HMS Cobra

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The HMS Cobra
The HMS Cobra
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Armstrong ,
Elswick (Tyne and Wear) , BauNr. 674

Keel laying Late 1898
Launch June 28, 1899
delivery (May 8, 1900)
Whereabouts before the Sept. 18, 1901 Cromer dropped
Technical specifications
displacement

400th ts

length

67.9 m (223 ft)

width

6.1 m (21 ft)

Draft

3.5 m (9.75 ft)

crew

68 men

drive

4 Yarrow boilers,
4 Parsons turbines , 4 shafts
11500  ihp (PSi)

speed

34.8  kn

Armament

planned
1 × 76 mm / L40-12pdr cannon
5 × 57 mm / L40-6pdr cannon
2 × 45 cm torpedo tubes

similar

Viper , Velox ex Python

The HMS Cobra was a destroyer that was started by the Armstrong shipyard in Elswick in collaboration with Charles Parsons from 1898 as a speculative construction. It was not until May 8, 1900 that the British Royal Navy bought the turbine-powered boat it had been offering for some time for comparison purposes.

After a series of test drives, the still unarmed boat should be relocated to Portsmouth for final equipment and arming after the sinking of the Viper in September 1901. On September 19, the ship broke in a storm between Flamborough Head and Cromer on the British east coast, drowning 67 men, including 24 employees of the executing companies. only twelve members of the crew could be saved.

Building history

The HMS Cobra was started by Armstrong for its own account and offered to the British Admiralty for sale in December 1899. The boat with the hull number 674 was equipped with Parsons turbines similar to the destroyer HMS Viper . The Cobra , however, had three screws on each of its four shafts. The boat design was based on the "30-knotter" destroyers HMS Swordfish and Spitfire , which Armstrong had built for the Royal Navy. The boat was launched before the Navy order, but the finished boat on the Tyne was rammed and damaged by a passing steamer, so that the final completion was delayed. The chief designer of the Navy, Sir William Henry White , inspected the boat and proposed the purchase, although in his opinion it had weaknesses in the construction. He also considered the purchase to be necessary in order to prevent the sale to a foreign navy.

On test drives in July 1901 the Cobra reached a maximum speed of 34.88 knots, on three-hour journeys it exceeded the requirements of the Admiralty with speeds of 34.574 kn and 34.7 kn. Like the Viper , the Cobra needed more propulsion engine crews than the standard destroyers, which made space on board very cramped. She also used four Yarrow boilers to supply the turbines with steam. The exhaust steam took place on the Cobra via four chimneys. In June 1900, the test drives of the Cobra began , which were completed in August 1901, including desired changes by the Admiralty. With a single 76 mm / L40-12pdr-12 cwt cannon and five 57 mm / L40-6pdr cannons and two single 45 cm torpedo tubes,
the Cobra was to be armed with the standard armament of the Royal Navy destroyers at the time, but was only to be used in Portsmouth to be built.

The loss of the Cobra

A 51-man naval crew under Lieutenant Bosworth Smith came to Newcastle to transfer the Cobra to Portsmouth. On September 17, 1901, the boat left the Elswick shipyard. On board were several technical officers from the Navy and 24 personnel from the shipyard and the turbine manufacturer, as further tests were to be carried out on the way. After adjusting the compass, the Cobra ran south from the river mouth at 17 knots along the coast in the evening. The boat rolled in the rough sea and, because of the difficulties in heating the boilers, only operated two boilers after a three-hour journey, with which it only ran 5 knots when the storm intensified. At dawn, the speed was increased again to 8 kn, although the crews who operated the boilers had difficulties lighting the boilers. A quarter of an hour after passing the lightship Outer Dowsing , the stern of the destroyer tore off and the engine room ran full of water 53 ° 26 ′  N , 1 ° 6 ′  E Coordinates: 53 ° 26 ′ 0 ″  N , 1 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  E . The stern sank instantly, while the rest of the wind was carried on. The attempt to use the large dinghy for rescue failed when too many stormed the boat and it capsized. Existing folding boats could no longer be prepared and only one dinghy came successfully to the water, which finally took 12 men, who were picked up by the steamer Harlington in the evening and brought to Middlesbrough . Fishing cutters could only salvage bodies from the water. HMS Hearty , which arrived two days later,  tried to pull the still visible wreck into shallow water, which did not succeed. A Swedish diver examined the sunken fore ship in several dives.

The cause of the downfall is debatable. The official result of the investigation revealed that the ship's hull was not strong enough, which the manufacturer decidedly denied. Since the stern of the boat was not found, the known part of the wreck was not lifted and the results of the investigation were largely kept secret, there are doubts about this judgment. The possibility that the boat could have been badly damaged by floating debris overflowing and then torn apart by penetrating water is not unlikely.

Further development of the turbine drive

The loss of the comparison destroyers HMS Viper and Cobra 1901 within seven weeks after a few test drives led to the purchase of the Python , which Hawthorn, Leslie & Co had started on their own account, but which was renamed. The loss of the two boats named after snakes is a reminder of the sinking of the HMS Serpent ("snake") in 1890 off the Spanish coast, which had killed 172 men. The re-use seemed a bad omen.
The sister boat of the Viper, which was bought by Hawthorn, entered service as HMS Velox in 1902 and was also the Navy's only turbine destroyer for a long time. It initially had expansion machines for the march, later marching turbines. Both installations failed.

When the order was awarded for the destroyers of the River class , which were procured from 1902, a turbine-powered boat, the HMS Eden, was also ordered. It was only with the following coastal destroyers of the cricket class and the large destroyers of the tribal class that the steam turbine became the standard drive of the Royal Navy torpedo carriers in 1906/1907.
The shipyards of Cammell Laird and Palmers had previously modified turbine-powered river-class boats for their own account, which the Royal Navy bought in 1909. Of these, however, the Palmer boats were classified in the B class on August 30, 1912 .

For larger ships of the Royal Navy, the cruiser HMS Amethyst was an experimental construction that came into service in 1905; From the scout cruisers of the Boadicea class in 1909 and the cruisers of the Town class (1910) , all cruisers were powered by turbines. The first capital ship with steam turbines was the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 ; all subsequent ships also received this drive.

The early turbine destroyer of the Royal Navy

Surname Launch in service Shipyard End of service
HMS Viper September 6, 1899 Summer 1900 Hawthorn, Leslie & Co 3 August 1901 near Alderney accrued
HMS Cobra 06/28/1899 (May 8th, 1900) Armstrong-Whitworth September 19, 1901 broken at Cromer
HMS Velox ex Python 02/11/1902 06.1902 Hawthorn, Leslie & Co October 25, 1915 by a mine hit
HMS Eden 03/13/1903 06.1904 Hawthorn, Leslie & Co June 18, 1916 by collision
HMS Albacore June 9, 1906 May 3, 1909 Palmers August 1, 1919 demolished
HMS Bonetta 01/14/1907 May 3, 1909 Palmers June 7, 1920 demolished
HMS Stour 3.06.1905 12.1909 Cammell Laird August 30, 1919 demolished
HMS test May 6, 1905 12.1909 Cammell Laird August 30, 1919 demolished

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barnaby: Some Ship Disasters and their Causes , pp. 133f.
  2. ↑ Peter Brook: Warships for export , p. 173f.
  3. ↑ Eric W. Osborne: Destroyer , p.
  4. ^ Friedman: British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War , p. 59.
  5. ^ TD Manning: The British Destroyer , p. 43.
  6. ^ Friedman, p. 292.
  7. ^ Lyon: The First Destroyers , pp. 98f.
  8. ↑ Barnaby, p. 155.
  9. ↑ Archer-class torpedo cruiser, 1770 tons, only three survivors

literature

  • Norman Friedman: British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War . Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley (2009), ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9
  • David Lyon: The First Destroyers , Caxton Editions, London (2001), ISBN 1-84067-364-8
  • TD Manning: The British Destroyer , Putnam & Co. Ltd, London (1961)
  • Antony Preston: Destroyers , Hamlyn, ISBN 0-60032955-0

Web links