Almirante Lynch class
|
|
|---|---|
| Almirante Lynch class | |
 HMS Botha |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | destroyer |
| units | 6th |
| Shipyard | |
| Launch | September 1912 to March 1915 |
| period of service |
1913-1945 |
| Whereabouts | one war loss in 1916 three to 1933, two to 1945 in service |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement | |
| length |
over everything: 101.05 m |
| width |
9.91 m |
| Draft |
3.35 m |
| crew |
160 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
31 kn |
| Range |
4205 nm at 15 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Rearmament after the end of the war |
• 2 × 120 mm L / 45 Mk.II |
The six destroyers of the Almirante Lynch class were built by J. Samuel White for the Chilean Navy from 1911 . The large destroyers , built according to a design by J. Samuel White, were significantly larger and more heavily armed than British destroyers built at the same time. Only two boats could be delivered to Chile before the outbreak of the First World War , where they remained in service until 1945. The remaining four boats were bought by the British in 1914 and, as Faulknor -class, were used by the Royal Navy as a flotilla leader during World War I. The Tipperary was lost in the Battle of the Skagerrak . The three remaining boats were bought back by Chile and transferred in 1920. These boats, which were heavily used during the war, were eliminated as early as 1933.
Building history
The new class of destroyers was named after the Admiral Patricio Lynch , a Chilean naval hero of the Saltpeter War. The first two ships were named after the first modern Chilean torpedo cannon boats (see Almirante Lynch (1890) ). All boats had four funnels, the front one of which was slightly taller and thin. The other three were shorter and wider. The original armament of the boats consisted of six individual 102 mm guns, two of which stood next to each other on the forecastle and two on the sides a little behind the bridge house. In addition two guns next to each other near the stern. The guns were a new development from Armstrong Whitworth weapons company Elswick for Chile. There were also six torpedo tubes and four machine guns. When the ships that remained in Great Britain were re-armed at the end of the war, they received new guns in standard Navy designs. The two 120 mm guns that were then installed were set up individually for the front deck pair on the forecastle and the other for the stern pair on a platform between the last two funnels; the two 102 mm guns near the bridge remained in their positions. At the end of the war, the Botha had four individual torpedo tubes, while the two English sisters had two sets of twin tubes. In addition, there were two 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns on these three boats .
The Faulknor , the first boat to come into service in August 1914 , was at the end of the year flotilla leader of the 4th destroyer flotilla at the Grand Fleet for Swift , which had not proven itself as the leader of the Acasta- class destroyer . In 1916 the sister boat Tipperary took over the duties of flotilla leader.
Use in the Battle of the Skagerrak
The Tipperary under Captain CJ Wintour led the main part of the 4th destroyer flotilla south in the evening. Shortly after midnight , three approaching ships were discovered on the Garland , the fourth of the twelve boats. Captain Wintour could not identify the ships and requested an identification signal. The small cruisers Stuttgart , Hamburg , Rostock and Elbing , which came within almost 500 m , then opened fire. The ships of the line Westfalen and Nassau also intervened with their medium artillery. The 4th Flotilla had encountered the head of the German deep-sea fleet , which wanted to pass behind the British fleet. The forward boats Tipperary , Spitfire , Sparrowhawk , Garland , Contest and Broke immediately attacked with torpedoes. The use of torpedoes was difficult when the ships were close to each other. There was uncertainty as to who was meeting whom. The Elbing received at this stage probably hit by a torpedo, which reduced their maneuverability, what with the collision with the battleship Posen contributed. Their damage later led to the abandonment of the ship.
Tipperary was hit by the 15 cm guns of the Westphalian medium artillery on June 1 at around 12:35 a.m., caught fire and lay there. It didn't sink until 2:45 a.m. 185 of its 197-strong crew lost their lives. The last remaining crew of the Elbing , which had to be abandoned at 4:40 a.m., saved survivors of the Tipperary who were still floating in the water with their cutter .
The remaining boats of the 4th Flotilla gathered behind the Broke under Commander Walter Allen, who took over command. They encountered the Westphalia again , which fired a detection signal and illuminated the destroyers with their searchlights. Broke attempted a torpedo attack, but the range was too short and she was hit instantly. Forty-seven men were killed, all guns failed, and the helmsman's death made them run in circles so that they rammed the Sparrowhawk . Three Sparrowhawk men were thrown onto the Broke by the force of the impact . Both commanders assumed the loss of their ship and ordered the evacuation to the other ship, so that the two crews mixed. At that moment the contest was running in the stern of the Sparrowhawk . The contest , however, had only minor damage and rejoined the fighting boats.
Broke and Sparrowhawk remained wedged together for almost half an hour before Broke was released again and the Sparrowhawk marched back with an additional 30 men , although her bow was almost severed. On the third day after the battle, she entered the Tyne.
The Sparrowhawk was sunk after unsuccessful tow attempts.
The 12th destroyer flotilla under Captain Stirling on the Faulknor had fallen back due to damage on the Marlborough . The flotilla consisted of thirteen 'M' class destroyers , the Faulknor and the other flotilla leader, Marksman . At around 2:43 a.m., Obedient sighted ships on an east-south-east course in the slow onset of dusk. The unidentified ships gave false identification signals and the attack on German battleships and old ships of the line began in almost ideal conditions. The ship of the line Pommern was hit by a torpedo. Six destroyers fired 17 torpedoes at the German squadron before its artillery fire drove away the remaining destroyers. Stirling tried to report on the engagement and made three reports, but none reached the British Commander in Chief Jellicoe . If the reports had reached him, Jellicoe could have turned around and reached the deep-sea fleet before 4:30 a.m. and entered the protection of the German minefields. At around 4:10 a.m. on the morning of June 1, the Pomerania was hit by the Onslaught , perhaps also by a second torpedo. The hit exploded in one of the ship's 17 cm magazines, causing a huge explosion that broke the ship. The Pomeranian capsized; only the rear part swam for almost 20 minutes and the screws turned empty. The Pomerania sank with the entire crew of 839 officers and men.
More battles
On April 21, 1917, to thrust Dover Patrol offset Broke under Edward Evans with the Swift on a nightly Patrouillienfahrt near the Goodwin Sands on six German torpedo boats, previously Dover had fired. In the confusing night battle, the Swift torpedoed the German G 85 (83 dead) and the Broke rammed the G 42 commanded by Bernd von Arnim and wedged itself in it. Eventually the Broke was released, badly damaged, and had to be brought in unable to maneuver. The opponent G 42 sank with 36 dead. Swift was more easily damaged. The four other German torpedo boats were able to return to their base without losses.
On the night of March 21, 1918, six large German torpedo boats and four small "A-class" attempted to bombard the coast between Dunkirk and Nieuwpoort . Already on the approach they encountered a large number of Allied ships. In the evolving confusing night battle, the Botha rammed and sank the torpedo boat A 19 , but was mistakenly torpedoed by the French destroyer Capitaine Mehl , who also sank A 7 .
The operational destroyers of the Faulknor class took part in the attempts to block the German bases in Flanders with old cruisers . The Broke under Bertram Ramsay was involved in the attack on Zeebrugge on the night of April 24, 1918 , while the Faulknor was part of the "Inshore Squadron" of the first raid on Ostend that took place that night . On the night of May 10, 1918, Lynes on the Faulknor commanded the eight destroyers that were used in the second attack on Ostend, including the Broke under Ramsay, on which a sailor died.
The whereabouts of the British ships
At the end of the war, the Faulknor was again commander of the 4th flotilla, now in Devonport , Broke commander of the 6th flotilla in Dover and Botha commander of the 21st flotilla in Dover. In April 1920 the three destroyers were sold to the original client. Because of their armament, which differed from the original boats, they were then also referred to as the Almirante Williams class.
Service in Chile
In the winter of 1913 to 1914, the first two destroyers ordered from Samuel White in Cowes were delivered to Chile, the names of the first torpedo cannon boats of the Chilean fleet Almirante Lynch and Almirante Condell . These were renamed Tomás (ex Almirante Lynch ) and Talcahuano (ex Almirante Condell ). For the time being, they remained in service under their new names. With the outbreak of the First World War and the sale of the four other destroyers still under construction, the old boats remained in service until June 1919.
At the end of the war, the Chileans were not interested in the older, surplus ships that the British wanted to sell to them, but insisted on their relatively modern pre-war orders. In the end, in April 1920, Chile acquired the Canada , the three remaining destroyers of the Faulknor class ordered before the war, and a tug. The five ships together cost less than a third of the price Chile wanted to pay for the Almirante Latorre in 1914 . Canada got its old name again and was handed over to Chile on November 27, 1920. On the same day, she left Plymouth with the two destroyers Almirante Riveros (ex Faulknor , originally Almirante Simpson ) and Almirante Uribe (ex Botha , originally Almirante Goni ) under the command of Admiral Luis Gomez Carreño. The association arrived in Chile on February 20, 1921 and made Chile the strongest sea power on the west coast of South America.
However, the economic crisis of the 1920s made maintaining a large navy difficult. In 1931 the government cut the salary of the sailors by 30%, whereupon a mutiny broke out on August 31, 1931 , which affected almost all ships in the Navy. The starting point in Coquimbo was Almirante Latorre , who had returned from Europe after being overhauled and was still in training. The fleet's flagship, the O'Higgins armored cruiser , seven destroyers and some submarines were also involved. The Almirante Lynch, part of the fleet's training association, joined the mutiny in Coquimbo. The Almirante Riveros belonged to the then also mutinous southern association of the fleet in Talcahuano . The army and air force remained loyal to the government. The army shot at the mutineers in Talcahuano. The Almirante Riveros , used as a security ship , was hit several times and then ran to Isla Quiriquina , where she gave her dead and injured ashore. The Luftwaffe ( Fuerza Aérea de Chile ), which had orders to prevent the mutineers from the various locations from merging, attacked the ships lying in the Coquimbo roadstead without success. On September 7, the mutineers ran to Valparaíso and surrendered unconditionally and without a fight.
In the following years, Chile reduced its fleet considerably for cost reasons. In 1933 the rather worn-out Faulknor class boats were removed from the fleet list. It is not clear when the boats actually demolished. The Almirante Riveros ex Faulknor was sunk on April 10, 1939 as a target ship by the Almirante Latorre . The two older boats remained on the fleet list until December 19, 1945. The demolition of the type ship of the series, the Almirante Lynch , is said to have taken place only in 1955.
The boats
- Almirante Lynch - built by J. Samuel White , Cowes , launched on September 28, 1912, in Chile in 1913, 1450 ts, decommissioned on December 29, 1945
- Almirante Condell - built by J. Samuel White, Cowes, launched on September 28, 1912, January 1914 in Chile, 1450 ts, decommissioned on December 29, 1945
- Faulknor ex Almirante Simpson - built by J. Samuel White, Cowes, launched on February 26, 1914, 1694 ts, August 24, 1914 in service with the Royal Navy, on November 27, 1920 as Almirante Riveros with the battleship Almirante Latorre to Chile , named after the Chilean Rear Admiral Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas (1819–1892), deleted in 1933, sunk in 1939 as a target ship
- Broke ex Almirante Goni - built at J. Samuel White, Cowes, launched on May 25, 1914, 1704 ts, in service with the Royal Navy in 1914, 47 dead in the Battle of the Skagerrak, 21 dead on April 21, 1917 off Dover, on 27 November 1920 as Almirante Uribe with the battleship Almirante Latorre to Chile, named after the Chilean Vice Admiral Luis Uribe Orrego (1847–1914), deleted in 1933,
- Botha ex Almirante Williams Rebolledo - built by J. Samuel White, Cowes, launched on December 2, 1914, 1742 ts, 1915 in service with the Royal Navy, 13 dead on March 21, 1918 off Flanders, 1920 as Almirante Williams to Chile, named after the Chilean Vice Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo (1825–1910), deleted in 1933,
- Tipperary ex Almirante Simpson - built by J. Samuel White, Cowes, launched on March 5, 1915, 1573 ts, 1916 in service with the Royal Navy, sunk on March 31, 1916 in the Battle of the Skagerrak through Westphalia , 184 dead
literature
- Geoffrey Bennett: The Skagerrak Battle. Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-453-00618-6 .
- NJ Campbell: Jutland: An analysis of the fighting. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md. 1987, ISBN 0-85177-379-6 .
- Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981. Ian Allan, 1983, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7 .
- James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy. 4th edition. Chatham, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-935149-07-1 .
- Antony Preston: Destroyers. Hamlyn, 1977, ISBN 0-600-32955-0 .
- Nigel Steel, Peter Hart: Jutland 1916: Death in the Gray Wastes. Cassell, London 2004, ISBN 0-304-36648-X .
Web links
- White Boats (ex-Chilean) (extract from Jane's Fighting Ships 1919, accessed May 6, 2011)
- u. a. Faulknor class with many pictures (accessed May 6, 2011)
- Inserts of the Faulknor class
- Lynch (II) on the side of the Chilean Navy (Spanish, accessed October 18, 2016)
- Condell (II) on the side of the Chilean Navy (Spanish, accessed October 18, 2016)
- Riveros (II) ex Faulknor on the side of the Chilean Navy (Spanish, accessed October 18, 2016)
- Uribe ex Broke on the side of the Chilean Navy (Spanish, accessed October 18, 2016)
- Williams ex Botha on the side of the Chilean Navy (Spanish, accessed October 18, 2016)
- Tipperary ex Riveros on the side of the Chilean Navy (Spanish, accessed October 18, 2016)
Footnotes
- ↑ Campbell, p. 309 f.
- ↑ Bennett, pp. 158ff.
- ^ Campbell, p. 320.
- ^ Bennett, p. 141.
- ^ Bennett, p. 160.
- ^ Steel, p. 374.
- ^ Bennett, pp. 147f.
- ↑ Staff, p. 12f., Campbell, p. 305.
- ↑ Staff, p. 13.
- ↑ Baldwin, p. 115.
- ^ British Destroyers of World War I.
- ^ Chatterton, 189.
- ↑ Capitaine Mehl , 800 t (1912), type Casque, 34 kn, 2 × 100 mm, 4 × 65 mm guns, 4 TR.