HMS Grampus (1910)

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HMS Grampus was a Beagle-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and originally named HMS Nautilus when she was commissioned on March 30, 1910. She was renamed Grampus on December 16, 1913, her former name being reallocated to HMS Nautilus, the first Royal Navy submarine to be given one.

During World War I, Grampus participated in the Dardanelles Campaign against Turkey.

On April 17, 1915, in an attempt to break through the Dardanelles, the submarine HMS E15 ran aground under Kephaz Point. She was fired on and disabled, her captain, Lieutenant Commander T.S. Brodie and several of her crew were killed; the remainder taken prisoner. To prevent her capture, the Royal Navy tried over the next two days to destroy the submarine. Grampus was involved in one of the many failed attempts; she was simply unable to locate the E15. For an account of the other attempts, see the article on the submarine.

On August 6, HMS Grampus landed 11th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment of the 11th (Northern) Division inside Suvla Bay, but on the wrong part of the beach. The troops were ill-supplied and ran critically short of drinking water in the actions that followed; on August 8, HMS Grampus cut one of its own water tanks loose and floated it ashore, which allowed the men who recovered it about a pint (0.5 litre) each.

Grampus was sold for scrapping in September 1920.

See HMS Grampus for other ships of this name.


Beagle or G-class destroyer

Beagle | Bulldog | Grasshopper | Harpy | Renard | Foxhound | Wolverine | Mosquito | Basilisk | Scorpion | Scourge | Racoon | Savage | Rattlesnake | Pincher | Grampus


List of destroyers of the Royal Navy