HMS Comet (1910)
_IWM_Q_021108.jpg) HMS Comet, c. 1914–1918 | |
| Career (United Kingdom) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Comet |
| Builder: | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan |
| Launched: | 23 June 1910 |
| Fate: | Sunk in collision, 6 August 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Acorn class |
| Type: | Destroyer |
| Displacement: | 730 to 780 tons |
| Length: | 246 ft 6 in (75.13 m) |
| Beam: | 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) |
| Draught: | 7 ft (2.1 m)–10 ft (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Oil-fired boilers 3 shaft steam turbines 13,500 shp |
| Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
| Range: | 170 tons oil |
| Complement: | 72 |
| Armament: | 2 × BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) L/40 Mark VIII guns, mounting P Mark V 2 × QF 12 pdr 12 cwt Mark I mounting P Mark I 2 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes |
HMS Comet was an Acorn class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw active service in the First World War. She was built under the 1909–1910 programme by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Govan. She was launched on 23 June 1910 and lost after a collision while under tow on 6 August 1918 in the Mediterranean. Initially it was believed that she was torpedoed and sunk by an Austrian U-boat, but this was dismissed since no submarine claimed her sinking.[1]
The Acorn class marked a return to oil-firing as pioneered in the Tribal or F class of 1905 and HMS Swift of 1907. This change allowed a generally smaller vessel than the Beagles even with an increase in armament. The Comet was built to an individual design by Fairfield Shipbuilding although the Acorns had a more-or-less uniform appearance, with three funnels, a tall, thin fore funnel, a short, thick central and a short narrow after stack. Comet had two 4-inch guns on the fo'c'sle and on the quarterdeck. The 12-pounder guns were amidships, one on each side between the first pair of funnels, and the torpedo tubes were abaft the funnels, mounted singly with a searchlight position between them.
References
- ↑ Ships hit during WWI U-boat.net
- Cocker, Maurice (1983). Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1075-7.
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