Acasta-class destroyer

HMS Shark
Class overview
Name: Acasta-class destroyer
Operators:  Royal Navy
Preceded by: Acheron-class destroyer
Succeeded by: L-class destroyer
Built: 1912–1913
In commission: 1912–1923
Completed: 20
Lost: 7
General characteristics
Type:Torpedo Boat Destroyer
Displacement:934 to 984 tons
Length:267 ft 6 in (81.53 m) to 252 ft (76.8 m)
Beam:26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) to 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m)
Draught:9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) to 9 ft (2.7 m)
Installed power:24,500 hp (18,270 kW)
Propulsion:Standard K-class:
  • 2-shaft Parsons steam turbines
  • Yarrow-type oil-fired boilers

Acasta, Achates, Ambuscade:

  • 2 shaft Brown-Curtis steam turbines
  • Yarrow-type oil-fired boilers
Speed:29 kn (53.7 km/h) - 32 kn (59.3 km/h)[1]
Complement:75 - 77
Armament:Three QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) L/40 Mark IV guns, mounting P Mk. IX (last 7 ships)[2] else P Mk VII[3]

One QF 2-pounder pom-pom Mk. II

2 × single tubes for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes
For the World War II K-class Destroyers, see K-class destroyer (1938).

The Acasta class (in September 1913 re-designated the K class) was a class of twenty destroyers built for the Royal Navy under the Naval Programme of 1911 - 1912 that saw service during World War I. They were the last class of Royal Navy destroyers to have mixed names with no systematic theme (see naming conventions for destroyers of the Royal Navy for more information.) When the class was designated as "K", names beginning with that letter were allocated to the ships but never used.[Note 1][4] The class saw extensive wartime service and seven were lost, including four at the Battle of Jutland.

Design

The Acastas were larger and heavier armed than the preceding H and I classes (Acorn and Acheron, respectively), displacing about 25% more and with the mixed calibre armament replaced with a uniform fit of QF 4-inch guns, which the Acastas introduced. Previous 4-inch (102 mm) weapons had been of the breech-loading (BL) type. The guns were shipped one each on the forecastle and either side abreast the after torpedo tube (or amidships before and after the tube in some ships.) All ships had three funnels, the foremost being tall and narrow, the second short and wide and the third level with the second but narrower. The foremost torpedo tube was sited between the second and third funnels, a distinctive feature of this class.

There were twelve 'standard' vessels built to a common Admiralty design,[1] and eight builders' specials that (except for Garland) had a shorter, less beamy hull; five of the latter were from Thornycroft with 22,500 shp (16,800 kW) (one of Thornycroft's ships, Hardy, was planned to diesel cruising motors, but these were not ready in time and Hardy was completed with Thornycroft's standard machinery).[5] One by Parsons (Garland) had semi-geared turbines[6] giving a speed of 31 knots (57 km/h) on trials, with a seventh from Fairfields had a clipper bow. The eighth 'special' was Ardent by William Denny, Dumbarton, which was built using longitudinal framing rather than conventional transverse framing. While Ardent‍‍ '​‍s novel construction seems to have been a success, no more destroyers were built for the Royal Navy using longitudinal framing until the J-class destroyers in the 1930s.[6][7]

Service

At the outbreak of World War I until mid-1916, the Acastas were serving in the Grand Fleet as the 4th Destroyer flotilla, with Swift as leader. By the time of Jutland the leader was the Faulknor-class leader Tipperary, with Ardent, Fortune, Shark and Sparrowhawk lost in the course of the battle[8] and Acasta was so badly damaged that she had to be practically rebuilt. After Jutland the remainder of the flotilla moved to the Humber and then to Portsmouth by the end of 1916, before dispersing, some ships to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and the Dover Patrol and the remainder to Devonport. All survivors of the war were sold out of service for scrapping by 1921.

Ships

Admiralty K class

NameShip BuilderLaid down[9]Launched[9]Completed[9]Fate
AcastaJohn Brown & Co., Clydebank1 December 191110 September 1912November 1912Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921.[10]
Achates John Brown15 January 191214 November 1912March 1913Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921.[10]
Ambuscade John Brown7 March 191225 January 1913June 1913Sold for breaking up 6 September 1921.[10]
Christopher Hawthorn Leslie & Co., Newcastle 16 October 191129 August 1912November 1912Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921.[10]
Cockatrice Hawthorn Leslie23 October 19118 November 1912March 1913Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921.[10]
Contest Hawthorn Leslie26 December 19117 January 1913June 1913Torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat in the Western Approaches 18 September 1917.[11]
Lynx Harland & Wolff, Govan18 January 191220 March 1913January 1914Mined and sunk in Moray Firth by mine laid from German raider Meteor 9 August 1915.[11]
Midge Harland & Wolff, Govan1 April 191222 May 1913March 1913Sold for breaking up 5 November 1921.[10]
Owl Harland & Wolff, Govan1 April 19137 May 1913April 1914Sold for breaking up 5 November 1921.[10]
Shark Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend27 October 191130 July 1912April 1913Disabled by gunfire and torpedoed and sunk at Battle of Jutland 31 May 1916.[11]
Sparrowhawk Swan, Hunter17 October 191112 October 1912May 1913Collided with Faulknor-class leader Broke at Battle of Jutland and torpedoed by HMS Marksman 1 June 1916.[11]
Spitfire Swan, Hunter18 December 191123 December 1912June 1913Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921.[10]

K class Builders' specials

NameShip BuilderLaid down[9]Launched[9]Completed[9]Fate
Ardent William Denny & Br., Dumbarton9 October 19128 September 1913February 1914Sunk by secondary gunfire from German dreadnought SMS Westfalen at Battle of Jutland 1 June 1916.[11]
Fortune Fairfield, Govan24 June 191217 May 1913December 1913Sunk by secondary gunfire from German dreadnought SMS Westfalen at Battle of Jutland on night of 31 May / 1 June 1916.[11]
Garland Parsons Turbine, Wallsend
(hull sub-contracted to Cammell Laird, Birkenhead)		15 July 191223 April 1913December 1913Sold for breaking up 6 September 1921.[10]
Hardy Thornycroft, Woolston13 November 191110 October 1913September 1913Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921.[10]
Paragon Thornycroft14 March 191221 February 1913December 1913Torpedoed and sunk by German destroyer in action in the Straits of Dover 18 March 1917.[11]
Porpoise Thornycroft 14 March 191221 July 1913January 1914Sold 23 February 1920 back to Thornycroft for resale to Brazil; became Brazilian Alexandrino Deaenca, later Maranhao.[10]
Unity Thornycroft1 April 1912 18 September 1913March 1914Sold for breaking up 25 October 1922.[10]
Victor Thornycroft1 April 1912 28 November 1913June 1914Sold for breaking up 20 January 1923.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ No class of ships were designated as J class.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "K-class destroyers (extract from Jane's Fighting Ships of 1919)". Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  2. ↑ H.M.S.O. (1916). The Sight Manual. Pub. No. OU 6026. p. 80. ADM 186/216
  3. ↑ March. British Destroyers, p. 127.
  4. ↑ Friedman 2009, p. 129.
  5. ↑ Friedman 2009, pp. 126–129.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Friedman 2009, p. 127.
  7. ↑ Brown 2010, pp. 70–71.
  8. ↑ ""Arrowsmith" List: Royal Navy WWI Destroyer Pendant Numbers". Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Friedman 2009, pp. 306–307.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 10.12 "Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk website - Destroyers before 1918". Retrieved 2000-02-27. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 "British Destroyers - Naval history.net website". Archived from the original on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-27.

Bibliography

External links

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