HMS ''Hydra'' was one of 20 ''Acheron''-class destroyers built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

in the 1910s. Completed in 1912, the ship participated in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

in 1921.

Design and description

The ''Acheron'' class was a repeat of the preceding . The

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

provided general specifications, but each

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

did their own detailed design so that ships often varied in size.Gardiner & Gray, p. 75 The ''Acheron''s had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a beam of , and a draught of . The ships displaced at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

and their crew numbered 70 officers and ratings.Friedman, p. 295 ''Hydra'' was powered by a single Brown-Curtis

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

that drove both

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

s using steam provided by three

Yarrow boiler Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by Yarrow Shipbuilders, Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships. The Yarrow boiler desi ...

s. The engines developed a total of and were designed for a speed of . The ship reached a speed of from during her

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s. The ''Acheron''s had a range of at a cruising speed of . The primary armament of the ships consisted of a pair of BL Mk VIII guns in single, unprotected pivot mounts fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. They were also armed with two single QF 12-pounder () guns, one on each broadside abreast the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

. The destroyers were equipped with a pair of single rotating mounts for 21-inch (533 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s amidships and carried two reload torpedoes.

Construction and career

''Hydra'' was ordered under the 1910–1911 Naval Programme from

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its heig ...

. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

at the company's

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

on 7 February 1911, launched on 19 February 1912 and commissioned in June.

The Battle of Dogger Bank

''Hydra'' was with the

First Destroyer Flotilla The 1st Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as the First Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from 1909 to 1940 and again from 1947 to 1951. History Pre-war history In May 1906, the First Destroyer Flotilla was at ...

at the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915.

The Battle of Jutland

She was present at the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

on 31 May 1916. Along with the rest of the flotilla, she was transferred to the 3rd Battle Squadron, based at Portsmouth. She collided with a merchant ship on the night of 11 February 1917 in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. The captain of ''Hydra'' was held liable for the collision because, although the other ship showed him a light, he did not perceive that it was on a crossing course.

Mediterranean service

From 1917 the Third Battle Squadron was deployed to the Mediterranean. ''Hydra'' was present at the entry of the Allied Fleet through the Dardanelles on 12 November 1918. On 9 February 1921, ''Hydra'' collided with the Royal Navy

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

''Z 3'' in the Weilingen Channel and sank. ''Z 3'' rescued all 72 of ''Hydra''′s crew. The ship was sold on 9 May 1921 to

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, business primarily working steel, engineering and cement. It began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture ...

of Portishead for scrap.

Pennant numbers

References

External links

Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Hydra Crew List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hydra (1912) Acheron-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Clyde 1912 ships World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1921 Ships sunk in collisions