HMS President (1918)
HMS President in the Thames
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Saxifrage |
| Builder: | Lobnitz & Company, Renfrew, Scotland |
| Yard number: | 827 |
| Launched: | 29 January 1918 |
| Renamed: |
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| Fate: | Sold, 1988; resold 2001 & 2006 |
| Status: | Conference venue and offices |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Anchusa-class sloop |
| Displacement: | 1,290 long tons (1,311 t) |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 35 ft (10.7 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Range: | 260 tons coal |
| Complement: | 93 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Saxifrage was launched in 1918 as a Flower-class anti-submarine Q-ship. She was renamed HMS President in 1922 and moored permanently on the Thames as a Royal Navy Reserve drill ship. In 1982 she was sold to private owners, and having changed hands twice, now serves as a venue for conferences and functions, and serves as the offices for a number of media companies. Technically, she is now called HQMS President (1918) to distinguish her from HMS President, the Royal Naval Reserve base in St Katharine Docks. She is one of the last three surviving Royal Navy warships of the First World War. She is also the sole representative of the first type of purpose built anti-submarine vessels, and is the ancestor of World War II convoy escort sloops, which evolved into modern anti-submarine frigates.
The original Flower-class sloops (the Acacia, Azalea and Arabis classes) were all built in 1915 as fleet minesweeping vessels, with triple hulls at the bow to give extra protection against loss from mine damage. When submarine attacks on British merchant ships became a serious menace after 1916, the existing Flowers were transferred to convoy escort duty, and fitted with depth charges as well as 4.7-inch naval guns.
The later Flowers (the Aubretia and Anchusa classes) were built between 1916 and 1918 as submarine hunters disguised to look like merchant ships, while carrying concealed 4-inch and 12-pounder naval guns. U-boats would dive at the sight of a naval warship, and the success of the Q-ships, or 'mystery ships' - converted merchantmen with hidden guns - led to the building of these specialised naval vessels for the same purpose. It was intended that a U-boat captain, unwilling to expend a precious torpedo on a small coastal merchantman, would surface to sink it by gunfire. As the submarine closed for the kill, the Q-ship would reveal her hidden guns and counter attack while the U-boat was at its most vulnerable on the surface. By the time the "warship-Qs" were constructed, the Germans were well aware of this tactic, and with the introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare these sloops became active rather than passive submarine chasers.
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Wikipedia