HMS Bonetta (1907)

HMS ''Bonetta'' was a British torpedo boat destroyer which was later classified as part of the B class. The ship was built as a Private Venture, without a specific order, by the Jarrow shipbuilder Palmers and was launched in 1907. She was purchased for the British Royal Navy in 1909 and served through the First World War. ''Bonetta'' was sold for scrap in 1920.

Construction and design

The shipbuilder Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company laid down two destroyers on speculation (i.e. without a specific order) on 1 September 1905, as Yard Number 786 and 787. The two destroyers were of generally similar size and design to the Royal Navy's earlier "thirty knotter" destroyers (later redesignated as the B, C or D class depending on the number of funnels), with a turtleback forecastle, with the Royal Navy having abandoned the "thirty-knotter" type for the River-class destroyers, with a higher raised forecastle instead of a turtleback, and sacrificing high speed in sea trials in favour of greater seaworthiness. The second destroyer, which would later become HMS ''Bonetta'', was launched on 14 January 1907. Palmer's was unable to find a customer for these ships, however, and offered to sell them to the Royal Navy on 5 December 1907 for £70,000–80,000 each. The Admiralty rejected the offer in February 1908, but in April two destroyers, and , were lost in accidents and it was decided to order the two stock ships from Palmer's as replacements. A provisional order for the two ships was placed on 8 May 1908, at a price of £60,000 each, depending on successful trials, with a speed of being required.

Unlike most "thirty-knotter"s, the new ships were powered by steam turbines rather than triple expansion engines, with four Reed boilers feeding steam at to Parsons direct drive turbines which drove two shafts, generating . The ships had four funnels, with the middle two funnels closely spaced.

''Bonetta'' was long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . She displaced normal load and deep load. The ship's stem was higher than earlier turtleback destroyers, while rather than the narrow conning tower of the earlier destroyers, ''Albacore'' had a full width bridge situated further aft, which was claimed by Palmer's to make the ship much dryer in heavy seas. Gun armament consisted of three QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns, with two situated side by side on top of the bridge and one aft. Two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes were carried, while the ship had a complement of 56 officers and men.

Service

It was hoped that the two ships, which were both afloat and in good condition, could be accepted quickly, and delivery was expected within two to three months of the order being placed. Official sea trials demonstrated that the ships could not reach the required speed, with ''Bonetta'' sister ship only reaching a maximum of . This may have been due to more realistic trial conditions. The Admiralty finally agreed to accept ''Albacore'' and her sister ship ''Bonetta'' on 3 March 1909, paying £45,000 for each. HMS ''Bonetta'' was commissioned on 27 March that year. In June 1909, ''Bonetta'', part of the Devonport Flotilla, was brought up to a full complement from a nucleus crew to take part in that year's naval manoeuvres. ''Bonetta'', now part of the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, was again mobilized in June 1910 for the manoeuvres.

''Bonetta'' was part of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla based at Portsmouth in 1911, and on 3 April 1911 the ferry ''Harlequin'' drifted onto ''Bonetta'' as ''Bonetta'' was passing through Spithead on the way back to Portsmouth. On 5 July 1911 the destroyer , another member of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla, collided with ''Bonetta'' while leaving Berehaven harbour. While ''Osprey'' was unharmed, ''Bonetta''s bows were damaged, requiring a return to Portsmouth. On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on appearance. As a four-funneled ship, ''Bonetta'' was listed as a B-class destroyer on 1 October 1913.

In March 1913 ''Bonetta'' was listed as a member of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, a patrol flotilla based at Portsmouth. By February 1914 she was attached to the Lamlash Submarine Flotilla based at Devonport, and in March to the Ninth Submarine Flotilla, still based at Devonport. ''Bonetta'' remained as a tender to submarine flotillas throughout the First World War, both on the Clyde and the Tyne.

Rescue operations

On 19 July 1918, she attended the rescue operations of , arriving late on the scene after an alleged massacre she picked up five survivors, including the captain, but one of them, the engineer officer died on deck immediately after being taken out of the water. The German captain, despite the ordeal he had come through, proved himself to be a very self-possessed individual when examined in the chart room. He expressed the opinion that Germany would shortly win the war, but he was a long way out in his calculation, as Germany was defeated six weeks later. Some of his sailors had not the same guts, but had got on their knees and begged for their lives on seeing officers of the `Bonetta' carrying arms. Webley & Scott automatic pistols hanging round their necks by lanyards were always put on when 'action' was sounded. The Bonetta's duties around that time had included picking up many, badly wounded, survivors, and dead, from fishing boats, which had been shelled by a German submarine, off the entrance to the Tyne. Perhaps unsurprisingly the crew of the ''Bonetta'' were not made aware of any massacre. The first lieutenant on board was to relate "A few weeks later we entered the Tyne for bunkers, which we obtained from a collier lying at Jarrow. Shortly after securing alongside the collier, a fishing vessel the 'Baden Powell' came alongside and her skipper invited the crew to help themselves to his catch, Apparently he was one of the survivors we had picked up and, on recognising our boat as we passed the fish market at North Shields, he had cast off the fish quay and come after us. On another occasion... we were ordered out to search for several German prisoners, who had succeeded in escaping from Stobo camp, near Peebles in South Scotland and had set off for Germany in a fishing boat, which they had taken from the beach, somewhere North of Blyth. We came across them about one hundred miles off the home coast at dusk, sailing along with a nice fair wind. If we had been a few minutes later they would probably have been quite safe as it would have been too dark for us to have spotted them. Needless to relate they were very disappointed when we 'closed them' and they did not show any eagerness to come on board when they were ordered to do so, but after firing a few rifle shots over their heads, they hastily scrambled on board, one of them injuring his leg in the process". She was sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward on 7 June 1920 and broken up at their Briton Ferry shipbreaking yard.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonetta (1907)
Ships built on the River Tyne
B-class destroyers (1913)
World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom
1907 ships