HMS Scorpion (1910)

Scorpion in Valletta harbour, Malta, 1915
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Scorpion
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan
Launched:	19 February 1910
Commissioned:	30 August 1910
Fate:	Sold for breaking up, 26 October 1921
General characteristics
Class and type:	Beagle-class destroyer
Displacement:	860–940 long tons (874–955 t)
Length:	275 ft (84 m)
Beam:	27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Draught:	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Installed power:	12,500 hp (9,300 kW)
Propulsion:	Coal-fired boilers, 2 or 3 shaft steam turbines
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Complement:	96
Armament:	1 × BL 4-inch (100 mm) L/40 Mark VIII guns, mounting P Mark V 3 × QF 12 pdr 12 cwt Mark I, mounting P Mark I 2 × single 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

HMS Scorpion was one of sixteen Beagle-class destroyers in service with the Royal Navy in the First World War. She was built by Fairfields Govan shipyards on the Clyde and was commissioned on 30 August 1910. She was a coal powered ship and as such was obsolete by the end of the First World War and was scrapped in 1921.

Scorpion was laid down at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's Govan, Glasgow shipyard on 3 May 1909 and was launched on 19 February 1910, completing in August 1910.

The first commander of HMS Scorpion was the then Lieutenant-Commander Andrew Cunningham. Early days in Scorpion included the Spithead Naval Review of 1911 that stood out in Cunningham's mind as the zenith of British naval power with twenty-six miles of ships including 42 battleships and 68 destroyers. In 1913 the period in home waters came to an end with Scorpion posted to the Mediterranean. The early part of the war saw her involved in the chase of the German battlecruiser Goeben and the Dardanelles Campaign. Scorpion was always at the forefront of the action; her role included escorting bombarding ships, covering minesweeping trawlers and, later, acting as a minesweeper herself.