Beagle class

Beagle or G class
HMS Scourge at Mudros, May 1916
Overview
Type	destroyer
units	16
Shipyard	John Brown & Company J. Samuel White Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding William Denny and Brothers Cammell Laird Harland & Wolff Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. John I. Thornycroft
Order	1908/1909
Launch	1909-1910
1. Period of service
period of service	1910-1921
Commissioning	1910
Decommissioning	1920/1921
Whereabouts	three losses Sale for demolition 1920/1921
Technical specifications
displacement	Standard : 860–940  ts
length	overall: 275 ft (83.75 m),
width	27.5 ft (8.38 m)
Draft	8.5 ft (2.6 m)
crew	96 men
drive	5 coal steam boilers (2 or) 3 steam turbines on (2–) 3 shafts 12,500 PSw
speed	27 kn
Armament	1 × 102 mm L / 40 MKVIII gun 3 × 12 pounder 76mm L / 40 MK I guns 2 × torpedo tubes 21 "(53.3 cm) ${\displaystyle \varnothing }$
Coal supply	165-215 ts

The sixteen destroyers Beagle class of Royal Navy ran between 1909 and 1910 from the stack. They were the last coal-fired destroyers in the British Navy and served mainly in the Mediterranean Fleet . After the end of the First World War , they were sorted out.

history

The Royal Navy's Beagle- class , officially renamed the G-Class in 1913 , was a class of 16 destroyers ordered in the 1908/1909 budget and launched in 1909 and 1910. After the oil-fired destroyers of the Tribal or F-Class of 1905 and the single ship HMS Swift in 1907, the Beagle-Class returned to a smaller, more usable type, albeit considerably larger than the destroyers of the River or E-Class . Admiralty concerns about the availability of oil in the event of war led the Beagle- class to revert to using coal as fuel.

Unlike the previous series, the Beagle class had a more uniform appearance with three chimneys, although their diameters varied depending on the shipyard. Originally designed for five 12-pounder guns , they received a single 4-inch gun, as introduced in the Tribal class, and only three 12-pounder guns. In addition, they received the 21-inch torpedoes introduced on the Swift .

commitment

First, the destroyers of the Beagle class were used from 1910 in the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, whose pilot ship was the Scout HMS Boadicea . In 1912 the new Acheron class replaced her in the 1st destroyer flotilla of the Home Fleet and the Beagle class moved to the Mediterranean.

The Beagle- class ships were mainly used in the Mediterranean during the First World War.

At the outbreak of war, all sixteen formed the destroyer flotilla of the British Mediterranean Fleet ( 5th Flotilla ). Eight belonged to the association of Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge , who should control access to the Adriatic . The destroyers HMS Beagle and HMS Bulldog were on August 6, 1914 with the light cruiser HMS Dublin on the march from Malta to the Greek coast to reinforce Troubridge's association. They were supposed to stop the SMS Goeben on their march into the Aegean Sea with a torpedo night attack. During the night they discovered their companion, the small cruiser SMS Breslau , but missed the battle cruiser , so that the German ships finally escaped to Turkey unmolested.

In 1915, the Beagle- class destroyers were used especially during the Allied attack on the Dardanelles . Nine were converted into fast minesweepers , because the usual fish steamers could not be used in the strong current in the Dardanelles and also took their positions too slowly in the face of the Turkish artillery. This task was dropped when the plan to break through the Strait was abandoned. Some then served as rapid artillery support in individual landing sections (e.g. Wolverine and Scorpion at Cape Helles ). When the war ended, none of the boats were in the Mediterranean. Of the remaining thirteen boats, seven ( Bulldog, Harpy, Mosquito, Savage, Grasshopper, Scorpion, Scourge ) were on duty with the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in Devonport and the other six ( Beagle, Foxhound, Basilisk, Grampus, Renard, Rattlesnake ) were with the 2nd flotilla in Londonderry . The three war casualties had also occurred on the western approaches to the United Kingdom. Since they were powered by coal, all boats were considered obsolete at the end of the war and were sold for demolition until 1921.

The ships

• HMS Beagle - built by John Brown & Company , Clydebank , berth 387, launched October 16, 1909, 995 ts, sold for demolition November 1, 1921 to Fryer, Sunderland
• HMS Bulldog - built at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, boulevard 388, launched November 13, 1909, 995 ts, sold for demolition September 21, 1920 to Ward, Rainham
• HMS Foxhound - built at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, boulevard 389, keel laid April 1909, launched December 11th 1909, completed May 28th 1910 953 ts, sold for demolition November 1st, 1921 to Fryer, Sunderland
• HMS Harpy - built by J. Samuel White & Company , Cowes , launched November 27, 1909, sold for demolition November 1, 1921
• HMS Basilisk - built by J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes, launched February 9, 1910, sold for demolition November 1, 1921
• HMS Grasshopper - built at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company , Govan , BauN ° 464, keel laid April 16, 1909, launched October 22, 1909, completed July 6, 1910, 923 ts, sold for demolition November 1, 1921 to Sunderland
• HMS Mosquito - built at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan, BauN ° 465, keel laid April 22, 1909, launched January 27, 1910, completed August 11, 1910, 925 ts, sold for demolition August 31, 1920 to Ward, Rainham
• HMS Scorpion - built at Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan, BauN ° 466, keel laid May 3, 1909, launched February 19, 1910, completed August 24, 1910, 916 ts, sold for demolition October 26, 1921 to Barking Shipbreaking
• HMS Nautilus - built at Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company , Bow Creek , London , launched on March 30, 1910, renamed HMS Grampus on December 16, 1913, sold for demolition on September 21, 1920
• HMS Pincher - built by William Denny & Brothers , Dumbarton , construction number 878, keel laid on May 20, 1909, launched on March 15, 1910, completed on September 2, 1910, 975 ts, total loss on Seven Stones reef , west of Land's End July 24, 1918, 13 dead
• HMS Renard - built at Cammell Laird & Company , Birkenhead , launched November 13, 1909, sold for demolition August 31, 1920
• HMS Wolverine - built at Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead, launched on January 15, 1910, 1914 Flotilla commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, sunk after colliding with the sloop HMS Rosemary in Lough Foyle on December 12, 1917, 2 dead
• HMS Racoon - built at Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead, launched on February 15, 1910, run aground during a snow storm on the Irish coast on January 9, 1918 and sinks with all crew members (91 dead)
• HMS Rattlesnake - built by London & Glasgow Shipbuilding Company , Glasgow , construction number 337, keel laid on April 29, 1909, launched on March 14, 1910, completed on August 4, 1910, 946 ts, sold for demolition on May 9, 1921 to Ward, Milford Haven
• HMS Savage - built by John I. Thornycroft & Company , Woolston, near Southampton , launched March 10, 1910, sold for demolition May 9, 1921
• HMS Scourge - built at RW Hawthorn Leslie & Company , Hebburn , construction number 431, keel laid March 9, 1909, launched February 11, 1910, completed August 27, 1910, 874 ts, sold for demolition May 9, 1921

• 

  HMS Grampus

• 

  HMS Scorpion leaves the port of Malta

• 

  HMS Basilisk off Malta

• 

  HMS Racoon as a mine sweeper in the Dardanelles

literature

• Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981 , 1983, Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
• Antony Preston: Destroyers , 1977, Hamlyn, ISBN 0-600-32955-0

Web links

Commons : Beagle- class destroyer  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Beagle class with lots of pictures (English)
• extract from Jane's Fighting Ships for 1919 (accessed November 12, 2016)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Royal Navy Destroyer Flotillas, November 1918 (accessed May 9, 2011)
2. ↑ data from the Beagle (accessed on May 9, 2011)
3. ^ Bulldog data (accessed on May 9, 2011)
4. ↑ Foxhound data (accessed on May 9, 2011)
5. ↑ Grasshopper data (accessed on May 9, 2011)
6. ↑ Data from the Mosquito (accessed on May 9, 2011)
7. ↑ Data from the Scorpion (accessed on May 9, 2011)
8. ↑ Pincher data (accessed on May 9, 2011)
9. ^ Rattlesnake data (accessed on May 9, 2011)
10. ↑ HMS Scourge (accessed April 21, 2015)