HMS Sharpshooter (1917)

1918 post card of sistership HMS Satyr
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Sharpshooter
Builder: William Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir
Yard number: 550
Laid down: May 1916
Launched: 27 February 1917
Commissioned: 2 April 1917
Decommissioned: 29 April 1927
Fate: Sold for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and type: R-class destroyer
Displacement: 1,065 long tons (1,082 t) normal
Length: 276 ft (84.1 m)
Beam: 26 ft 6 in (8.1 m)
Draught: 9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion:
  • 3 Yarrow boilers
  • 2 geared Parsons steam turbines, 27,000 shp (20,000 kW)
Speed: 36 knots (41.4 mph; 66.7 km/h)
Range: 3,440 nmi (6,370 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement: 82
Armament:

HMS Sharpshooter was an R-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy during World War I. She was launched on 27 February 1917 and took part in the Navy’s bombardment of Ostend later that year. After the war, Sharpshooter joined the Navy gunnery training establishment at Plymouth and was sold to be broken up on 29 April 1927.

Design

Sharpshooter was one of ten R-class destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty in December 1915 as part of the Seventh War Construction Programme. The ship was laid down at the William Beardmore and Company shipyard in Dalmuir during May 1916, launched in December 1916 and completed in February 1917.[1]

Sharpshooter was 276 feet (84.12 m) long overall, with a beam of 26 feet 6 inches (8.08 m) and a draught of 9 feet (2.74 m).[2] Displacement was approximately 1,065 long tons (1,082 t) normal.[3] Power was provided by three Yarrow boilers feeding two Parsons geared steam turbines rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) and driving two shafts, to give a design speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph).[1] Three funnels were fitted. 296 long tons (301 t) of oil were carried, giving a design range of 3,450 nautical miles (6,390 km; 3,970 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[3]

Armament consisted of three QF 4in Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised platform and one between the second and third funnels. A single 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom anti-aircraft gun was carried, while torpedo armament consisted of two twin mounts for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes.[2] Fire control included a single Dumaresq and a Vickers range clock.[4] The ship had a complement of 82 officers and men.[2]

Service

On commissioning, Sharpshooter joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force.[5] On 4 June 1917, Sharpshooter was deployed as part of a large group of seven cruisers and twenty-five destroyers to protect the monitors Erebus and Terror in their bombardment of the German held Belgian port of Ostend.[6] At 2:30 in the morning of 5 June, the destroyer was part of a flotilla of four cruisers and nine destroyers that were patrolling off Thornton Bank when they spotted the German destroyers S15 and S20.[7] Along with Satyr, Taurus and Torrent, Sharpshooter damaged S15 and sank S20.[8] On 1 June 1918, the destroyer rescued one of the first pilots of the Royal Australian Navy, Captain A. C. Sharwood, who ditched his Sopwith 2F.1 Camel, operated from Sydney, nearby.[9]

Sharpshooter remained part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at the end of the war.[10] After the conflict, the ship was transferred to the Gunnery School at Portsmouth[11] and, on 5 March 1919, was reduced to Reduced Complement.[12] The destroyer was sold for scrap to Thos W Ward at Briton Ferry on 29 April 1927.[13]

Pennant numbers

Pennant Number Date
F48January 1917[14]
F61January 1918[14]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Friedman 2009, p. 310.
  2. 1 2 3 Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 81.
  3. 1 2 Parkes & Prendegast 1919, p. 107.
  4. ↑ "Fire Control in H.M. Ships". The Technical History and Index: Alteration in Armaments of H.M. Ships during the War. 3 (23): 31. 1919.
  5. ↑ The Navy List 1917, p. 13.
  6. ↑ Newbolt 1931, p. 45.
  7. ↑ Newbolt 1931, p. 46.
  8. ↑ Karau 2014, p. 139.
  9. ↑ Warner 2011, p. 195.
  10. ↑ The Navy List 1918, p. 13.
  11. ↑ The Navy List 1919, p. 17.
  12. ↑ The Navy List 1921, p. 864.
  13. ↑ Colledge & Warlow 2010, p. 368.
  14. 1 2 Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 71.

Bibliography

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2010). Ships of the Royal Navy: A Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the 15th Century to the Present. London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-93514-907-1.
  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allen. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the First World War. Barnsley: 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.
  • Mark D., Karau (2014). The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern 1914–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-231-8.
  • March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development 1892–1953. London: Seeley Service & Co. ISBN 1-84832-049-3.
  • Newbolt, Henry (1931). "History of the Great War: Naval Operations Vol. V, April 1917 to November 1918 (Part 1 of 4)". London: Longmans, Green and Co. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  • Parkes, Oscar; Prendegast, Maurice (1919). Jane’s Fighting Ships. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
  • "Supplement to the Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c.: II — Harwich Force". The Navy List. April 1917. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  • "Supplement to the Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c.: II — Harwich Force". The Navy List. October 1918. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  • "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c.: VI — Local Defence and Minesweeping Flotillas and Training Establishments". The Navy List. February 1919. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  • Warner, Guy (2011). World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer : the Story and Diaries of Captain J M McCleery RNAS RAF. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-84884-255-7.


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