HMS Chamois was a Palmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to carry this name.[3][4] She was commissioned in 1897 and served in both the Channel and the Mediterranean. She foundered in 1904 after her own propeller pierced her hull.
_IWM_Q_038460.jpg) HMS Chamois
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Chamois |
| Ordered | 9 January 1896 |
| Builder | Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company |
| Cost | £52,410[1] |
| Yard number | 713 |
| Laid down | 28 May 1896 |
| Launched | 9 November 1896 |
| Commissioned | November 1897 |
| Fate | Foundered in the Gulf of Patras, 26 September 1904 |
| General characteristics [2][3] | |
| Class and type | Palmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 219 ft 9 in (66.98 m) o/a |
| Beam | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) |
| Draught | 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m) |
| Installed power | 6,000 shp (4,500 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 30 kn (56 km/h) |
| Range |
|
| Complement | 60 officers and men |
| Armament |
|
Construction
editShe was laid down on 28 May 1896 as yard number 713 at the Palmer shipyard at Jarrow-on-Tyne and launched on 9 November 1896. During her builder's trials she met her contracted speed requirement. Chamois was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in November 1897.[3][4]
Service
editChamois returned to Portsmouth with her shaft bent in early 1900. She was commissioned for service in the Channel Fleet on 15 March 1900,[5] but he and the crew transferred to HMS Sylvia only days later as the Chamois needed further repairs.[6] She was re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 5 September 1901, with the crew of Albatross, to replace that vessel on the Mediterranean Station.[7] She was later deployed as a tender to the destroyer depot ship HMS Leander at Malta.[8] In September 1902 she visited Nauplia and Souda Bay with other ships of the fleet,[9] and in early January 1903 there was a similar three-weeks cruise in the Greek islands around Corfu.[10]
Loss
editOn 26 September 1904, she was the victim of a bizarre accident. While conducting a full-power trial[11] in the Gulf of Patras off the Greek coast she lost a propeller blade. The loss of the blade unbalanced the shaft, which was spinning at high speed. The resulting vibration broke the shaft bracket and tore a large hole in the hull. She sank by the stern[12][13] in 30 fathoms (55 m) of water[11] about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from the coast north of the modern village of Araxos.[14] All hands were saved,[8] but two men were injured with one of them dying the following day.[15]
References
edit- ^ David Lyon (1996). The First Destroyers. Chatham Publishing. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-86176-005-0. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1905]. Jane's Fighting Ships 1905. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1905, reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. p. 77.
- ^ a b c Jane, Fred T. (1990) [1919, reprinted]. Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing © 1919. p. 76. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.
- ^ a b Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. pp. 84 to 85.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36087. London. 12 March 1900. p. 7.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36091. London. 16 March 1900. p. 6.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36553. London. 6 September 1901. p. 8.
- ^ a b "Torpedo Destroyer Lost. H.M S. Chamois Founders During a Speed Trial. The Crew Saved". The Bendingo Advertiser (Victoria (Australia)). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36883. London. 26 September 1902. p. 8.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36983. London. 21 January 1903. p. 8.
- ^ a b "A Naval Disaster - The Chamois Sinks". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- ^ ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ "HMS Chamois at the Naval Database website".
- ^ "HMS Chamois [+1904]". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- ^ "The Loss of the Chamois" (PDF). The Engineer: 326. 30 September 1904. ISSN 0013-7758. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
Bibliography
edit- Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
- Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
- Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Lyon, David (2001) [1996]. The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-3648.
- Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co. OCLC 6470051.
- March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.