Ambuscade was one of three Acasta-classdestroyers ordered from John Brown & Company of Clydebank as part of the 1911–1912 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy. In all, 20 Acasta-class ships were ordered as part of this programme, of which 12, including Ambuscade, were to the standard Admiralty design with the other eight ships to their builder's own designs.[1] She was laid down, as yard number 411, on 7 March 1912 and launched on 25 January 1913.[2][3] In 1912, as part of a general reorganisation of the Royal Navy's destroyers into alphabetical classes, the Acastas became the K class,[4] and in 1913, it was decided to switch to names beginning with the class letter, with Ambuscade being allocated the name Keith, but this plan was abandoned for the class and Ambuscade completed under her original name in June 1913.[5][6]
Ambuscade was 260feet 0inches (79.2m)long between perpendiculars and 267feet 6inches (81.5m)overall, with a beam of 27feet 0inches (8.2m) and a draught of 10feet 5inches (3.2m). Displacement was 892 long tons (906t) normal[a] and 1,072 long tons (1,089t) deep load.[8] Four Yarrow boilers fed steam to direct drive Brown-Curtis steam turbines rated at 24,500 shaft horsepower (18,300kW) and driving two shafts. This gave a speed of 29 knots (54km/h; 33mph). The ships had a crew of 73 officers and ratings.[5]
The ship's main gun armament consisted of three 4-inch (102mm)BL Mk VIII guns,[b] with 120 rounds of ammunition carried per gun.[5][8] Two 21-inch (533mm)torpedo tubes were fitted, while two reload torpedoes could be carried.[8][10][c] The ship was fitted with a 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft autocannon during the First World War, while in 1918 the torpedo tubes (and possibly one of the 4-inch guns) was removed to allow a heavy depth charge armament to be carried.[12]
On 15 December 1914, German battlecruisers, supported by the battleships of the main German High Seas Fleet set out on a raid against the coastal towns of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool, with the intent of drawing out units of the British Grand Fleet, where they could be engaged by the battleships of the High Seas Fleet. The British, aware from radio intercepts that the Germans were planning a raid with their battlecruisers (but not that they were supported by the whole of the High Seas Fleet), sent out the battlecruiser squadron under Vice Admiral David Beatty with four battlecruisers and the Second Battle Squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir George Warrender, with six battleships, to oppose the raid.[17]Ambuscade was one of seven destroyers that sailed in support of the British battlecruiser squadron.[18] At 05:15 on 16 December, the lead ship of the British destroyers, Lynx, spotted a German destroyer, V155 (part of the screen of the High Seas Fleet) and set off with the other destroyers in pursuit of the German ship. In a brief exchange of fire, V155 hit Lynx twice, with Lynx turning away due to a jammed propeller, and then hit Ambuscade once below the waterline, forcing her to drop out of line with heavy flooding.[19] Clashes between the British destroyers and the destroyers and cruisers of the High Seas Fleet's screen continued, causing further serious damage to Lynx and to Hardy, but the encounters caused Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, fearing that the whole Grand Fleet was at sea, to withdraw.[20]
On 21 April 1916, the Grand Fleet sailed on a sortie where it would patrol off the Danish coast with the intention of distracting German attention from Russian minelaying operations in the Baltic Sea. Heavy fog was encountered, however, and Ambuscade was involved in a collision with the destroyers Ardent and Hardy, with Ardent being damaged severely enough that she had to be towed stern first back to port, while collisions also occurred between the battlecruisers Australia and New Zealand, and between the battleship Neptune and a neutral merchant ship.[21]
Ambuscade took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May/1 June 1916, sailing under the command of Commander Gordon A. Coles as one of 19 ships of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in support of the Grand Fleet.[22][23] During the fleet action on the evening of 31 May, the 4th Flotilla was deployed on the port side of the battleships of the Grand Fleet, on the unengaged side.[24] During the night, the 4th Flotilla, including Ambuscade, took part in a series of attacks against the escaping German fleet. In the first attack (at about 23:30 hr), the flotilla encountered German battleships and cruisers, with the flotilla leaderTipperary being badly damaged by German shells (mainly from the battleship Westfalen) and later sinking, while Spitfire collided with the German battleship Nassau and the German cruiser Elbing was rammed by the battleship Posen, with Elbing later being scuttled. None of the nine torpedoes fired by the 4th Flotilla in that attack hit.[25] Shortly afterwards (about 23:50), the flotilla, now led by Broke again encountered the same group of battleships and cruisers. Broke was badly damaged by fire from the cruiser Rostock and Westfalen, and collided with the destroyer Sparrowhawk, which was also rammed by Contest and was later scuttled. Rostock was hit by a single torpedo, fired by Ambuscade or Contest, and was also later scuttled.[26] At about 00:10 hr, a third attack was made, with Fortune being sunk and Porpoise being damaged, with none of the five torpedoes fired by the British destroyers, including Ambuscade's last, striking home.[27] By now, the flotilla had completely split up, but was to lose a fourth ship when Ardent, mistaking the German ships for British ships, was sunk by fire from German battleships.[28]
The 4th Flotilla, including Ambuscade, left the Grand Fleet and moved to the Humber in July 1916,[29][30][31] with the role of protecting British minesweepers and deterring German minelayers off the East coast of England.[32] Late in the year, in a response to the Battle of Dover Strait, where a raid by German torpedo boats on the Dover Strait resulted in the loss of the destroyer HMSFlirt, several drifters, it was decided to strengthen British naval forces in the English Channel. The 4th Flotilla was transferred to Portsmouth for anti-submarine operations while Ambuscade was one of five destroyers that were transferred from the 4th to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Dover Patrol, to reinforce the defences of the Dover Strait.[33]Ambuscade joined the 6th Flotilla on 21 November 1916.[34] On the night of 25/26 February 1917, German torpedo boats attempted another raid against the Dover Barrage and Allied shipping in the Dover Straits, with one flotilla attacking the Barrage and a half flotilla of torpedo boats operating off the Kent coast. Ambuscade was one of a group of destroyers and cruisers protecting shipping anchored in the Downs. The German force sent against the Downs was spotted near the north entrance to the Downs, prior to shelling Margate and Westgate-on-Sea. While the division of ships including Ambuscade sortied against this force, they did not manage to find the German force. The southern German force withdrew following an exchange of gunfire with the destroyer Laverock.[35]Ambuscade was again part of the force protecting the Downs when the Germans raided again on the night of 17/18 March 1917. Again, the German plan involved multiple attacks, against the Dover Barrage and off the Kent coast. The destroyer Paragon was sunk during the German attack against the Barrage, with Llewellyn being torpedoed but surviving when investigating the attack. The northern German force torpedoed and sunk a merchant ship (SSGreypoint) anchored outside the entrance to the Downs, and then shelled Ramsgate and Broadstairs before withdrawing. They were spotted by the British torpedo boat TB 4 which signaled for help, summoning the naval force protecting the Downs, including Ambuscade, but again the German force managed to escape without being engaged.[36]
On 4 April 1917 Ambuscade left the 6th Flotilla, rejoining the 4th Flotilla, now based at Devonport and employed on convoy escort duties.[34][37][38] On 14 May 1918, Ambuscade, on patrol with Christopher and Cockatrice, detected a possible submarine contact with her hydrophone. She and Cockatrice attacked with depth charges with no apparent result.[39]Ambuscade was still part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in August 1918,[40] but by the end of the war had joined the Northern Patrol Force based at Dundee.[41][42] By June 1919, Ambuscade had been reduced to reserve at Devonport.[43]
Disposal
She was sold for scrap to Petersen & Albeck of Denmark on 6 September 1921.[44]
↑ The Navy list for October 1913 notes Ambuscade's displacement as 935 tons.[7]
↑ Later ships in the class were armed with faster firing QF (quick-firing) guns with cased ammunition instead of the BL guns which used bagged charges.[9]
↑ Ambuscade appears to have carried a single spare torpedo at the Battle of Jutland. She is recorded as firing three torpedoes and having none left at the end of the battle.[11]
The Acasta class was a class of twenty destroyers built for the Royal Navy under the Naval Programme of 1911 - 1912 that saw service during World War I. They were the last class of Royal Navy destroyers to have mixed names with no systematic theme When the class was designated as "K", names beginning with that letter were allocated to the ships but never used. The class saw extensive wartime service and seven were lost, including four at the Battle of Jutland.
HMS Laforey was the lead ship of her class of destroyer built for the Royal Navy. Launched a year before the First World War began, she was attached to the Dover Patrol. Laforey saw action in several engagements with German torpedo boats, including the Battle off Noordhinder Bank and the action of 17 March 1917. Laforey was sunk in 1917 by a British mine after escorting several freighters to France. She was named for Francis Laforey, captain of HMS Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
HMS Shark, was an Acasta-class destroyer built in 1912 for the Royal Navy. Shark was sunk during the Battle of Jutland on the evening of 31 May 1916.
HMS Faulknor was a British destroyer of the First World War. She was purchased by the Royal Navy whilst still under construction in Britain for the Chilean Navy who had ordered her in 1912 as part of the Almirante Lynch class. She was renamed after the Faulknor family of British nineteenth century naval officers.
SMS V45 was a 1913 Type large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy during World War I. V45 was built by AG Vulcan at their Stettin shipyard, being launched on 29 March 1915 and completed on 30 September that year.
HMS Acasta was an Acasta-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, and the name ship of that class. She was built between 1911 and 1913, and was initially designated a K-class torpedo boat destroyer, having at various times the pennant numbers G40, H59 (1914) or H00 (1918). She saw extensive service during the First World War, including at the Battle of Jutland, where she was badly damaged. She was sold for breaking up in 1921.
HMS Porpoise was an Acasta-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, which was built by Thornycroft between 1912 and 1914. Porpoise served through the First World War, taking part at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, where she was damaged. In 1920, she was sold to the Brazilian Navy serving under the name Alexandrino de Alencar and was renamed Maranhão in 1927. Maranhão remained in service when Brazil entered the Second World War, being used for patrol and convoy duties. She was disposed of in 1945.
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HMS Lark was a Laforey-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. The Laforey class was the class of destroyers ordered under the Royal Navy's 1912–1913 construction programme, which were armed with three 4-inch (102 mm) guns and four torpedo tubes and were capable of 29 knots. The ship, which was originally to be named Haughty but was renamed before launch, was built by the Scottish shipbuilder Yarrow between 1912 and 1913.
HMS Achates was an Acasta -class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was built by the Scottish shipbuilder John Brown and was built between 1912 and 1913. Like all Acasta-class destroyers, Achates was armed with three 4-inch (102 mm) guns and two torpedo tubes, with a specified speed of 29 knots.
SMS S34 was a V25-class large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy that served during the First World War. She was built by the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbing, East Prussia in 1913–1914 and was completed in being launched on 4 April 1914 and was completed in November 1914.
SMS V43 was a V25-class Large Torpedo Boat of the Imperial German Navy, that served during the First World War. V43 was built by AG Vulcan at their Stettin shipyard from 1914–1915, entering service on 28 May that year. V43 took part in operations in the North Sea, the English Channel and the Baltic Sea. She survived the war, and was interned at Scapa Flow, surviving the Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow. V43 was allocated to the US Navy, and was sunk as a target on 15 July 1921.
SMS V26 was a V25-class torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy that served during the First World War. The ship was built by AG Vulcan at Stettin in Prussia, and was completed in June 1914.
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HMS Moresby was a Admiralty M-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy during the First World War. The M class were an improvement on the previous L-class, capable of higher speed. Originally laid down as HMS Marlion by J. Samuel White at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the vessel was renamed before being launched on 20 November 1915. At the Battle of Jutland, the destroyer was initially cover for the seaplane tender Engadine but soon joined the action as part of a flotilla led by the light cruiser Champion. Moresby attacked the German fleet with torpedoes, initially unsuccessfully targeting the dreadnought battleship Markgraf and, near the end of the battle, unleashing another which narrowly missed the battlecruiser Von der Tann. In March 1918, the destroyer sank U-110 with the destroyer Michael. After the war, the destroyer was placed in reserve and eventually sold to be broken up on 9 May 1921.
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