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HMS Seafire

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HMS Seafire (1918) IWM SP 1436.jpg
Seafire circa 1918
History
United Kingdom
NameSeafire
OrderedJuly 1917
BuilderJohn Brown & Company, Clydebank
Yard number478[1]
Laid down27 February 1918
Launched10 August 1918
CommissionedNovember 1918
FateSold for scrap, 14 September 1936
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeS-class destroyer
Displacement1,000 long tons (1,016 t) (normal)
Length276 ft (84.1 m) o/a
Beam26 ft 8 in (8.1 m)
Draught9 ft 10 in (3 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 Shafts; 1 steam turbine
Speed34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range2,100 nmi (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement82
Armament

HMS Seafire was an S-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She saw service during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The ship was sold for scrap in 1936.

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S-class destroyer (1917)

S-class destroyer (1917)

The S class was a class of 67 destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1917 under the 11th and 12th Emergency War Programmes. They saw active service in the last months of the First World War and in the Russian and Irish Civil Wars during the early 1920s. Most were relegated to the reserve by the mid-1920s and subsequently scrapped under the terms of the London Naval Treaty. Eleven survivors saw much action during the Second World War.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War

The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.

Description

The Admiralty S class were larger and faster versions of the preceding R class.[2] The ships had an overall length of 276 feet (84.1 m), a beam of 26 feet 8 inches (8.1 m) and a deep draught of 9 feet 10 inches (3 m). They displaced 1,000 long tons (1,016 t) at normal load. The ships' complement was 82 officers and ratings.[3]

The ships were powered by a single Brown-Curtis geared steam turbine that drove two propeller shafts using steam provided by three Yarrow boilers. The turbines developed a total of 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). Seafire reached a speed of 33.8 knots (62.6 km/h; 38.9 mph) from 28,464 shp (21,226 kW) during her sea trials.[4] The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[3]

The Admiralty S-class ships were armed with three single QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark IV guns. One gun was positioned on the forecastle, the second was on a platform between the funnels and the third at the stern. They were equipped with a single QF 2-pounder (40 mm (1.6 in)) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun on a platform forward of the mainmast. They were also fitted with two rotating twin mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes amidships and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, one on each broadside abaft the forecastle.[5]

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R-class destroyer (1916)

R-class destroyer (1916)

The first R class were a class of 62 destroyers built between 1916 and 1917 for the Royal Navy. They were an improvement, specifically in the area of fuel economy, of the earlier Admiralty M-class destroyers. The most important difference was that the Admiralty R class had two shafts and geared turbines, compared with the three shafts and direct turbines of the Admiralty M class, but in appearance the R class could be distinguished from its predecessors by having the after 4-inch gun mounted in a bandstand. The Admiralty ordered the first two of this class of ships in May 1915. Another seventeen were ordered in July 1915, a further eight in December 1915, and a final twenty-three in March 1916.

Length overall

Length overall

Length overall is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also used for calculating the cost of a marina berth.

Beam (nautical)

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at its widest point. The maximum beam (BMAX) is the distance between planes passing through the outer extremities of the ship, beam of the hull (BH) only includes permanently fixed parts of the hull, and beam at waterline (BWL) is the maximum width where the hull intersects the surface of the water.

Draft (hull)

Draft (hull)

The draft or draught of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel). The draught of the vessel is the maximum depth of any part of the vessel, including appendages such as rudders, propellers and drop keels if deployed. Draft determines the minimum depth of water a ship or boat can safely navigate. The related term air draft is the maximum height of any part of the vessel above the water.

Displacement (ship)

Displacement (ship)

The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weight. Traditionally, various measurement rules have been in use, giving various measures in long tons. Today, tonnes are more commonly used.

Long ton

Long ton

The long ton, also known as the imperial ton or displacement ton, is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois system of weights or Imperial system of measurements. It was standardised in the 13th century. It is used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth of Nations countries alongside the mass-based metric tonne defined in 1799, as well as in the United States for bulk commodities.

Naval rating

Naval rating

In a navy, a rate, rating or bluejacket is a junior enlisted sailor who is not a warrant officer or commissioned officer. Depending on the country and navy that uses it, the exact term and the range of ranks that it refers to may vary.

Knot (unit)

Knot (unit)

The knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, exactly 1.852 km/h. The ISO standard symbol for the knot is kn. The same symbol is preferred by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), while kt is also common, especially in aviation, where it is the form recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The knot is a non-SI unit. The knot is used in meteorology, and in maritime and air navigation. A vessel travelling at 1 knot along a meridian travels approximately one minute of geographic latitude in one hour.

Fuel oil

Fuel oil

Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum. Such oils include distillates and residues. Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bunker fuel, furnace oil (FO), gas oil (gasoil), heating oils, diesel fuel and others.

Nautical mile

Nautical mile

A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute of latitude. Today the international nautical mile is defined as exactly 1,852 metres. The derived unit of speed is the knot, one nautical mile per hour.

Forecastle

Forecastle

The forecastle is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase "before the mast" which denotes anything related to ordinary sailors, as opposed to a ship's officers.

Funnel (ship)

Funnel (ship)

A funnel is the smokestack or chimney on a ship used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust. They are also commonly referred to as stacks.

Construction and career

Seafire, the first ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,[6] was ordered in June 1917 as part of the Twelfth War Programme from John Brown & Company. The ship was laid down at the company's Clydebank shipyard on 27 February 1918, launched on 10 August and commissioned in November.[7]

After commissioning, Seafire joined the 14th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet.[8] She remained part of the 14th Flotilla in February 1919,[9] but following a post-war reorganisation of the Royal Navy's destroyer forces, Seafire was listed as part of the 7th Destroyer Flotilla at the beginning of March 1919.[10] Later that month, Seafire, commanded by Commander Andrew Browne Cunningham, later an Admiral of the Fleet, formed part of a force of two light cruisers and ten destroyers under the overall command of Admiral Walter Cowan, which was sent to the Baltic Sea as part of the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. Seafire sailed with only 60 percent of her normal crew, in a reflection of the Royal Navy's manning problems after the end of the First World War. On 3 April, Seafire arrived at Liepāja, Latvia, and was then sent to Ventspils, which was threatened by the advancing Bolshevik forces. Seafire set up soup kitchens to help feed the starving population of Ventspils, using up most of her rations, before returning to Liepāja after four days.[11][12] On 16 April, Baltic Germans staged a Coup d'Etat in Latvia. Seafire, still at Liepāja, prevented the Baltic German forces from capturing the transport Saratov, carrying a load of arms and ammunition intended for the armies of the new Baltic states, and helped members of the provisional national government to escape to Saratov, which was protected by the Royal Navy.[13] On 13 May, Cowan's flagship Curacoa was badly damaged when she struck a mine while on passage from Reval (now Tallinn) to Liepāja. Seafire escorted Curacoa back to Britain.[14] In June, Seafire was still listed as part of the 7th Destroyer Flotilla at Rosyth, now part of the Reserve Fleet.[15] Seafire transferred to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in October 1919,[16][17] but on 14 November, she was reduced to reserve at Devonport.[18]

She was one of the obsolete destroyers handed over to the shipbreakers Thos. W. Ward in part-payment for RMS Majestic on 14 September 1936, and was then broken up at Inverkeithing.[1]

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John Brown & Company

John Brown & Company

John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including RMS Lusitania, RMS Aquitania, HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth 2.

Clydebank

Clydebank

Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas of the adjacent City of Glasgow immediately to the east. Depending on the definition of the town's boundaries, the suburban areas of Duntocher, Faifley and Hardgate either surround Clydebank to the north, or are its northern outskirts, with the Kilpatrick Hills beyond.

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries-old naval tradition.

14th Destroyer Flotilla

14th Destroyer Flotilla

The14th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fourteenth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from April 1916 to 11 February 1919 and again from 1 June 1940 to January 1944.

Grand Fleet

Grand Fleet

The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.

7th Destroyer Flotilla

7th Destroyer Flotilla

The 7th Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the Royal Navy from 1911 to 1939.

Commander (Royal Navy)

Commander (Royal Navy)

Commander (Cdr) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander. Officers holding the junior rank of lieutenant commander are not considered to be commanders.

Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope

Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope

Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, was an Irish-born British officer of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He was widely known by his initials, "ABC".

Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.

Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the monarchy and the new republican government's failure to maintain stability, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the RSFSR and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century.

Liepāja

Liepāja

Liepāja is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-free port. The population in 2020 was 68,535 people.

Latvia

Latvia

Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the Baltic states; and is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian, one of the only two surviving Baltic languages. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population.

Source: "HMS Seafire", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, February 13th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Seafire.

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Further Reading

HMS Castor (1915)

S-class destroyer (1917)

HMS Boadicea (1908)

HMS Valorous (L00)

HMS Vectis (D51)

HMS Bruce (D81)

HMS Seymour (1916)

HMS Shakespeare (1917)

HMS Tara (1918)

HMS Serene (1918)

HMS Sepoy (1918)

HMS Oberon (1916)

HMS Shamrock (1918)
Notes
  1. ^ a b "SEAFIRE". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  2. ^ Gardiner & Gray, p. 85
  3. ^ a b Friedman, p. 297
  4. ^ March, pp. 215–216
  5. ^ Gardiner & Gray, p. 86; March, p. 219
  6. ^ Colledge, p. 314
  7. ^ Friedman, p. 311
  8. ^ "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c. : I.—The Grand Fleet: Destroyer Flotillas of the Grand Fleet". The Navy List. December 1918. p. 12. Retrieved 15 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  9. ^ "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c. : I.—The Grand Fleet: Destroyer Flotillas of the Grand Fleet". The Navy List. February 1919. p. 12. Retrieved 15 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  10. ^ "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c. : I.—The Grand Fleet: Destroyers". The Navy List. March 1919. p. 11. Retrieved 15 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  11. ^ Bennett, pp. 87–88
  12. ^ Dunn, pp. 90–91
  13. ^ Dunn, pp. 77, 92–95
  14. ^ Dunn, pp. 99–100
  15. ^ "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c. : V.—Vessels in Reserve at Home Ports and Other Bases: Rosyth: 7th Destroyer Flotilla". The Navy List. June 1919. p. 10. Retrieved 16 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  16. ^ "V.—Vessels in Reserve at Home Ports and Other Bases: Rosyth: 7th Destroyer Flotilla". The Navy List. October 1919. Retrieved 16 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  17. ^ "V.—Vessels in Reserve at Home Ports and Other Bases: Rosyth: 5th Destroyer Flotilla". The Navy List. November 1919. p. 709. Retrieved 16 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  18. ^ "798: Seafire (Dev.)". The Navy List. May 1920. p. 862. Retrieved 16 August 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
Bibliography
  • Bennett, Geoffrey (2002). Freeing the Baltic. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 1-84341-001-X.
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Dittmar, F.J. & Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Dunn, Steve R. (2020). Battle in the Baltic: The Royal Navy and the Fight to Save Estonia & Latvia 1918–1920. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4273-5.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
  • Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam.
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