H.M.S. Salmon (1895)

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H.M.S. Salmon (1895)
Builder: Earle's Shipbuilding[1]
Ordered: 1893-94[2]
Laid down: 12 Mar, 1894[3]
Launched: 15 Jan, 1895[4]
Commissioned: 14 Jan, 1896[5]
Broken up: 1912[6]

H.M.S. Salmon was one of thirty-six 27 Knotters, early Torpedo Boat Destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s.

Like most of her highly variated brethren, her useful life ran its course before the Great War. She was scrapped in 1912.

Construction & Service

Salmon arrived at Sheerness with six other destroyers from the North Sea on 1 October, 1901.[7]

She collided with the Great Eastern Railway Company's steamship Cambridge (Captain Horne) at 10.30pm on 2 December, 1901 while under the command of Harry Charles John Roberts West. She had been entering Harwich Harbour along with her flotilla, which was being led by Cheerful under the command of Commander Frederic William Dean. Two men named Bartlett and Amering were killed when Cambridge struck Salmon just above the No. 4 boiler. A coroner's inquiry was held on 18 December with representatives of the Great Eastern Railway Company, the Admiralty and for Captain Horne personally. Attempts to illustrate the nature of the accident using first models and later scarf pins and wax matches on a large navigational map to represent ships. Lieutenant West resisted insinuations that Salmon was too far behind his next ahead, Haughty. Her lamps were also examined to determine if they were not bright enough.[8][9]

Salmon was one of seventeen destroyers of the Reserve Division which left Sheerness on 1 July, 1905 for Spithead under the overall command of Commander R. G. Gregory in H.M.S. Spitfire.[10]

She and sixteen other destroyers of the Reserve Division arrived at Sheerness on 13 July 1905 and proceeded to Chatham.[11]

Fittings and Performance

Lionel Dawson wrote of his experiences in command of the destroyer.[12]

Like many of her class, the helm was situated behind the platform for the 12-pdr gun, with the helmsman peering ahead through a small gap under the platform and over the foredeck. It was very hard to see. The common workaround was to construct a new wheel on the gun platform and connect it below by shafts and screws. In Salmon, this wheel was actually a training wheel for a 4.7-in gun, and it required 32 revolutions to move the rudder from hard port to hard starboard. Vexingly, the action of this wheel was the opposite to what a ship's wheel ordinarily delivered.

Her eight boilers seemed to be more than enough for her. Dawson's engineer would joke and say that "the last two or three [boilers] only made the deck hot, since the engines could not take up the steam from them."

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 92.
  2. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 92.
  3. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 92.
  4. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 92.
  5. The Navy List. (March, 1896). p. 260.
  6. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 92.
  7. "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), October 2, 1901, Issue 36575, p.10.
  8. "Accident to the Salmon." The Times (London, England), Thursday, Dec 19, 1901; pg. 7; Issue 36642.
  9. "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), 16 Jan. 1902, p. 7.
  10. "Naval And Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), Monday, Jul 03, 1905; pg. 12; Issue 37749.
  11. "Naval And Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), Friday, Jul 14, 1905; pg. 10; Issue 37759.
  12. Dawson. Flotillas. pp. 86-87.
  13. The Navy List. (March, 1896). p. 260.
  14. Hawksley Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 289.
  15. Hawksley Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 289.
  16. Year given as 1901 in Service Record, but 1900 seems clear.
  17. Chichester Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/259. f. 263.
  18. "The Naval Manoeuvres." The Times (London, England), Thursday, July 11, 1901, Issue 36504, p.8.
  19. West Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/249. f. 384.
  20. West Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/249. f. 384.
  21. The Navy List. (May, 1903). p. 301a.
  22. Noble Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/248. f. 282.
  23. White Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/373. f. 422.
  24. The Navy List. (October, 1904). p. 374.
  25. White Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/373. f. 422.
  26. "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), Saturday, December 24, 1904, Issue 37586, p.4.
  27. Monroe Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44. f. 438.
  28. Monroe Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44. f. 438.
  29. Carter Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/301. f. 340.
  30. Carter Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/301. f. 340.
  31. Thomas Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/44/272. f. 307.
  32. Thomas Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/44/272. f. 307.
  33. Hemans Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/47/151. f. 356.
  34. The Navy List. (October, 1908). p. 371.
  35. Hemans Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/47/151. f. 356.
  36. The Navy List. (July, 1909). p. 371.
  37. Money Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/49/6. f. 3.
  38. The Navy List. (January, 1910). p. 371.
  39. Money Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/49/6. f. 3.
  40. The Monthly Navy List. (March, 1911). p. 371.
  41. Dawson Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/50. f. 208.
  42. Dawson Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/50. f. 208.

Bibliography


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