny, completed 1911, sold 1921
Ferret — built by J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes, completed 1911, sold 1921
Forester — built by White, completed 1911, sold 1921
Goshawk — built by William Beardmore & Company, Dalmuir, completed 1911, sold 1921
Hind — built by Clydebank Shipbuilding Company, Clydebank, completed 1911, sold 1921
Hornet — built by Clydebank, completed 1911, sold 1921
Hydra — built by Clydebank, completed 1912, sold 1921
Jackal — built by Hawthorn Leslie, completed 1911, sold 1920
Lapwing — built by Cammell-Laird & Company, Birkenhead, completed 1911, sold 1921
Lizard — built by Cammell-Laird, completed 1911, sold 1921
Phoenix — built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, completed 1911, torpedoed by German U-boat in Adriatic Sea 14 May 1918
Sandfly — built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend, completed 1911, sold 1921
Tigress — built by Hawthorn Leslie, completed 1911, sold 1921

[edit] Special I class

Firedrake — built by Yarrow, completed 1912, sold 1922
Lurcher — built by Yarrow, completed 1912, sold 1922
Oak — built by Yarrow, completed 1912. She was tender to the Fleet Flagship of the Grand Fleet throughout the war, including the Battle of Jutland, and had the distinction of having the same commanding officer, Lieutenant-Commander Douglas Faviell MVO RN, all her career - see [2]. With her singular gleaming white hull, she carried the German Rear-Admiral Hugo Meurer from the cruiser Königsberg to surrender, on 15 November 1918, to Admiral Sir David Beatty on board his flagship, Queen Elizabeth, in the Firth of Forth. She was sold 1921.

[edit] Bibliography

Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, Maurice Cocker, 1983, Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
The British Destroyer by Captain T D Manning CBE VRD RNVR (Ret'd), (Putnam, 1961)