HMS Opossum (1895)

HMS Opossum was a "twenty-seven knotter" torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. Built by the Tyneside shipbuilder Hawthorn Leslie, Opossum was one of three destroyers built by Hawthorns that were ordered in 1894. She was launched in 1895 and completed in 1896. She remained in service during the First World War, where she was used for local patrol duties based at Plymouth and sank the German submarine UC-49 on 8 August 1918. She was sold for scrap in 1920.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Opossum.

Opossum in 1897
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Opossum
Ordered7 February 1894
BuilderHawthorn Leslie, Hebburn
Laid down17 September 1894
Launched9 August 1895
CommissionedMarch 1896
FateSold on 29 July 1920 for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and typeHawthorn Leslie "Twenty-seven knotter"
Displacement
  • 310 long tons (310 t) light
  • 340 long tons (350 t) full load
Length204 ft 0 in (62.18 m) oa
Beam19 ft 0 in (5.79 m)
Draught8 ft 7 in (2.62 m)
Installed power4,000 ihp (3,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph) (contract speed)
Range1,175 nmi (2,176 km; 1,352 mi) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement53
Armament
  • 1 × 12pdr gun
  • 3 × 6 pdr guns
  • 2 × 18 inch torpedo tubes

Design and construction

HMS Opossum, along with sister ships Sunfish and Ranger, was one of three destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy from Hawthorn Leslie on 7 February 1894 as part of the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates. A total of 36 destroyers were ordered from 14 shipbuilders as part of the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates, all of which were required to reach a contract speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph).[1][2] The Admiralty laid down broad requirements for the destroyers, including speed, the use of an arched turtleback[lower-alpha 1] forecastle and armament, with the detailed design left to the builders, resulting in each of the builders producing different designs.[4][5]

Opossum was 204 feet 0 inches (62.18 m) long overall and 200 feet 0 inches (60.96 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 19 feet 0 inches (5.79 m) and a draught of 8 feet 7 inches (2.62 m). Displacement was 310 long tons (310 t) light and 340 long tons (350 t) full load.[1] Eight Yarrow boilers, with their uptakes trunked together to three funnels, fed steam at 185 pounds per square inch (1,280 kPa) to two triple-expansion steam engines, rated at 4,000 indicated horsepower (3,000 kW).[1][6][7] Armament consisted of a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt[lower-alpha 2] gun and three 6-pounder guns, with two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.[7] One of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders.[8] The ship's crew was 53 officers and men.[7][9]

On 17 September 1895 Opossum was laid down as Yard Number 326 at Hawthorn Leslie's Hebburn, Tyneside shipyard,[1] and was launched on 9 August 1895.[10][11][12] The ship reached a speed of 28.24 kn (32.50 mph; 52.30 km/h) during sea trials,[13] and was completed in February 1896.[10][lower-alpha 3]

Service

On 26 June 1897, Opossum took part in the naval review at Spithead to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[14] Opossum, based at Devonport, took part in the 1901 Royal Navy Naval Manoeuvres in July–August that year.[15] In 1905, Opossum was one of a number of old destroyers which the Rear Admiral (Destroyers) condemned as being "..all worn out", with "every shilling spent on these old 27-knotters is a waste of money".[16] In November 1907, Opossum was paid off for refitting at Chatham Dockyard, where her boilers were retubed, this refit continuing until June 1908.[17][18]

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. After 30 September 1913, as a 27-knotter, Opossum was assigned to the A class.[19][20][11]

By February 1913, Opossum was not part of an active flotilla, but was attached as a tender to the shore establishment Vivid at Devonport, with a nucleus crew[21] and was still attached to Vivid in July 1914, on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War.[22]

By January 1915, Opossum was allocated to the Devonport Local Defence Flotilla.[23] On 1 April 1917, Opossum took part in the salvage of the merchant ship SS Valacia, and her crew was later awarded salvage money.[24] On the evening of 20 December 1917, Opossum, together with the destroyers Spitfire and Roebuck, five Motor Launches, four drifters and two fishing trawlers, was ordered to patrol Lyme Bay to search for a German submarine that had sunk three merchant ships the previous night. The submarine had already left the area, however.[25]

On 8 August 1918, the German submarine UC-49 was laying a minefield off Start Point, Devon, when the submarine fouled one of her own mines. The resulting explosion was spotted by Opossum, which was on a routine anti-submarine patrol nearby. Opossum and several Motor Launches started a search for the submarine using Hydrophones and sweeps. UC-49 was assumed to by lying on the sea bed, and when the submarine restarted motors at 15:20 hr, the noise attracted several depth charges, and more depth charges were dropped at 17:57 hr. Opossum then noisily withdrew a distance of 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) in order to convince the submarine's commander that the hunt had been abandoned, and after 17 minutes the U-boat surfaced, only 200 yards (180 m) from one of the Motor Launches and 800 yards (730 m) from Opossum, and was brought under a heavy fire. After 20 seconds, the submarine descended under the surface again, with her bows at an angle of 50 degrees, and several more depth charges were dropped, bringing up oil and bubbles. The next day, the wreck, which had been located by sweeps, was plastered with depth charges in order to break it up to confirm that the submarine had been sunk. When debris including a light bulb manufactured in Vienna came to the surface, it was confirmed that the submarine had been destroyed.[26][27]

Opossum remained part of the Devonport Local Defence Flotilla at the end of the war in November 1918.[28][29] By March 1919, Opossum was laid up in reserve at Devonport,[30] She was sold on 29 July 1920 to Ward for breaking up at their Preston yard.[1]

Pennant numbers
Pennant number[11]Date
D121914
D99September 1915
D62January 1918

References

Notes
  1. A fore deck with exaggerated camber designed to throw off sea water at high speeds.[3]
  2. "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
  3. Lyon states that Opossum was launched on 4 October 1895 and completed in June 1896,[1] the dates given in Friedman for sister ship Ranger.[10]

Citations
  1. Lyon 2001, p. 92
  2. Lyon 2001, pp. 19–20
  3. Gardiner & Lambert 1992, p. 188
  4. Chesneau & Kolesnik 1979, p. 87
  5. Manning 1961, p. 39
  6. Friedman 2009, p. 44
  7. Friedman 2009, p. 291
  8. Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99
  9. Manning 1961, p. 38
  10. Friedman 2009, p. 302
  11. Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 56
  12. "Launches and Trial Trips: Launches.—English: Opossum". The Marine Engineer. September 1895. p. 245.
  13. Brassey 1897, p. 321.
  14. Brassey 1898, pp. 12–15
  15. Brassey 1902, p. 90
  16. Lyon 2001, p. 116
  17. "Naval Matters–Past and Prospective: Chatham Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 30. December 1907. pp. 172–173.
  18. "Naval Matters–Past and Prospective: Chatham Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 30. July 1908. p. 477.
  19. Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 18
  20. Manning 1961, pp. 17–18
  21. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Torpedo Craft and Submarine Flotillas at Home Ports". The Navy List: 270b. March 1913. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  22. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Torpedo Craft and Submarine Flotillas at Home Ports". The Navy List. August 1914. p. 270c. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  23. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c: Local Defence Flotillas". The Navy List. January 1915. p. 13. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  24. "Naval Salvage Money". The London Gazette. No. 30923. 27 September 1918. p. 11443.
  25. Newbolt 1931, pp. 200–201
  26. Grant 1964, pp. 120–121
  27. Kemp 1997, p. 54
  28. "Ships of the Royal Navy - Location/Action Date, 1914–1918: Part 2 - Admiralty "Pink Lists", 11 November 1918". Naval-history.net. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  29. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c: Local Defence Flotillas: VII. Local Defence and Escort Flotillas: Devonport: Local Defence Flotilla". The Navy List. December 1918. p. 17. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  30. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c: Local Defence Flotillas: VII. Vessels in Reserve, &c., at Home Ports and Other Bases: Devonport". The Navy List. March 1919. p. 19. Retrieved 24 April 2020.

Bibliography
  • Brassey, T. A., ed. (1897). The Naval Annual 1897. Portsmouth, UK: J. Griffin and Co.
  • Brassey, T. A., ed. (1898). The Naval Annual 1898. Portsmouth, UK: J. Griffin and Co.
  • Brassey, T. A., ed. (1902). The Naval Annual 1902. Portsmouth, UK: J. Griffin and Co.
  • Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Newbolt, Henry (1931). Naval Operations: Volume V. History of the Great War. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
  • Dittmar, F. J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Lambert, Andrew, eds. (1992). Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-564-0.
  • Grant, Robert M. (1964). U-Boats Destroyed: The Effect of Anti-Submarine Warfare 1914–1918. London: Putnam.
  • Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed: German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour Press. ISBN 1-85409-321-5.
  • Lyon, David (2001). The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-3648.
  • Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam and Co. OCLC 6470051.
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