| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Skate |
| Ordered: | 8 December 1915 |
| Builder: | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
| Laid down: | 12 January 1916 |
| Launched: | 11 January 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 19 February 1917 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | R-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 900 long tons (910 t) standard 1,220 long tons (1,240 t) full |
| Length: | 265 ft (81 m) p/p 276 ft (84 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) |
| Draught: | 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) full load |
| Propulsion: | 3 Yarrow-type water-tube boilers Brown-Curtis single reduction geared steam turbines, 27,000 shp |
| Speed: | 36 knots (41 mph; 67 km/h) 32.5 kn (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h) full |
| Range: | 3,440 nmi (6,370 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) 1,860 nmi (3,440 km) at 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 90 |
| Armament: |
As designed : |
HMS Skate was an Admiralty R-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that was laid down and completed during World War I. Skate was the sole survivor of her class by 1939, and saw extensive service during World War II as a convoy escort. This gave her the honour of being the oldest destroyer to see service with the Royal Navy in the latter conflict.
Skate was damaged by a mine in the First World War, and was converted to a minelayer while undergoing repairs, which is likely why she remained active on the Navy List in 1939. Initially she served as an influence minesweeper to combat the threat of magnetic mines, but such was the need for escorts that she was rearmed in 1941 to take part in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was on North Atlantic duties until 1942 and was part of the escort for the Normandy landings in June 1944.
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