HMS Portia (1916)

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HMS Paladin (1916) IWM SP 1403.jpg
Sister ship Paladin in 1916
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Portia
Namesake Portia
OrderedFebruary 1915
Builder Scotts, Greenock
Yard number475
Laid downMay 1915
Launched10 August 1916
Completed24 October 1916
FateSold to be broken up on 9 May 1921
General characteristics
Class and type Admiralty M-class destroyer
Displacement
Length265 ft (80.8 m)
Beam26 ft 8 in (8.1 m)
Draught9 ft 3 in (2.82 m)
Propulsion
Speed34  kn (39 mph; 63 km/h)
Range3,450  nmi (6,390 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement76
Armament

HMS Portia 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 destroyer, capable of higher speed. Launched on 10 August 1916. Portia initially served with the Grand Fleet but was allocated to convoy escort duties in early 1917. The vessel was particularly active in anti-submarine warfare, although Portia never successful sank a submarine. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the ship was placed in reserve before being decommissioned and sold to be broken up on 9 May 1921.

Contents

Design and development

Portia was one of eighteen Admiralty M-class destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty in February 1915 as part of the Fifth War Construction Programme. [1] The M-class was an improved version of the earlier L-class destroyers, designed to reach a higher speed in order to counter rumoured German fast destroyers. [2]

The destroyer was 265 feet (80.8 m) long overall, with a beam of 26 ft 8 in (8.1 m) and a draught of 9 ft 3 in (2.8 m). displacement was 994 long tons (1,010 t) normal and 1,025 long tons (1,041 t) full load. Power was provided by three Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis steam turbines rated at 25,000 shaft horsepower (19,000 kW) and driving two shafts, to give a design speed of 34 kn (63 km/h; 39 mph). [3] Three funnels were fitted. 296 long tons (301 t) of oil were carried, giving a design range of 3,450 nautical miles (6,390 km; 3,970 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph). [4]

Armament consisted of three 4 in (102 mm) Mk IV QF guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised platform and one between the middle and aft funnels. A single 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom anti-aircraft gun was carried, while torpedo armament consisted of two twin mounts for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes. [5] For fire control, the ship was equipped with a single Dumaresq and a Vickers range clock. [6] Portia had a complement of 76 officers and ratings. [4]

Construction and career

Portia was laid down by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Greenock with the yard number 475 in May 1915, launched on 10 August the following year and completed on 24 October. [7] The ship was named after Portia from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . It was the second time that the name had been used, the preceding vessel having been launched more than a century before in 1810. [8] The vessel was initially deployed as part of the Grand Fleet, joining the Fifteenth Destroyer Flotilla. [9]

Portia was transferred from the Grand Fleet on 23 January 1917 and allocated to anti-submarine operations after the German navy declared unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917. [10] On 14 February, the destroyer joined sister ships Partridge, Plover and Rob Roy in hunting the submarine SM UC-44. The search did not find anything. [11] Also common were escort duties to protect convoys of merchant ships. Sometimes the operations did not deter the attackers, as on 17 May when the submarine SM U-19 attacked a seven-ship convoy which the destroyer was escorting and sank one, a Swedish vessel. [12] Others were more successful, such as Convoy HH13 of thirteen ships which came through without loss. [13]

After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 the Royal Navy returned to a peacetime level of mobilisation, and surplus vessels were placed in reserve. Portia was initially transferred to Devenport on 12 December 1919 until being decommissioned and sold to Thos. W. Ward in Milford Haven on 9 May 1921. [14] The ship was subsequently broken up. [15]

Pennant numbers

Pennant Number Date
G401916 [16]
F181917 [16]
F141918 [16]
G731918 [16]
D1A1918 [16]

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HMS <i>Plucky</i> (1916) British M-Class destroyer, WW1

HMS Plucky was an 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. Launched on 21 April 1916 by Scotts of Greenock, the vessel served as part of the Grand Fleet, spending most of the war based out of Plymouth, apart from a brief sojourn working from the Irish port of Buncrana. Plucky was mainly involved in anti-submarine warfare and escorting the merchant ships that made up the convoys travelling to and from England, colliding with one, the collier Mervin in February 1917. Fortunately the merchant vessel was unharmed, but the subsequent explosion but the destroyer temporarily out of action. After armistice, the destroyer was redeployed to Portsmouth until being decommissioned and sold to be broken up on 9 May 1921.

HMS <i>Obdurate</i> (1916) British M-Class destroyer, WW1

HMS Obdurate was an 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. Launched on 21 January 1916 by Scotts of Greenock, the vessel served as part of the Grand Fleet in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. The destroyer formed part of the cover for the British battlecruisers and was involved in attacks on German battleships and destroyers, but recorded no hits. The destroyer was also part of attack by Zeppelin L 43 on Sydney and the distant cover for the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight, but received only minor damage from the German airship. After the armistice, Obdurate was assigned to the Local Defence Force at Nore and sold to be broken up on 9 May 1921.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ McBride 1991, p. 34.
  2. ↑ Friedman 2009, p. 132.
  3. ↑ Parkes & Prendergast 1969, p. 109.
  4. 1 2 Friedman 2009, p. 296.
  5. ↑ Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 79.
  6. ↑ "Fire Control in H.M. Ships". The Technical History and Index: Alteration in Armaments of H.M. Ships During the War. 3 (23): 32. 1919.
  7. ↑ Kemble 1961, p. 103.
  8. ↑ Manning & Walker 1959, p. 347.
  9. ↑ "Destroyer Flotillas of the Grand Fleet", Supplement to the Monthly Navy List, p. 12, October 1916, retrieved 4 July 2021– via National Library of Scotland
  10. ↑ Newbolt 1928, p. 74.
  11. ↑ Naval Staff Monograph No. 34 1933, p. 253.
  12. ↑ Naval Staff Monograph No. 35 1939, pp. 80–81.
  13. ↑ Naval Staff Monograph No. 35 1939, pp. 244–245.
  14. ↑ "Portia", The Navy List, p. 880, October 1919, retrieved 4 July 2021– via National Library of Scotland
  15. ↑ Colledge & Warlow 2006, p. 273.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 67.

Bibliography

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  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN   978-0-71100-380-4.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the First World War. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84832-049-9.
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  • Kemble, John Haskell (1961). Two Hundred & Fifty Years of Shipbuilding by the Scotts at Greenock. Glasgow: James Jack Advertising. OCLC   776430979.
  • Manning, Thomas Davys; Walker, Charles Frederick (1959). British Warship Names. London: Putnam. OCLC   780274698.
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