HMS Scott (1917)

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Career (United Kingdom)
Class and type:	Admiralty type destroyer leader
Name:	HMS Scott
Namesake:	Sir Walter Scott
Ordered:	April 1916
Launched:	18 October 1917
Fate:	Sunk on 15 August 1918
General characteristics
Displacement:	1,801 tons
Length:	332 ft 6 in (101.3 m)
Beam:	31 ft 9 in (9.7 m)
Draught:	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 40,000 shp
Speed:	36.5 knots
Range:	5,000 nmi (9,260 km) at 15 knots
Complement:	164 to 183
Armament:	5 × 4.7 inch guns 6 × 21 inch torpedo tubes
Notes:	Prototype flotilla leader

HMS Scott was the first of a new destroyer leader class built to be flotilla leaders for the V and W class destroyers. She was ordered during World War I, in 1916, and the class would unofficially be named after her. The ship herself was the first to be borne Scott and was named after Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet.^[1]

HMS Scott was launched on 18 October 1917 but wouldn't see a year of active service, for on 15 August 1918 she was sunk off the Danish coast. The cause of sinking is unclear, it is assumed that a German U-boat torpedoed and sunk her, however it is also possible that she hit a mine. Regardless of cause, the German submarine UC-17, which had been patrolling and mining the area, is usually credited with her sinking.^[2]

Although HMS Scott did not have a fulfilling career, the "Scott-class" was a rather successful class. Five of the class survived the First World War, two were subsequently completed. Six saw action throughout the Second World War (one ship with the Royal Australian Navy) and none were lost in that conflict.

[edit] References

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.