HMS radians
_IWM_SP_001651.jpg) The sister boat Teazer
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The HMS Radiant was an R-class destroyer of the Royal Navy . It was the second of five specials from Thornycroft Shipyard in Woolston near Southampton ( Thornycroft R-Class ). The shipyard repurchased the destroyer after the end of the war and sold it in the summer of 1920 to the Thai Navy , which transported the ship to its new home by autumn 1920. In the following years the destroyer mostly served as a training ship under its new name Phra Ruang . It was not until the summer of 1957 that the destroyer, as the last destroyer to have participated in World War I, was sorted out.
History of radians
The Radiant was started at John I. Thornycroft & Company of Woolston in December 1915, launched on November 25, 1916, and was completed in February 1917. Starting with Rosalind and the following Retriever , Taurus and Teazer , the shipyard specializing in destroyers delivered five R-Class boats based on its own design to the Royal Navy between December 1916 and July 1917. Only the Rosalind completed first served in the 13th and 15th Destroyer Flotilla with the Grand Fleet , while the other four served wartime with the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force . The task of the flotilla was to protect British trade with the Netherlands, as well as securing the other units of the Force (3rd Battle Squadron, 5th Light Cruiser Squadron and mine layers ), supporting the canal barrier at Dover if necessary, and attacks on German-Dutch trade the North Sea, defense and attacks on German T- and submarines and zeppelins .
On the night of December 23, 1917, when destroyers of the flotilla were waiting for a convoy from the Netherlands, the flotilla's division led by the torrent got into a German minefield. Torrent suffered a mine hit and rushing to the aid of Surprise and Tornado more. The three R destroyers sank, only Radiant , the division's fourth boat, remained undamaged. She was only able to save twelve survivors of the three sunken boats, on which 252 men died.
When the 10th DF was dissolved in March 1919, the Radiant was assigned to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla with six other R-Class boats . This flotilla was reorganized in March 1919 and was supposed to secure the fleet along with six others. You should have two flotilla leaders and fifteen destroyers. The first equipment was the "Leader" Seymour and Grenville of the Parker class as well as the Radiant and the other "Thornycroft specials" Retriever , Rosalind , Taurus and Teazer as well as the destroyers Radstock , Raider , Ready , Redoubt , Restless , Rigorous , Rowena , Sorceress , Sylph , and R-Class Tempest . However, the 4th DF immediately began upgrading to newly delivered S-Class and Radiant destroyers and their sister boats were assigned to the reserve. As early as autumn, the 4th DF had fourteen S-class destroyers taken over from the shipyards and only two R-class boats.
Sale to Thailand
The Royal Navy's large surplus of modern destroyers did not lead to large numbers of such ships being given to friendly nations after the First World War. Of the great Dominions received the Australian Navy in January 1920 flotilla Anzac and five destroyers of the S-Class had, while decreased the Navy of the shipyards, but not yet used (the so-called "gift fleet." - bestowed fleet ). In September 1920 the Canadian Navy received two Thornycroft M-Class boats, Patrician and Patriot, which were completed in 1916 . Both navies exchanged the destroyers between the world wars for other destroyers according to war drafts.
At the beginning of 1920, Thornycroft bought back two ships built by the shipyard from the Navy stocks: on February 23, the Porpoise of the Acasta class , built between 1912 and 1914 , which was overhauled and sold to Brazil , where the destroyer was only separated as Maranhão in 1945 and on June 21, the Radiant , which also survived all British sister ships in Thailand and was not eliminated until 1957. Both destroyers remained single ships in their navies. There were no further deliveries from destroyers to other navies.
Thornycroft sold the destroyer to Siam in September 1920, where it was named Phra Ruang after a legendary king . The purchase of the ship is said to have been financed by King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) and other members of the court. The Prince and Admiral Abhakorn Kiartiwongse , trained as a naval officer in England and a half-brother of the king, negotiated the purchase in Great Britain and commanded the destroyer on the transfer voyage to Thailand, which was the largest until the arrival of the tank gunboats of the Ratanakosindra class ordered in Great Britain and was the fastest ship in the Kingdom of Siam for even longer . The navy had until then had two destroyers built in Japan of less than 400 ts. Thornycroft was a follow-up order 1922/23 nor the minesweepers Havant the Hunt-class sale to Siam, of there as gunboat Chow Phraya was used. The Phra Ruang remained in service with the Thai Navy until 1957 . This made the destroyer the longest surviving R-class boat. The remnants of the destroyer, which existed for a long time as the Hulk, are said to have been built into a shrine in honor of Prince Abhakorn Kiartiwongse, who is venerated as a saint
literature
- 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 , Chatham, 4th ed. London 2010, ISBN 9-7819-3514907-1.
- Paul G. Halpern: A Naval History of World War I , Naval Institute Press (2012), ISBN 1-6125-1172-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ HMS Radiant published December 11, 2018
- ↑ a b 10th DF on dreadnoughtproject.org, released December 11, 2018
- ↑ 3rd BS: Dreadnought and Commonwealth , Hibernia , Dominion , Hindustan and Zealandia of the King Edward VII class
- ↑ 5th LCS: nine light cruisers ( Concord , Carysfort , Cleopatra , Conquest , Centaur , Canterbury , Curlew of the C-class and Aurora and Penelope of the Arethusa-class ) and the seaplane carrier Vindex
- ↑ British DESTROYERS - Part 2, 23. R class, 51 ships, 8 lost
- ↑ Stalwart , Success , Swordsman , Tattoo and Tasmania
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↑ RAN: the end of 1933 flotilla Stuart and the greater destroyer Vampire , Vendetta , Voyager and Waterhen the Admiralty V and W class
RCN: 1927-28 two destroyers Thornycroft S-Class, Torbay and Toreador , which in Champlain and Vancouver were renamed - ↑ ALEXANDRINO DEALENCA destroyer (1914/1922) on navypedia.org, accessed December 11, 2018.
- ↑ HMS Radiant (1916) on dreadnoughtproject.org, accessed December 11, 2018.
- ↑ SUA TAYANCHON destroyers (1908-1912) on navypedia.org, accessed on 11 December 2018th
- ↑ CHOW PHRAYA sloop (1919/1923) on navypedia.org, accessed December 11, 2018.