HMS Viking (1909)
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|---|---|
 The Viking |
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| Overview | |
| Type | destroyer |
| Shipyard |
Palmers Shipbuilding , |
| Keel laying | June 11, 1908 |
| Launch | September 14, 1909 |
| Namesake | the Scandinavian Vikings |
| Commissioning | June 13, 1910 |
| Whereabouts | December 1919 sold for demolition |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1090 t, max. 1210 t |
| length |
86.9 m (290 ft) |
| width |
8.14 m (27.5 ft) |
| Draft |
2.9 m (9.75 ft) |
| crew |
71 men |
| drive |
6 Yarrow boilers , |
| speed |
33 kn , 3 screws |
| Range |
1725 nm at 15 kn |
| Armament |
2 × 102 mm L / 40 cannon |
| Fuel supply |
192 tons of oil |
The first HMS Viking was one of a total of twelve Tribal class destroyers of the British Royal Navy that entered service from 1908. It was part of the first British class of turbine-powered oil-fired destroyers. The Viking arrived at Home Fleet in June 1910 as the last boat in the class . She was the only six-chimney boat and the largest boat in the class.
During the First World War she was used with her sister boats on the English Channel . In 1915/16 she was the only boat in the class to test a 152 mm bow cannon. In 1919 the Viking was sold for demolition.
history
The Viking was one of five destroyers in the Royal Navy's second reorder of Tribal-class destroyers. The contract for the construction of the Viking was awarded to the Palmer's Shipbuilding & Iron Co. in Jarrow on the Tyne . She was the only tribal destroyer from this shipyard, which had already built a large number of destroyers for the Navy.
With turbine propulsion, she had already delivered some small destroyers / torpedo boats of the cricket class , which was built at the same time, to the Navy and in 1909 was also able to sell the 440-t speculative structures Albacore and Bonetta to the Navy, which were assigned to the B-class in 1913 .
At 290 ft (88.25 m) in length, the Viking was the longest boat in the class and the only British six-funnel boat. The armament consisted of two 4-inch Mk-IV cannons and two 18-in (450-mm) torpedo tubes , as with all re-ordered boats .
The keel of the Viking took place in Jarrow on June 11, 1908 and launched on September 14, 1909 as the eleventh boat of the class. On June 13, 1910, the Viking was taken over by the Royal Navy as the last boat of the Tribal newbuildings.
Calls
The Viking was in decline, as the other boats of the class, the "1st Destroyer Flotilla" in the Home Fleet , which in addition to the Tribal destroyers nor the flotilla Swift , thirteen destroyers of the River class and Spähkreuzer ( "Scouts" ) HMS Boadicea as flagship, Adventure and Pathfinder as well as living and storage ship belonged to the old cruiser Blenheim . With the sister boats, the Viking took part in the great naval parade on the occasion of King George V's coronation .
In 1911, twelve newer Beagle-class destroyers replaced the River-class boats, and the Patrol and the new Blanche replaced the Adventure and Pathfinder . In 1912 the tribal destroyers moved to the “4th Destroyer Flotilla” in Portsmouth , where they were marked with the letter “F” on the bow in October, since the class was now officially designated as the F-class. In February 1914, the boats of the class moved to Dover because the range of the boats was too short to be effectively used as deep sea boats with the fleet. The boats came there to the reformed "6th Destroyer Flotilla".
War missions
When the First World War broke out , the 6th Flotilla formed the core of the " Dover Patrol ", which u. a. the Dover lock guarded, and the Viking remained until the war ended in this service. The flotilla still included the three scout cruisers Adventure , Attentive and Foresight and twelve old "30-knotter" torpedo boat destroyers of the B and C classes . The tribal destroyers formed an essential part of the "Dover Patrol", which was supposed to prevent German naval forces from penetrating the English Channel , because the smoothest possible traffic over the channel was of great importance for the warfare of the Entente on the western front. The boats were on alert for 17 days or at sea and then cleaned the boilers for three days. Every four months, the boats were repaired for three weeks. This rhythm put the boats and crews under considerable strain.
In October 1914 the first casualties on the Viking had to be mourned when the boats of the “Dover Patrol” secured and supplemented the artillery support of the Royal Navy for the Belgian Army during the Battle of the Yser off the Flemish coast . On October 20, the three monitors Severn , Mersey and Humber , six tribal destroyers and six French torpedo boat destroyers under Rear Admiral Hood , the previous 1st employee of British Naval Minister Winston Churchill , supported the defensive battle of the Belgian army at Nieuwpoort on the Amazon . On the Viking , the bow gun exploded, wounding two men and putting the boat out of action. After the repairs, the previous commander of the Mohawk , Commander Edward Evans , took over the Viking , which had received a 152 mm Mk.VII cannon as a new bow gun .
On March 4, 1915, the Viking under Commander Evans discovered the German submarine U 8 in heavy fog in the Strait of Dover . The Viking opened fire 1,000 yards away, whereupon U 8 dived away. More destroyers were added and after an hour Maori and Ghurka forced U 8 to surface with explosive devices that were dragged across the seabed. They sank the boat and captured 28 men.
The Viking suffered a serious mine hit with ten dead and eight seriously injured on January 29, 1916 off Boulogne , before being returned to Great Britain. The hit crushed the boat at the level of the officers' mess, where almost all the officers were gathered for lunch. Among the dead was the commandant, Commander Thomas CH Williams. The stern of the boat hung on the propeller shaft and offset to the front part. One of the oil tanks started to burn. Because of the fire, no boat went alongside and the Zulu tried to tow the boat away from the gathering convoy. The fire was smothered during the towing process by the penetrating seawater and the crew was taken over by the Ure . The severely damaged Viking broke away while being towed and the towing connection broke. Only when the tug Lady Brassey arrived from Dover did the rescue attempts continue. The Tartar took over an additional tow to minimize the breakout of the damaged vessel. During the crossing, the fire was finally extinguished by the overflowing seawater and in the evening the boat could be docked in Dover. When inspecting the damage, it became clear that the rear magazine had exploded when the mine hit.
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When German torpedo boats attacked the Dover Barrier on 26/27. In October 1916 the Viking was the lead boat of the six alarm destroyers who went to sea in two groups on the news of the attack and the sinking of the Flirt . With the Mohawk and the Tartar , she came into action late, with her heavy nose gun failing after the first shot. The retreating boats of the German 18th half flotilla scored hits on the Mohawk and were not hit themselves.
On February 3, 1918, the Viking was damaged in a collision off Folkestone , in which four sailors died.
The end of the Viking
The Viking moved as one of the last five active tribal destroyers with Afridi, Cossack, Saracen and Zubian in February 1919 to the "7th Destroyer Flotilla" in the Humber . They formed, together with eleven old torpedo boat destroyers and three destroyers of the River class, the "East Coast Forces" until they retired from active service a month later. The boats were offered for sale in Immingham . In December 1919 the Viking was demolished.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 4 "/ 40 (10.2 cm) QF Marks IV, XII and XXII
- ↑ B-Class: Syren (1900), Kangaroo (1900), Myrmidon (1900). C class: Crane (1896), Fawn (1897), Flirt (1897); Mermaid (1898), Racehorse (1900), Greyhound (1900); Gipsy (1897), Falcon (1899), Leven (1898).
- ^ Preston, p. 22.
- ^ Julian S. Corbett: History of the Great War: Naval Operations Vol. I. Longmans, Green and Co., London 1920.
- ↑ 6 in-Mk. VII briefly used on the Viking
- ↑ Five other tribals Cossack, Ghurka, Maori, Mohawk, Nubian and five "30 knotter" Falcon, Fawn, Kangaroo, Leven, Syren and the Ure of the River class .
- ^ J. Thompson: Imperial War Museum Book of the War at Sea 1914-18.
Web links
- HMS Viking 1910
- HMS Viking (1909) on dreadnoughtproject
literature
- Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Mark D. Karau: Wielding the Dagger: The MarineKorps Flandern and the German War Effort, 1914-1918. Praeger Publishers, Westport 2003, ISBN 0-313-32475-1 .
- Peter Kemp: HM Destroyers. H. Jenkins, London 1956.
- Dwight R. Messimer: Find and Destroy; Antisubmarine Warfare in World War I. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2001, ISBN 1-55750-447-4 .
- Anthony Preston: Destroyer. Hamlyn, London 1977, ISBN 0-600-32955-0 .