H.M.S. Bat (1896)

H.M.S. Bat (1896)
Pendant Number:	P.97 (1914) D.46 (Sep 1915) D.09 (Jan 1918) H.87 (Sep 1918)
Builder:	Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Ordered:	1895-96 Programme
Laid down:	28 May, 1896
Launched:	7 Oct, 1896
Commissioned:	Aug, 1897
Sold:

H.M.S. Bat was one of forty "C" class destroyers built for the Royal Navy — a "30 knotter".

Service

Bat was leader of the Devonport Instructional Flotilla in mid-1899 under command of Alexander Ludovic Duff.

In the early morning hours of 15 February, 1900, Bat was one of several T.B.Ds. of the Devonport Flotilla damaged, losing the guard of her starboard propeller, when H.M.S. Fairy dragged her anchor in Falmouth Harbour. Further damage would result during a full power trial on 21 February, when a steam accident in her engine room would require her to return to Plymouth on her port engines only and require her removal from the flotilla. A cascading series of faults originating in a fracture at a bolt hole caused a crack fully two inches wide in a cylinder. She was paid off into the Dockyard Reserve on 8 March and her crew turned over to Leven, which would replace her in the Instructional Flotilla.

On 23 January, 1901, Bat led six other destroyers (plus Leven, who sortied later) of her flotilla from Devonport to Kingstown. They were to return to Devonport after two weeks.

In early March, 1901, Bat returned to Plymouth, escorting H.M.S. Fairy, whose Lieutenant and Commander Barkley had been injured by a fall down a hatch.

She was one of twenty-seven T.B.Ds. of the Portsmouth Flotilla to participate in the Annual Manoeuvres of 1909.

In July 1913, she was part of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, a patrol flotilla.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Commander Arthur H. Shirley, 2 December, 1897 – 14 January, 1898
• Commander Alexander L. Duff, 14 January, 1898 – 14 January, 1900  (and Captain (D) of the Devonport Flotilla during exercises)
• Commander Pennant A. I. Lloyd, 14 January, 1900 – 8 March, 1900  (ship suffered engine damage and crew decamped to Leven while repairs began)
• Commander Arthur P. James, 1901 – 16 May, 1901
• Commander Roger J. B. Keyes, 1 May, 1901 – 5 January, 1902  (including Annual Manoeuvres of 1901?)
• Lieutenant & Commander James U. Farie, 2 September, 1902 – late 1902  (for passage to Mediterranean)
• Commander Douglas E. R. Brownrigg, 15 January, 1903 – 20 October, 1903
• Commander John Luce, 21 December, 1903 – 1 June, 1904  (and in command of a division of T.B.Ds.)
• Lieutenant & Commander Samuel Collins, 1 June, 1904
• Lieutenant & Commander Philip D. R. West, 2 January, 1905 – 23 March, 1907
• Lieutenant & Commander Richard A. A. Plowden, 23 March, 1907 – 13 May, 1908
• Commander James U. Farie, 13 May, 1908 – 6 August, 1908
• Lieutenant & Commander Randolph Divett, 6 August, 1908 – 6 October, 1908
• Lieutenant & Commander Richard A. A. Plowden, 6 October, 1908 – 13 March, 1909
• Lieutenant & Commander John E. P. Bickford, 20 March, 1909 – 18 October, 1909
• Lieutenant & Commander Eric Q. Carter, 19 October, 1909 – 10 January, 1910
• Lieutenant & Commander The Hon. William S. Leveson-Gower, 10 January, 1910 – 13 May, 1910
• Lieutenant & Commander Arthur Henniker-Heaton, 1910 – February, 1911
• Lieutenant in Command William J. Whitworth, 22 February, 1911 – 3 February, 1912
• Lieutenant & Commander Roy Bacchus, 20 February, 1912 – 16 December, 1913
• Lieutenant in Command Desmond Maxwell, 3 February, 1914 – 9 December, 1915
• Lieutenant in Command George A. Scott, 8 December, 1915 – 2 April, 1916
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command Arthur H. Hignett, 6 April, 1916
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command Geoffrey H. Barnish, 1 July, 1918 – 31 July, 1918
• Acting Lieutenant-Commander R.N.R. Francis G. Spriddell, 25 July, 1918

Torpedoes

In October 1898, the ship became the first destroyer in the Royal Navy to receive a torpedo fitted for a gyroscope, drawn from the Portsmouth Depot, a single 18-in R.G.F. Mark IV Torpedo, S.L. type, manufactured by Whitehead.

Her gyro hardware is still seemingly unique in that it is noted in her results of a flotilla exercise of July 1899, where she scored one hit in three shots. She is the only destroyer whose results are so noted.

See Also

• Wikipedia