HMS Roebuck (1901)

Sister-ship Greyhound underway in 1906
Career
Name:	HMS Roebuck
Ordered:	1898 – 1899 Naval Estimates
Builder:	R.W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Hebburn-on-Tyne
Laid down:	2 October 1899
Launched:	4 March 1901
Commissioned:	March 1902
Out of service:	Laid up, December 1918
Fate:	Broken up, 1919
General characteristics
Class and type:	Hawthorn Leslie three funnel - 30 knot destroyer[1][2]
Displacement:	355 t (349 long tons) standard 415 t (408 long tons) full load 214 ft 9 in (65.46 m) o/a 21 ft (6.4 m) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Installed power:	6,300 shp (4,700 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × Thornycroft water tube boilers 2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines 2 x shafts
Speed:	30 kn (56 km/h)
Range:	95 tons coal 1,615 nmi (2,991 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement:	63 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-pounder 8 cwt L/40 naval gun on a Mark I* low angle mount 2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450mm) torpedoes

HMS Roebuck was a Hawthorn Leslie three funnel - 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1898 – 1899 Naval Estimates. She was the twelfth ship to carry the name.^[3][2] She served during World War I and was broken up in 1919.

Construction

Roebuck was laid down on 2 October 1899 at the R.W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company shipyard at Hebburn-on-Tyne and launched on 4 March 1901. She arrived at Chatham Dockyard 18 September 1901 to be armed and prepared for sea trials.^[4] During her builder’s trials she made her contract speed of 30 knots. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in March 1902.^[3][2]

Pre-war

After commissioning she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. In May 1902 she received the officers and men from the HMS Greyhound, and was commissioned by Commander Marcus Rowley Hill at Chatham for service with the Medway Instructional Flotilla.^[5] She spent her operational career mainly in home waters.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. Since her design speed was 30-knots and she had three funnels she was assigned to the C class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an C-class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.^[6]

World War I

July 1914 found her in the Portsmouth local flotilla tendered to HMS Pomone. She was deployed to Devonport under orders of the Commander in Chief, Portsmouth for the training of cadets until the Armistice.

Disposal

By December 1918 she was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. She was broken at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1919.^[7]

Pennant numbers

References

• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M, eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5. 
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9. 
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. 
• Jane, Fred T. (1969) [first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898]. Jane's All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: ARCO Publishing Company. 
• Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London, reprinted by ARCO Publishing Company. 
• Jane, Fred T. (1969) [First published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1905]. Jane's Fighting Ships 1905. New York: ARCO Publishing Company. p. 77. 
• Lyon, David (2001). The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-3648. 
• Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co. Ltd. 
• Moore, John (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Studio Editions. ISBN 1 85170 378 0.