HMS ''Plumpton'' was a 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 ...

. She served in 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 ...

and was of a

paddle wheel A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...

design. She struggled in heavy seas. ''Plumpton'' was mined on 19 October 1918 off

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

. The ship was beached on the Belgian coast and was

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

where she lay.

Description

The design was developed during the

after the earlier success of converted

ships. The vessel was propelled by a

compound engine A compound engine is an engine that has more than one stage for recovering energy from the same working fluid, with the exhaust from the first stage passing through the second stage, and in some cases then on to another subsequent stage or even s ...

fed steam by cylindrical boilers rated at . A Racecourse-class minesweeper was capable of storing of coal to use as fuel. The Racecourse-class minesweepers 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 ...

with a standard

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 was including paddles. The vessel had a draught of and had a

standard displacement 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 wei ...

of . Racecourse-class minesweepers were armed with two 6-pounder () guns and two 2-pounder () guns.

Service history

''Plumpton'' was ordered as part of the first group of Racecourse-class minesweepers in September 1915. The ship was constructed by McMillan at their shipyard in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

, Scotland with the

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

465 and launched on 20 March 1916. In keeping with the class, the ship was named for the

racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

Plumpton, East Sussex Plumpton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-west of Lewes. The parish measures in length on its north–south axis and at its widest on the B2116 Underhi ...

and construction was completed in June 1916. ''Plumpton'' was attached to 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 ...

on completion, being part of the 3rd Minesweeping Flotilla, which was equipped with Racecourse-class ships. The ship was still a member of the 3rd Minesweeping Flotilla in June 1917, but had transferred to the Dover Patrol the next month. The minesweeper struck a

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

off the coast of

, Belgium on 19 October 1918. ''Plumpton'' was beached on the coast to prevent the ship from sinking. ''Plumpton'' was

for scrap at the site where she was beached.

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

World Naval Ships - HMS ''Plumpton''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plumpton, Hms 1916 ships World War I ships Minesweepers of the Royal Navy