HMS Lydiard (1914)
 Sister ship Leonidas
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The HMS Lydiard was a British Laforey- class destroyer that took part in the Battle of the Skagerrak during World War I.
Building history
The Lydiard was one of twenty-two Laforey- class or L-class oil-powered destroyers of the Royal Navy , the last class commissioned before World War I, which were built at eight shipyards from 1912 to 1915. It was the first class in which the 1913 classification by letter was also adopted in the name. Its members were given a name that began with the letter L on September 30, 1913. Only the first seven had come to the water under their originally intended names.
The Lydiard was started on December 14, 1912 under the construction number 492 at the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Govan as Waverley . Fairfield had already built the modified "model destroyer" of the new class, Fortune of the Acasta class (from September 1913 K-class) under construction number 488 and then received four orders for destroyers of the new class from the 1912 budget. Under construction numbers 489 to 491, the type ship Laforey (from the stack on March 28, 1913, still called Florizel ) and the sister ships Lawford (ex- Ivanhoe ) and Louis (ex- Talisman ), which were differently equipped with Brown Curtis turbines , were built at Fairfield . The Lydiard was launched on February 26, 1914 and entered service on June 10, 1914.
Mission history
Like her 21 sister ships, the Lydiard first served in the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla (from 1916 9th Flotilla) in Harwich .
In the sea battle near Heligoland on August 28, 1914, she is said to have scored a torpedo hit on the Mainz . With the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla and the " Harwich Force ", the destroyers of the Laforey class were often used against German naval advances (such as the shelling of Yarmouth on November 3rd and December 16th of Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby by the German battlecruisers ) and secured British advances (such as the air raid on Cuxhaven ).
At the battle on the Dogger Bank on January 24, 1915, she was in the formation of the 3rd Flotilla with the cruiser Undaunted as flotilla leader and eleven sister ships ( Lookout , Lysander , Landrail , Laurel , Liberty , Laertes , Lucifer , Lawford , Louis , Legion and Lark ) involved without actively intervening in the battle. During the year, the Lydiard and sister ship Louis were seconded to the Dardanelles campaign in the Mediterranean. The Louis was lost there on October 31, 1915 as the first boat of the class when she ran aground in the Bay of Suvla and was destroyed by Turkish artillery.
At the battle of the Skagerrak on May 31 and June 1, 1916, only parts of the Harwich Force took part in a combined flotilla (boats of the 9th and 10th flotilla) to secure the 2nd battle cruiser squadron ( New Zealand , Indefatigable ) under Rear Admiral William Pakenham part. The Lydiard served as a flotilla leader of the security under Commander ML Goldsmith, who also belonged to the sister ships Landrail , Laurel and Liberty .
From 1917, the Lydiard , like her sister ships, was mainly used for escort duties in the canal . The destroyer was sold for demolition on November 5, 1921, along with the Liberty and Lance to Granton, Edinburgh .
literature
- John Campbell: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. Lyons Press, 1998, ISBN 1-55821-759-2
- Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981 , 1983, Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
- James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy , Chatham, 4th ed. London 2010, ISBN 9-7819-3514907-1
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5
- Antony Preston: Destroyers , 1977, Hamlyn, ISBN 0-600-32955-0
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ HMS Fortune
- ^ Image of the HMS Laforey
- ^ Image of HMS Lawford
- ^ Image of the HMS Louis
- ^ Image of the HMS Lydiard
- ^ Campbell, p. 6.
- ↑ Colledge, p. 235.