HMS Chamois (1896)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Chamois.

HMS Chamois
HMS Chamois
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Chamois
Ordered9 January 1896
BuilderPalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Cost£52,410[1]
Yard number713
Laid down28 May 1896
Launched9 November 1896
CommissionedNovember 1897
FateFoundered in the Gulf of Patras, 26 September 1904
General characteristics [2][3]
Class and typePalmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer
Displacement
  • 390 t (384 long tons) standard
  • 420 t (413 long tons) full load
Length219 ft 9 in (66.98 m) o/a
Beam20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Draught8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
Installed power6,000 shp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion
Speed30 kn (56 km/h)
Range
  • 80 tons coal
  • 1,490 nmi (2,760 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement60 officers and men
Armament
  • 1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 naval gun on a P Mark I low angle mount
  • 5 × QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 naval gun on a Mark I* low angle mount
  • 2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450mm) torpedoes

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.

Construction[]

She 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[]

Chamois returned to Portsmouth with her shaft bent in early 1900. She was commissioned for service in the Channel Fleet by Lieutenant William Bowden-Smith 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 by Lieutenant Walter Egerton Woodward, with the crew of Albatross, to replace that vessel on the Mediterranean Station.[7] Woodward was replaced by Lieutenant Percy William Pontifex later the same year. 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]

Loss[]

On 26 September 1904, while under the command of Lieutenant and Commander Sydney Harold Tennyson, she was the victim of a bizarre accident. While conducting a full-power trial[10] 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[11][12] in 30 fathoms (55 m) of water[10] about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from the coast north of the modern village of Araxos.[13] All hands were saved,[8] but one engineer was wounded and the Leading Stoker Edward Snell scalded, who died on September 29, 1904 (aged 34 years) [14]

References[]

  1. ^ David Lyon (1996). The First Destroyers. Chatham Publishing. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-86176-005-0. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36087. London. 12 March 1900. p. 7.
  6. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36091. London. 16 March 1900. p. 6.
  7. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36553. London. 6 September 1901. p. 8.
  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.
  9. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36883. London. 26 September 1902. p. 8.
  10. ^ a b "A Naval Disaster - The Chamois Sinks". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  11. ^ ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  12. ^ "HMS Chamois at the Naval Database website".
  13. ^ "HMS Chamois [+1904]". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  14. ^ "The Loss of the Chamois" (PDF). The Engineer: 326. 30 September 1904. ISSN 0013-7758. Retrieved 21 June 2013.

Bibliography[]

  • 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.

External links[]

Coordinates: 38°14′N 21°24′E / 38.233°N 21.400°E / 38.233; 21.400

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