HMS Wolverine (D78)

HMS Wolverine in 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Wolverine
Ordered:	April 1918
Builder:	James Samuel White & Co Ltd
Laid down:	8 October 1918
Launched:	17 July 1919
Commissioned:	27 February 1920
Out of service:	To reserve May 1945 Disposal List September 1945
Struck:	sold for scrap 28 January 1946
Identification:	Pennant numbers D78 and I78
Motto:	Avidus laboris gloruae – "Greedy of work, greedy of labour"
Honours and awards:	Martinique 1808 Dardanelles 1915–16 Atlantic 1939–45 Norway 1940 Malta Convoys 1942
Fate:	Scrapped 1946
Badge:	On a Field White, on a mount Green, a Wolverine proper.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Admiralty modified W class destroyer
Displacement:	1,140 tons standard 1,550 tons full load
Length:	300 feet (91 m) o/a, 312 feet (95 m) p/p
Beam:	29.5 feet (9.0 m)
Draught:	9 feet (2.7 m), 11.25 feet (3.43 m) under full load
Propulsion:	Yarrow type Water-tube boilers, Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, 2 shafts, 27,000 shp
Speed:	34 knots (63 km/h)
Range:	320-370 tons oil 3,500 nmi (6,480 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) 900 nmi (1,670 km) at 32 knots (59 km/h)
Complement:	127
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 286M Air Warning Radar fitted 1941 Type 271 Target Indication Radar fitted 1942
Armament:	As built 1920: 4 × BL 4.7 in (120-mm) Mk.I guns, mount P Mk.I 2 × QF 2 pdr Mk.II "pom-pom" (40 mm L/39) 6 × 21-inch torpedo tubes (2×3) "1942 SRE conversion: 3 × BL 4.7 in (120mm) Mk.I L/45 guns 1 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun 2 × QF 2 pdr Mk.II "pom-pom" (40mm L/39) 3 × 21-inch torpedo tubes (1×3) 2 × depth charge racks Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar (replaced ‘A’ turret 1944)
Service record
Operations:	World War II
Victories:	Dagabur U-76

HMS Wolverine was an Admiralty modified W class destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was one of four destroyers ordered in April 1918 from James Samuel White & Co Ltd under the 14th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Programme of 1917–18. She was the seventh Royal Navy Ship to carry the name. It had been introduced in 1798 for a gun brig and last borne by a destroyer sunk after a collision in 1917.

Wolverine’s keel was laid on 8 October 1918 at the James Samuel White & Co. Ltd. Shipyard in Cowes, Isle of Wight. She was launched on 17 July 1919. She was 312 feet overall in length with a beam of 29.5 feet. Her mean draught was 9 feet, and would reach 11.25 feet under full load. She had a displacement of 1,140 tons standard and up to 1,550 full load.

She was propelled by three White-Foster type water tube boilers powering Parsons geared steam turbines developing 27,000 SHP driving two screws for a maximum designed speed of 34 knots. She was oil-fired and had a bunkerage of 320 to 370 tons. This gave a range of between 3500 nautical miles at 15 knots and 900 nautical miles at 32 knots.

She shipped four BL 4.7 in (120-mm) Mk.I guns, mount P Mk.I naval guns in four single center-line turrets. The turrets were disposed as two forward and two aft in super imposed firing positions. She also carried two QF 2 pdr Mk.II "pom-pom" (40 mm L/39) mounted abeam between the funnels. Abaft of the 2nd funnel she carried six 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts on the center-line.

Wolverine was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 27 January 1920 with the pennant number D78. After commissioning she was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the Atlantic Fleet. The Flotilla served in Home waters in the early 1920s. The Flotilla was first assigned to the Mediterranean then in 1926 reassigned to the China Station.

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Wikipedia