HMS Sabre (1918)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Sabre |
| Ordered: | April 1917 |
| Builder: | Alex Stephens at Govan, Glasgow |
| Laid down: | 10 September 1917 |
| Launched: | 23 September 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 1919 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: H18 |
| Honours and awards: |
Dunkirk 1940, Atlantic 1940-43 |
| Fate: | Disposal List, breakers yard 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | S-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,075 tons |
| Length: | 276 ft (84 m) o/a |
| Beam: | 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) |
| Propulsion: | Brown-Curtis, steam turbines, 2 shafts, 27,000 shp |
| Speed: | 36 knots |
| Range: | 250-300 tons of oil |
| Complement: | 90 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Sabre was an Admiralty S-class destroyer of the Royal Navy launched in September 1918 at the close of World War I. She was built in Scotland by Alex Stephens and completed by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan. Commissioned for Fleet service in 1919, she was the first Royal Navy ship to carry this name.
After the war new destroyer designs were introduced, and many S-class destroyers were scrapped. By the late 1930s Sabre had been de-militarised for use as a target ship. With the outbreak of World War II, she was returned to service in 1939 despite her age and unsuitability for deployment in the Atlantic Ocean.
In late 1940, Sabre was modified as a convoy escort. Equipped with 14-charge pattern depth-charge arrangements, both the after 4-inch guns and the torpedo tubes were landed, one 12-pounder (AA) and 8-.5" (AA) (2x4) were added. Radar type 286, and later 291, was added. Later in the war four single 20 mm (AA) mountings eventually supplanted the .5" AA mountings.
At the outbreak of war Sabre (Lt Cdr B Dean) was part of the Home Fleet based at Scapa Flow, as a TB Target and PV ranging vessel. In 1939 she was deployed for convoy defence in the Western Approaches. On 13 October 1939 while at Rosyth, Sabre was heavily damaged when rammed by the armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay. Sabre was under repair until 6 May 1940.
As part of the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla, Sabre was conspicuous in the evacuation of British and French soldiers from the beaches of beaches at Malo-les-Bains and the harbour mole during the Dunkirk evacuation. During nine days and nights of the evacuation, despite being damaged in an air attack, Sabre made ten round trips to Dunkirk. An example of her activity at this time:
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