HMS ''Usk'' was a
Yarrow type River Class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1901 – 1902 Naval Estimates. Named after the
River Usk in Wales flowing through
Newport, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
Construction
She was laid down on 30 July 1902, at the
Yarrow shipyard at
Poplar, and launched on 25 July 1903. She was completed in March 1904. Her original armament was to be the same as the Turleback torpedo boat destroyers that preceded her. In 1906, the Admiralty decided to upgrade the armament by landing the five six-pounder naval guns and shipping three 12-pounder eight hundredweight (cwt) guns. Two would be mounted abeam at the foc'sle break and the third gun would be mounted on the quarterdeck.
Pre-war
After commissioning, she was assigned to the East Coast Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet and based at
Harwich.
On 27 April 1908, the Eastern Flotilla departed Harwich for live fire and night manoeuvres. During these exercises the cruiser rammed and sank the destroyer then damaged .
In 1909-1910 she was assigned to
China Station
The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941.
From 1831 to 18 ...
.
On 30 August 1912, the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter ''A''. The ships of the River Class were assigned to the E Class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an E Class destroyer and had the letter ''E'' painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.
First World War
In July 1914, she was on China Station based at Hong Kong tendered to
HMS ''Triumph''. She deployed with China Squadron to Tsingtao to blockade the German base. After the Japanese declaration of war, she remained off Tsingtao until the fall of Tsingtao in November 1914.
With the fall of Tsingtao and the sinking of the
SMS ''Emden'', she was redeployed to the
5th Destroyer Flotilla
The British 5th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the ...
in the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1914, accompanying HMS ''Triumph'', to support the Dardanelles campaign.
On 25 April 1915, under the command of Lieutenant Commander W. G. C. Maxwell, she supported the landings at ANZAC Cove.
On 22 May 1915, she escorted
HMS ''Canopus'' from Malta to Mudros.
10 February 1916, found her on the Smyrna Patrol, enforcing the blockade of the Turkish coast from Cape Kaba to latitude 38° 30′ E, 200 nautical miles including Smyrna. At this time she was based at Port Iero on the Island of Mytelene.
On 17 and 18 February 1916, she was involved in operations at Khios. She remained in the Mediterranean until the end of the war.
Disposition
In 1919 she returned to home waters, was paid off and laid up in reserve, awaiting disposal. On 29 July 1920, she was sold to
Thos. W. Ward
Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, steel, engineering and cement business, which began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture of machinery.
I ...
of Sheffield for breaking at
Morecambe, Lancashire.
She was awarded the Battle Honour Dardanelles 1915 - 1916 for her service.
Pennant numbers
It is not known if she was assigned a pennant number as no record has been found.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usk, 1903
River-class destroyers
1903 ships