HMS Meteor (1914)
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 HMS Meteor (1914) |
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| Overview | |
| Type | destroyer |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | May 8, 1913 |
| Launch | July 24, 1914 |
| Commissioning | September 15, 1914 |
| Whereabouts | May 9, 1921 Sale for demolition |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1004 ts |
| length |
274 ft (84 m) |
| width |
27.25 ft (8.3 m) |
| Draft |
10.5 ft (3.20 m) |
| crew |
78 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
35 kn (65 km / h) |
| Armament |
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The HMS Meteor was a destroyer of Thornycroft M-Class of the British Royal Navy , who in the First World War was used. As a distinguishing feature of a destroyer of the Thornycroft subgroup, the middle funnel was thicker and the middle 4 inch gun stood between the 2nd and 3rd funnels.
In 1914 the Meteor seized the German hospital ship Ophelia . In 1915 the destroyer was put out of action by a hit by the Blücher while attempting to torpedo the heavily damaged armored cruiser SMS Blücher in the Dogger Bank Battle. In 1921 the HMS Meteor - like almost all remaining M-class destroyers - was sold for demolition.
Building history
As part of the naval budget 1913-14, six Admiralty M-class boats were ordered according to Admiralty plans and three more boats from Yarrow , two from Hawthorn Leslie and two from Thornycroft according to individual designs from these manufacturers.
The Meteor , ordered by the British government on February 1, 1913 from John I. Thornycroft & Company in the Woolston district of Southampton , was the lead ship of the Thornycroft M-Class . In contrast to the Admiralty Draft, the boats of this sub-group had a twin-shaft approach, as did the boats of the Yarrow M-class . In addition to the other chimney design with the thicker center chimney, the Thornycroft boats were also 2 feet longer than the Admiralty design.
The Meteor was laid down on May 8, 1913. The launch took place on July 24, 1914, the commissioning with the British Navy on September 15, 1914. The sister boat Mastiff , which was ordered at the same time, was completed on November 12, 1914.
In 1915 Thornycroft received four more orders for boats of this type. In addition, as part of the war programs, the shipyard also built six boats based on the Admiralty's draft.
commitment
During the First World War she took on numerous tasks in escorting convoys and protecting ports.
On October 17, 1914, she was dispatched to inspect the German hospital ship Ophelia , which after the sinking of the German 7th torpedo boat semi-flotilla under Corvette Captain Georg Thiele off Texel with the torpedo boats SMS S 115 , SMS S 117 , SMS S 118 and SMS S 119 had set sail as a flotilla leader to rescue any survivors. During the approach, it could be observed from aboard the Meteor that the Ophelia's commander , Dr. Pfeiffer, threw a number of documents and secret codes overboard. Then the Ophelia was seized by the British as a spy ship and renamed Huntley used as a transporter. In 1915 the steamer built in Flensburg in 1912 for the Hamburg shipping company A. Kirsten was sunk by a German submarine.
From 1914 to 1917, the Meteor was part of the forces operating from Harwich that monitored the English Channel and protected trade between England and the continent. In January 1915, she led a group of destroyers who were assigned to the Harwich Force shortly after commissioning and took part with them in the battle on Doggerbank . This group, which formed the 10th destroyer flotilla after the battle, included the sister boat Mastiff , the Miranda and Minos of the Yarrow M-class , the Milne and Morris of the Admiralty M-class built in Clydebank and the mentors of the Hawthorn M-class .
Meteor under Commander Meade tried to torpedo the badly damaged SMS Blücher , but was hit by a 21 cm projectile around 12:20 in the front boiler room. Four of the Meteor's men died and the destroyer was immobilized. The HMS Liberty of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla towed the Meteor into the Humber.
1917 was Meteor for minelayer rebuilt and the 20th flotilla assumed. In May 1921 it was finally taken out of service and sold for scrapping.
literature
- Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981. Ian Allan, London 1981, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
- The Thornycroft List , 1981 (Unpublished summary of JI Thornycroft's records, January 9, 2006)
Web links
- Thornycroft-M-Class Jane's 1919
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Huntly . uboat.net. 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ↑ Herbert, p. 151
- ↑ Thomas E Beam, Linette Sparacino: Military Medical Ethics, Volume 2 , when. Edition, DIANE Publishing ,, ISBN 1-4289-1066-2 , p. 750.
- ^ Hold German Hospital Ship . The New York Times . May 22, 1915. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
- ↑ Destroyers Before 1918 . battleships-cruisers.co.uk. 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2009.