HMS Chamois (1896)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Chamois.
HMS Chamois
Career (United Kingdom)
Name: HMS Chamois
Ordered: 9 January 1896
Builder: Earl's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, Hull, Yorkshire
Cost: £52,410[1]
Yard number: 713
Laid down: 28 May 1896
Launched: 9 November 1896
Commissioned: November 1897
Fate: Foundered in the Gulf of Patras, 26 September 1904
General characteristics [2][3]
Class and type:Palmer three funnel, 30 knot destroyer
Displacement:390 t (384 long tons) standard
420 t (413 long tons) full load
Length:219 ft 9 in (66.98 m) o/a
Beam:20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Draught:8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
Installed power:6,000 shp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion:
  • 4 × Thornycroft water tube boilers
  • 2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines
  • 2 shafts
Speed:30 kn (56 km/h)
Range:80 tons coal
1,490 nmi (2,760 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement:60 officers and men
Armament:
  • 1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 naval gun on a P Mark I low angle mount
  • 5 × QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 naval gun on a Mark I* low angle mount
  • 2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450mm) torpedoes

HMS Chamois was a Palmer three funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to carry this name.[3][4] She was commissioned in 1897 and served in both the Channel and the Mediterranean. She foundered in 1904 after her own propeller pierced her hull.

Construction

She was laid down on 28 May 1896 as yard number 713 at the Palmer shipyard at Jarrow-on-Tyne and launched on 9 November 1896. During her builder’s trials she met her contracted speed requirement. Chamois was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in November 1897.[3][4]

Service

After commissioning she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. She was re-commissioned at Portsmouth 5 September 1901 by Lieutenant W. E. Woodward, with the crew of Albatross, to replace that vessel on the Mediterranean Station.[5] She was later deployed as a tender to the destroyer depot ship HMS Leander at Malta.[6]

Loss

On 26 September 1904, while under the command of Lieutenant and Commander Sydney Harold Tennyson, she was the victim of a bizarre accident. While conducting a full power trial[7] in the Gulf of Patras off the Greek coast she lost a propeller blade. The loss of the blade unbalanced the shaft, which was spinning at high speed. The resulting vibration broke the shaft bracket and tore a large hole in the hull. She sank by the stern[8][9] in 30 fathoms (55 m) of water[7] about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from the coast north of the modern village of Araxos.[10] All hands were saved,[6] but one engineer was wounded and another scalded.[11]

References

  1. ↑ David Lyon (1996). The First Destroyers. Chatham Publishing. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-86176-005-0. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1905]. Jane’s Fighting Ships 1905. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1905, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. p. 77.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jane, Fred T. (reprinted © 1990). Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing © 1919. p. 76. ISBN 1 85170 378 0. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. p. 84 to 85.
  5. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Friday, 6 September 1901. (36553), p. 8.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Torpedo Destroyer Lost. H.M S. Chamois Founders During a Speed Trial. The Crew Saved". The Bendingo Advertiser (Victoria (Australia)). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "A Naval Disaster - The Chamois Sinks". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  8. ↑ ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". Retrieved 1 Jun 2013.
  9. ↑ "HMS Chamois at the Naval Database website".
  10. ↑ "HMS Chamois [+1904]". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  11. ↑ "The Loss of the Chamois" (PDF). The Engineer: 326. 30 September 1904. ISSN 0013-7758. Retrieved 21 June 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 38°14′N 21°24′E / 38.233°N 21.400°E