HMS Shark (1912)

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The HMS Shark
The HMS Shark
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Swan Hunter , Wallsend , construction no. 903

Keel laying October 27, 1911
Launch July 30, 1912
Namesake the shark
Commissioning April 3, 1913
Whereabouts Sunk May 31, 1916
Technical specifications
displacement

1072 ts , max. 1300 t

length

81.5 m

width

8.2 m

Draft

2.9 m

crew

73 men

drive

4 Yarrow boilers ,
Parsons turbines ,
2 screws, 24,500 hp

speed

29 kn

Armament

3 × 10.2 cm Mk IV guns,
2 × 53.3 cm twin torpedo tubes

Bunker quantity

258 ts of heating oil

The HMS Shark was an Acasta-class destroyer of the Royal Navy . She belonged to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet in the Battle of the Skagerrak and sank during the attack on the deep sea fleet of the German Imperial Navy.

She was built as the first ship of the new class at the British shipyard Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd in Wallsend together with the sister ships Sparrowhawk and Spitfire (hull numbers 905/907).

History of the Shark

The HMS Shark was started at Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd in Wallsend on October 27, 1911 as the first ship of twenty destroyers ordered from various shipyards under the naval budget of 1911/1912. The destroyers on this mission were later named Acasta-class. They were the last destroyers in the British Navy with different names without uniform initials. The ships were to be given names starting with K. The Shark was to be renamed Kestrel in October 1913 , and its sister ships, the Sparrowhawk and Spitfire , which were being built by Swan Hunter, were to be named Kingsmill and Keppel . But the ships with these new names were not used. The renaming was only implemented with the following L-Class .

The twenty ships of the class came after completion to the 4th destroyer flotilla, the so-called "Portsmouth Flotilla". The Swift served as the flotilla leader until it had to be overhauled in late November 1914.

Mission history

When the First World War broke out, the flotilla moved with its ships to the Grand Fleet in the north, where it remained until after the Battle of the Skagerrak. She was used to secure the fleet. The German bombardment of Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby on December 16, 1914 almost led to a meeting of the enemy fleets as parts of the Grand Fleet under Warrender and Beatty had set sail on December 15 towards Doggerbank . The very bad weather had largely prevented destroyers from traveling along. Only a half-flotilla of seven ships of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla had marched to the Dogger Bank with the heavy British units ( King George V , Ajax , Centurion , Orion , Monarch , Conqueror ). In the early morning of the 16th, the HMS Lynx , the lead ship of the existing destroyers, discovered the German torpedo boat V 155 and came across other boats and cruisers in pursuit. Despite immediate reports, no heavier British units came to support their destroyers. In addition to the battleships, the four armored cruisers of the 3rd cruiser squadron and four cruisers of the 1st cruiser squadron stood nearby . The scout cruisers Boadicea and Blanche, which were initially taken with them , had already failed on the march south.

The Lynx was hit early and then had control and propulsion problems. The Ambuscade was hit in the forecastle, took a lot of water and was the first ship to be released. The Hardy was also hit by SMS Hamburg and caught fire, but was still able to shoot a torpedo. But then she remained under the protection of the Spitfire as the last ship on the destroyer division now led by the Shark , which the Unity left behind in support of the Lynx .
After contact with the Germans was broken for the first time, the Shark was able to discover five more torpedo boats with the remaining destroyers, but they evaded a battle. The inadequate knowledge of the actual situation had caused the commander of the ocean-going fleet , Ingenohl , to withdraw his forces.
The Shark and the remaining destroyers then discovered the armored cruiser Roon returning to the east . Captain Jones reported this to Warrender and then decided to attack the armored cruiser, but recognized more cruisers as they approached and then ran at high speed to provoke a chase. The Germans followed only briefly.

The Shark and her three companions then discovered the Falmouth , the northernmost ship of the east-scouting 1st Cruiser Squadron, which they joined to march west, because the reports of the bombardment of Scarborough had led to the search for the deep sea fleet being abandoned and to Attempt to provide the German association used in front of Scarborough. Some of the German ships were sighted by other British units, but there was only a brief exchange of fire between light cruisers. A lack of intelligence and incorrect information and command transmissions prevented a major battle. The few British destroyers never came back to the enemy.

Use in the Battle of the Skagerrak

The Division Shark under Commander Loftus William Jones secured with the Ophelia of the Admiralty M-Class and its sister boats Christopher and Acasta the the Grand Fleet seconded "3rd Battlecruiser Squadron" under Rear Admiral Hood with the battle cruisers Invincible , Inflexible and Indomitable , who is also the Light cruisers Canterbury and Chester had been assigned. The association ran in front of the ships of the line to support Beatty's battle cruiser fleet on the battlefield and first met the German small cruisers of the "2. Enlightenment group "under Friedrich Boedicker .
Since the Germans attempted a torpedo boat attack, the four destroyers were used to counterattack. The Shark damaged the torpedo boat V 48 , which was later sunk. However, she received a torpedo hit from the German S 36 at around 7:00 p.m., whereby she remained lying down with a failed drive and no steering. Shortly thereafter, Shark was hit in the stern by another torpedo, this time from G 41 . Her commander Loftus William Jones, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross , declined the Acasta's help so as not to endanger another boat. ( Acasta was also badly hit shortly afterwards; however, it was brought in.) Only six men were later rescued from a Danish ship by the crew. 86 Shark men lost their lives. The wrecked destroyer was finally sunk with artillery at 7.15 p.m. by the small cruiser SMS Frankfurt .

The wreck

The wreck is at position 56 ° 58 ′ 30 ″  N , 6 ° 3 ′ 0 ″  E, coordinates: 56 ° 58 ′ 30 ″  N , 6 ° 3 ′ 0 ″  E and is now a protected naval war grave under the British Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 .

literature

  • Geoffrey Bennett: The Skagerrakschlacht , 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 , Chatham, 4th ed. London 2010, ISBN 9-7819-3514907-1.
  • Harald Fock: Z-before! International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats, vol. 1. 1914 to 1939. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0762-9 .
  • Robert K. Massie : Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea , Random House (2003), ISBN 0-345-40878-0 .
  • 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

Commons : Acasta class  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Arrowsmith" List: Royal Navy WWI Destroyer Pendant Numbers
  2. ↑ 3rd CS: Antrim , Devonshire , Argyll , Roxburgh
  3. ^ 1st CS: Southampton , Birmingham , Nottingham , Falmouth .
  4. ↑ CORBETT, Naval Operations, Vol. II, Longmans Green & Co., 2ndEd. 1938, p. 17ff.
  5. ↑ Bennett: Skagerrakschlacht, pp. 117f.
  6. ↑ Statutory Instrument 2008/0950, Office of Public Sector Information, 1 April 2008