HMS Chamois (1896)

HMS Chamois was a Palmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to carry this name.[3][4] She was commissioned in 1897 and served in both the Channel and the Mediterranean. She foundered in 1904 after her own propeller pierced her hull.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Chamois.

HMS Chamois
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Chamois
Ordered: 9 January 1896
Builder: Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Cost: £52,410[1]
Yard number: 713
Laid down: 28 May 1896
Launched: 9 November 1896
Commissioned: November 1897
Fate: Foundered in the Gulf of Patras, 26 September 1904
General characteristics [2][3]
Class and type: Palmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer
Displacement:
  • 390 t (384 long tons) standard
  • 420 t (413 long tons) full load
Length: 219 ft 9 in (66.98 m) o/a
Beam: 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Draught: 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
Installed power: 6,000 shp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 30 kn (56 km/h)
Range:
  • 80 tons coal
  • 1,490 nmi (2,760 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement: 60 officers and men
Armament:

Construction

She was laid down on 28 May 1896 as yard number 713 at the Palmer shipyard at Jarrow-on-Tyne and launched on 9 November 1896. During her builder's trials she met her contracted speed requirement. Chamois was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in November 1897.[3][4]

Service

Chamois returned to Portsmouth with her shaft bent in early 1900. She was commissioned for service in the Channel Fleet by Lieutenant William Bowden-Smith on 15 March 1900,[5] but he and the crew transferred to HMS Sylvia only days later as the Chamois needed further repairs.[6] She was re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 5 September 1901 by Lieutenant Walter Egerton Woodward, with the crew of Albatross, to replace that vessel on the Mediterranean Station.[7] Woodward was replaced by Lieutenant Percy William Pontifex later the same year. She was later deployed as a tender to the destroyer depot ship HMS Leander at Malta.[8] In September 1902 she visited Nauplia and Souda Bay with other ships of the fleet.[9]

Loss

On 26 September 1904, while under the command of Lieutenant and Commander Sydney Harold Tennyson, she was the victim of a bizarre accident. While conducting a full-power trial[10] in the Gulf of Patras off the Greek coast she lost a propeller blade. The loss of the blade unbalanced the shaft, which was spinning at high speed. The resulting vibration broke the shaft bracket and tore a large hole in the hull. She sank by the stern[11][12] in 30 fathoms (55 m) of water[10] about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from the coast north of the modern village of Araxos.[13] All hands were saved,[8] but one engineer was wounded and the Leading Stoker scalded, who died on September 29th 1904 [14]

References
  1. David Lyon (1996). The First Destroyers. Chatham Publishing. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-86176-005-0. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  2. Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1905]. Jane’s Fighting Ships 1905. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1905, reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. p. 77.
  3. Jane, Fred T. (1990) [1919, reprinted]. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing © 1919. p. 76. ISBN 1 85170 378 0.
  4. Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, reprinted ARCO Publishing Company. pp. 84 to 85.
  5. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36087). London. 12 March 1900. p. 7.
  6. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36091). London. 16 March 1900. p. 6.
  7. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36553). London. 6 September 1901. p. 8.
  8. "Torpedo Destroyer Lost. H.M S. Chamois Founders During a Speed Trial. The Crew Saved". The Bendingo Advertiser (Victoria (Australia)). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  9. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36883). London. 26 September 1902. p. 8.
  10. "A Naval Disaster - The Chamois Sinks". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). 29 September 1904. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  11. ""Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class". Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  12. "HMS Chamois at the Naval Database website".
  13. "HMS Chamois [+1904]". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  14. "The Loss of the Chamois" (PDF). The Engineer: 326. 30 September 1904. ISSN 0013-7758. Retrieved 21 June 2013.

Bibliography
  • Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • 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.
  • 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, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Lyon, David (2001) [1996]. The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-3648.
  • Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co. OCLC 6470051.
  • 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.

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