HMS ''Ithuriel'' was a

flotilla leader A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The floti ...

of the British

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 ...

. Originally to have been named ''Gabriel'', the name was changed before her launch. The ship was built by

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, being launched on 8 March 1916 and entering service in August that year. ''Ithuriel'' served with the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from th ...

during the

First World War 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 ...

, leading both a destroyer flotilla and a submarine flotilla. She survived the war, before being sold for scrap on 8 November 1921.

Construction and design

In November 1914, as part of the Emergency War Programme of shipbuilding, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

ordered three s (i.e. large destroyers intended to lead flotillas of smaller destroyers in action) from the

shipyard

.. The second of these three ships, HMS ''Ithuriel'' (originally to be named ''Gabriel'') was laid down on 14 January 1915 and was launched on 8 March 1916. The construction of the three ''Marksman''-class ships by Cammell Laird was problematical, with the ships suffering machinery problems and construction delays, with the Admiralty complaining to Lairds that "better workmanship and supervision" were needed for ''Ithurial'' and ''Gabriel'', which were 8 months behind programme. ''Ithuriel'' was commissioned on 2 August 1916. The ''Marksman''-class ships were

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

, at the waterline and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

. They had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of . The design

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was normal and full load. ''Ithuriel'' was propelled by three sets of Parsons

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 ...

s, fed by four Yarrow three-drum boilers, rated at , which gave a speed of . Four funnels were fitted. Up to 515 tons of oil fuel could be carried, giving a range of at . The ship's crew was 104 officers and men. ''Ithuriel'' was armed with four QF Mk IV guns mounted on the ships centreline, with two 2-pounder (40-mm) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns and four 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes.

Service

On commissioning, ''Ithuriel'' joined the

14th Destroyer Flotilla The14th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fourteenth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from April 1916 to 11 February 1919 and again from 1 June 1940 to January 1944. History World War One The flotilla was first establishe ...

, serving as one of two leaders for the flotilla (the other being the ), with normal duties including escorting the ships of the

. From 15 June 1917 the destroyers and submarines of the Grand Fleet took part in Operation BB, a large scale operation against German submarines, with 53 destroyers and leaders together with 17 submarines deployed on offensive patrols on the transit route for the Germans from the

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and around the

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

and

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

Islands to the

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. ''Ithuriel'' led eight destroyers of the 14th Flotilla on patrol to the west of

. Heavy seas made the 14th Flotilla's patrol duties difficult, with it being forced to take shelter in

St Magnus Bay St Magnus Bay is a large coastal feature in the north-west of Mainland Shetland, Scotland. Roughly circular in shape with a diameter of about , it is open to the North Atlantic Ocean to the west. The indented coastline to the north, south and east ...

on 22 June. Only one submarine was sighted by the ships of the 14th Flotilla during the operation, on 23 June, when sighted and unsuccessfully attacked a submarine (possibly or ). Overall, 61 sightings were made of German submarines were made by the destroyers and submarines of the Grand Fleet until the operation ended on 24 June, of which 12 resulted in attacks on the submarines, but no submarines were sunk or damaged. In October 1917, the Grand Fleet carried out another large-scale anti-submarine operation, in which destroyers and submarines were to be used to drive German U-boats that were returning to port from operations and passing to the east of the

Dogger Bank Dogger Bank ( Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age, the bank was part of a large landmass ...

into a large (several miles long) array of mine nets. ''Ithuriel'' took part in this operation, and again was forced to take shelter with her flotilla by heavy seas, this time in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

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on 4 October, with the weather making it impossible for the ships to patrol. The operation lasted for 10 days, and British Intelligence believed that three U-boats were probably sunk in the operation. However, the submarines in question were almost certainly lost in other mine-fields. In October 1917, ''Ithuriel'' left the 14th Destroyer Flotilla, joining the 13th Submarine Flotilla, still part of the Grand Fleet, consisting of K-class submarines, fast, steam-powered submarines intended to operate with the fleet. On the night of 31 January 1918, units of the Grand Fleet, including the K-class equipped 13th Submarine Flotilla (''Ithuriel'' and the submarines , , , and ) and

12th Submarine Flotilla 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

(the light cruiser and the submarines , , and ) set out from

Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...

to take part in exercises. Despite the night being very dark, with occasional patches of fog, the ships were running without lights. When ''K14'' altered course to avoid a number of minesweepers ahead or her, her rudder jammed and she was rammed by ''K22''. The two disabled submarines were then overtaken by the heavier units of the fleet, and ''K22'' was rammed by the battlecruiser . Despite the damage, both submarines remained afloat. On hearing distress signals from the two submarines,

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

E. Leir aboard ''Ithuriel'' decided to turn the Flotilla back to go to the assistance of ''K14'' and ''K22''. This put the flotilla on a collision course with the rest of the fleet, including the 12th Submarine Flotilla. On meeting the fleet, ''Ithuriel'' had to turn to avoid the battlecruiser , which took the flotilla directly into the path of the 12th Flotilla. ''Fearless'' collided with ''K17'', which sank, then ''K4'', following ''Fearless'', pulled out of line and stopped to avoid hitting ''K17'' and ''Fearless'', and was herself hit by ''K6'', which cut ''K4'' in two and ''K7''. Two submarines had been sunk with 103 killed. ''Ithuriel'' remained as leader of the 13th Submarine Flotilla through the end of the war, and remained when the Flotilla was renamed the 1st Submarine Flotilla in April 1919. She was relieved by the light cruiser in October 1919, and after a short period at Rosyth, was sent to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, being reduced to care and maintenance status on 1 December 1919. By February 1921, ''Ithuriel'' had been transferred to the disposal list, and was sold to the Slough Trading Company on 8 November that year for £2,402. She left Portsmouth for scrapping in Germany on 22 March 1923.

Pennant numbers

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * *
www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk - RN Destroyers before 1900
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ithuriel (1916) Marksman-class flotilla leaders World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Mersey 1916 ships