HMS Hoste (1916)

In July 1915, the British Admiralty ordered three Parker-class flotilla leaders (i.e. large destroyers intended to lead flotillas of smaller destroyers in action), Hoste, Seymour and Saumarez, from the Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird. The Parker-class[lower-alpha 1] was an improved version of the earlier Marksman-class flotilla leader with the ships' bridge moved rearwards, and an improved gun layout.[2][3]

The Parkers were 325 feet (99.1 m) long overall and 315 feet (96.0 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 31 feet 9 inches (9.7 m) and a draught of 12 feet (3.7 m).[1][4] Displacement was between 1,660 long tons (1,687 t) and 1,673 long tons (1,700 t) normal[lower-alpha 2] and about 1,900 long tons (1,930 t) full load.[2] Four Yarrow boilers fed steam to three sets of Parsons steam turbines, rated at 36,000 shaft horsepower (27,000 kW) and giving a speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph). Three funnels were fitted.[2] 515 long tons (523 t) of oil fuel were carried, giving a range of 4,290 nautical miles (7,950 km; 4,940 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[5]

The ship's main gun armament consisted of four QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk IV guns mounted on the ships centreline, with the forward two guns superfiring so that one could fire over the other, with one gun between the second and third funnel and one aft.[2][5] Two 2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns were fitted, while torpedo armament consisted of two sets of twin 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes.[2] The standard anti-submarine armament for flotilla leaders such as Hoste from June 1916 onwards was two Type D depth charges on chutes. This was not increased until after Hoste's loss.[6] The ship's complement was 116 officers and men.[2][lower-alpha 3]

Hoste, named for William Hoste,[7] was laid down on 1 July 1915,[8] launched on 16 August 1916 and commissioned on 13 November 1916.[2]

On commissioning, Hoste joined the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Grand Fleet,[2] with the pennant number G90.[1] On 19 December 1916, the Grand Fleet left Scapa Flow to carry out exercises between Shetland and Norway. On the morning of 20 December, Hoste suffered a failure of her steering gear at high speed, almost colliding with several other ships, and was detached to return to Scapa with the destroyer Negro as escort. At about 01:30 hr on 21 December, in extremely poor weather, with gale-force winds and a heavy sea, Hoste's rudder jammed again, forcing the ship into a sudden turn to port. Negro, following about 400 yards (370 m) behind, collided with Hoste. The collision knocked two depth charges off Hoste's stern which exploded, badly damaging the rear end of Hoste and blowing in the bottom of Negro's hull, flooding her engine room.[2][9] Negro sank quickly, and despite the efforts of the destroyer Marmion to rescue survivors,[10] 51 officers and men of Negro's crew were killed.[11] Marmion and Marvel attempted to tow the crippled Hoste back to Scapa, but after three hours, Hoste began to founder. Despite the severe conditions, Marvel went alongside Hoste to rescue the crew of the sinking ship, and when repeatedly forced apart by the heavy seas, repeated the manoeuvre another twelve time. While Marvel sustained damage to her forecastle from repeated impacts between the two ships, she managed to rescue all but four of Hoste's crew before Hoste finally sank.[12][11] Eight officers and 126 men were rescued by Marvel.[13]

• Coxon, Stanley W. (1919). Dover During the Dark Days. London: John Lane. OCLC 2286117.
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• Dorling, Taprell (1932). Endless Story: Being an account of the work of the Destroyers, Flotilla-Leaders, Torpedo-Boats and Patrol Boats in the Great War. London: Hodder and Stoughton. OCLC 361818.
• English, John (2019). Grand Fleet Destroyers: Part I: Flotilla Leaders and 'V/W' Class Destroyers. Windsor, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-9650769-8-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the First 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.
• Manning, T. D.; Walker, C. F. (1959). British Warship Names. London: Putnam.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Moore, John (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Studio. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.

• Photo