HMS ''Coquette'' was a
two funnel, 30-knot destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates. She was the fifth ship to carry this name.
[ She was launched in 1897, served in home waters before World War I, and as a tender to the gunnery school at Sheerness during the war. She was sold for breaking in 1920.
]
Construction
She was laid down as yard number 319 on 8 June 1896 at the John I Thornycroft and Company shipyard at Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...
on the River Thames. She was launched on 25 November 1897. During her builder's trials her maximum average speed was , then proceeded to Portsmouth to have her armament fitted. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in January 1899. During her acceptance trials and work ups her average sea speed was 25 knots.[
]
Service history
Early service
After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla, and from 1899 she was part of the Medway
Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...
Instructional Flotilla under the command of Lieutenant Charles Pipon Beaty-Pownall. She was replaced in the flotilla on 26 February 1900 by , to which Lieutenant Beaty-Pownell and the crew also transferred. Commander Thomas Murray Parks was appointed in command in April 1900, serving over the summer that year on the 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 1 ...
.
Commander Michael Culme-Seymour was appointed in command on 31 August 1900. In May 1902 she served in the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
, and was involved in a collision with the destroyer , when she had her bows stove in. After repairs, she was tender to , the Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...
destroyer depot ship
A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing an ...
. Commander Sir Douglas Egremont Robert Brownrigg was appointed in command after he arrived at Malta in late September 1902.
On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. Since her design speed was 30 knots and she had two funnels she was assigned to the D class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as a D-class destroyer and had the letter "D" painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.[''Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906 to 1922'' (1985), pp. 17–19.]
World War I
August 1914 found her in active commission at The Nore Local Flotilla based at Sheerness tendered to HMS ''Actaeon'', the gunnery school. She remained in this deployment for the duration of the First World War until her loss.
Loss
She was lost on 7 March 1916 at the entrance to Black Deep off the East Coast near Harwich after striking a mine laid by the German submarine . She sank in the North Sea at an approximate position of (about East of Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...
) with the loss of 22 crewmembers.
Pennant numbers
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coquette
Ships built in Chiswick
1897 ships
D-class destroyers (1913)
Maritime incidents in 1916
Ships sunk by mines
World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea
Ships built by John I. Thornycroft & Company