HMS Bittern (1897)
_close-up.jpg)
A close-up of HMS Bittern alongside a pier
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | HMS Bittern |
| Ordered: | 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates |
| Builder: | Barrow Shipbuilding Company and Vickers, Sons and Maxim, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down: | 18 February 1896 |
| Launched: | 1 February 1897 |
| Commissioned: | April 1899 |
| Fate: | 4 April 1918 sunk by collision with merchant man SS Kenilworth in the English Channel |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Vickers three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer |
| Displacement: |
|
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 30 kn (56 km/h) |
| Range: |
|
| Complement: | 63 officers and men |
| Armament: |
|
| Service record | |
| Operations: | World War I 1914 - 1918 |
HMS Bittern was a Vickers three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. She was the fourth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1796 for an 18-gun sloop, sold in 1833.
She was laid down as Yard Number 249 on 17 February 1896 at the Barrow Shipbuilding Company shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness and launched on 10 October 1896. During her builder’s trials she made her contracted speed requirement. In 1897 during the construction of these ships, the Barrow Shipbuilding Company was purchases by Vickers, Sons and Maxim and renamed as the Naval Construction and Armaments Shipyard. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in January 1899.
After commissioning, she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla. She was deployed in Home waters for her entire service life.
In January 1900 Lieutenant and Commander Eustace La Trobe Leatham was appointed in command, and she replaced the HMS Haughty in the Medway Instructional flotilla after the latter had a breakdown in her machinery and was paid off for a refit. The following April she was present at an accident at Brighton's West Pier, when seven sailors from HMS Desperate were drowned in bad weather as they approached the pier.
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 (56 km/h; 35 mph) and she had three funnels, she was assigned to the C Class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as a C-Class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.
In August 1914 she was in active commission in the Devonport Local Flotilla tendered to HMS Vivid, Royal Navy Barracks. She remained in this deployment until her loss.
On 17 April 1917, the Clan Line's steamship Clan Sutherland was on a voyage from Bombay, India to Glasgow carrying 1,000 tons of manganese ore and 3,000 tons of general cargo. She was 12 nautical miles (22 km) east-southeast of Start Point, Devon, when a torpedo fired by UC-66 struck her starboard side. The 62 crewmen abandoned ship as Clan Sutherland was badly damaged, without power and with her rudder jammed at 15° to port. She was also in danger of breaking in two. HMS Bittern was nearby and rendered assistance with Admiralty tugs Fortitude, Flintshire and Woonda, and HM Armed Trawler Lois. The three tugs began to tow Clan Sutherland to Devonport at a speed of 4 kn (7.4 km/h). When the formation was 9 nautical miles (17 km) from Start Point, Clan Sutherland began to break up. It was decided to beach the foundering steamer at Dartmouth.
...
Wikipedia