H.M.S. Acasta (1912)

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H.M.S. Acasta (1912)
Pendant Number: H.59 (1914)
H.00 (Jan 1918)[1]
Builder: John Brown & Company[2]
Launched: 10 Sep, 1912[3]
Sold: May, 1921[4]

H.M.S. Acasta was one of twenty destroyers of the Acasta class.

Service

John O. Barron was the ship's first captain, being appointed in November, 1912. He commanded her through mid-1916, she being one of seven Acasta class destroyers of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla that saw action during the Scarborough Raid on 16 December 1914, where she was one of three destroyers in the second division.[5]

At the Battle of Jutland, she operated with the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla. She was holed fore and aft while screening the Third Battle Cruiser Squadron, being obliged to hoist the signal "Am in danger of sinking,"[6] though she claimed having torpedoed the leading enemy battlecruiser.[7] On 2nd June, she was taken under tow by H.M.S. Nonsuch to Aberdeen. She made Aberdeen with the assistance of a trawler at 9.15 p.m. on the 2nd.[8]

In June, 1917 Acasta collided with the oiler Calcutta and Admiral Bethell told Lieutenant in Command Legh to be more careful in future.[9]

On 22 December, 1917, Acasta was again damaged in a collision in the English Channel. Three Able Seamen were killed.[10]

In April 1918, Acasta went to Portsmouth, where she was attached to the torpedo training school H.M.S. Vernon.

In 1919, she tested the experimental 21-in Mark VI torpedo from a special tube. It was a notable failure and further work was abandoned.[11]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 63.
  2. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 75.
  3. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 63.
  4. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 75.
  5. Naval Operations. Volume II. pp. 26-30.
  6. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. pp. 14, 18, 34, 44.
  7. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. p. 307.
  8. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. pp. 30, 32.
  9. Legh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/144/430. f. 430.
  10. Kindell. Royal Navy Roll of Honour Part 2. p. 436.
  11. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1919. p. 13.
  12. Barron Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/47/10. f. 214.
  13. The Navy List. (October, 1915). p. 391.
  14. Barron Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/47/10. f. 214.
  15. Legh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/144/430. f. 430.
  16. The Navy List. (August, 1917). p. 391a.
  17. Legh's Service Record indicates a later end date, but it apparently is omitting his appointment in command of Moresby.
  18. The Navy List. (November, 1917). p. 391a.
  19. The Navy List. (June, 1919). p. 722.

Bibliography


Acasta Class Destroyer
Admiralty Design
Acasta Achates Ambuscade Christopher Cockatrice
Contest Shark Sparrowhawk Spitfire Lynx
  Midge Owl  
Thornycroft Specials
Hardy Paragon Porpoise Unity Victor
Other Specials
  Ardent Fortune Garland  
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