H.M.S. Ariel (1911)

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H.M.S. Ariel (1911)
Pendant Number: H.11 (1914)
H.37 (Sep 1915)
H.07 (Jan 1918)[1]
Builder: John I. Thornycroft & Company[2]
Ordered: 1910-11 Programme[3]
Launched: 26 Sep, 1911[4]
Completed: Mar, 1912[5]
Mined: 2 Aug, 1918[6]
Fate: in North Sea[7]

H.M.S. Ariel was one of 29 destroyers of the Acheron class.

Radio

She was one of 18 Acheron class destroyers fitted with W/T in 1912, becoming one of 123 destroyers so far fitted with Destroyer Sets.[8]

Service

Ariel was placed in the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla upon her commissioning in January, 1912.[9] By July, 1914, she was serving in First Destroyer Flotilla, part of First Fleet.[10]

Immediately before the start of war, plans to remove shipping strips under cocoanut matting on this ship and Acheron were deferred.[11]

Dashwood Fowler Moir, who had been captain since her commissioning,[12] commanded her at the Battle of Dogger Bank and the Battle of Heligoland Bight.

On 10 March, 1915, while operating out of Rosyth under Lieutenant-Commander James V. Creagh,[13] she rammed and delivered the killing blow to U 12 off of Fife Ness, along with Attack and Acheron. Ariel suffered damage from the ramming so severe that it required three weeks to repair.[14]

She fought at the Battle of Jutland under Lieutenant-Commander Arthur G. Tippet as part of the First Destroyer Flotilla,[15] which was tasked with screening the Fifth Battle Squadron.

In November, 1916, she moved to the Second Destroyer Flotilla, operating under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of Devonport.[16]

On 22 April 1917 Ariel collided with Lennox, and her Cdr. Reinold received the Admiralty's displeasure for having left the bridge in the hands of an inexperienced officer on watch. He moved to command Hind when she and Ariel changed bases in July, 1917.[17] He was replaced in Ariel by Lt. in Command Frank A. Rothera.

In September 1917, Ariel was one of five 2 D.F. destroyers transferred to the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla.[18]

She was only a month with 4 D.F., however, as she then went to become a minelaying destroyer on the East Coast of England. The minelaying detachment eventually grew to four destroyers operating from the Humber. They all jointly became part of the new Twentieth Destroyer Flotilla formed there in March, 1918 – Ariel found herself in the "Slow Division".[19]

Her captain, Frank A. Rothera, was among the forty-nine crew killed when she struck a mine on 2 August, 1918.[20]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 62.
  2. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 62.
  3. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 75.
  4. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 62.
  5. Friedman. British Destroyers. p. 306.
  6. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 62.
  7. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 62.
  8. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912. Wireless Appendix, p. 6.
  9. Moir Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/45/232. f. 236.
  10. Admiralty Weekly Order No. 109 of 10 July, 1914.
  11. Admiralty Weekly Order No. 182 of 24 July, 1914.
  12. The Navy List. (April, 1914). p. 281.
  13. Naval Operations. Volume II. p. 280.
  14. Smith. Hard Lying. pp. 121-2.
  15. Battle of Jutland Official Despatches. pp. 34, 46.
  16. Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (November, 1916). pp. 12-14.
  17. Reinold Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/48/7. f. 410.
  18. Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (September, 1917). pp. 14, 17.
  19. Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (March, 1918). p. 15.
  20. Kindell. Royal Navy Roll of Honour Part 2. p. 520.
  21. The Navy List. (October, 1914). p. 277.
  22. Moir Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/45/232. f. 236.
  23. Moir Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/45/232. f. 236.
  24. Creagh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/49/95. f. 220.
  25. The Navy List. (October, 1915). p. 392e.
  26. Creagh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/49/95. f. 220.
  27. Tippet Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/50/27. f. ?.
  28. Tippet Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/50/27. f. ?.
  29. Blackman Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/52/336. f. ?.
  30. The Navy List. (December, 1916). p. 392d.
  31. Blackman Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/52/336. f. ?.
  32. Reinold Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/48/7. f. 410.
  33. Reinold Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/48/7. f. 410.
  34. The Navy List. (November, 1917). p. 391j.
  35. Kindell. Royal Navy Roll of Honour Part 2. p. 520.

Bibliography


Acheron Class Destroyer
Admiralty Design
Goshawk Hind Hornet Hydra Defender
Druid Sandfly Jackal Tigress Lapwing
  Lizard Phoenix Ferret Forester  
Yarrow Specials
  Archer Attack  
Thornycroft Specials
  Acheron Ariel  
Parsons Specials
  Badger Beaver  
Firedrake/Yarrow Specials
  Firedrake Lurcher Oak  
Australian type
  Parramatta Warrego Yarra  
  Huon Swan Torrens  
<– Acorn Class Destroyers (UK) Acasta Class –>