HMS Tilbury (1918)

HMS Tilbury was a S-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that served during the First World War.

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

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Tilbury
BuilderSwan Hunter, Wallsend
Laid downNovember 1917
Launched13 June 1918
Completed17 September 1918
FateSold February 1931
General characteristics
Class and typeS-class destroyer
Displacement1,220 long tons (1,240 t) deep load
Length276 ft 0 in (84.12 m) oa
Beam26 ft 8 in (8.13 m)
Draught9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)
Installed power27,000 shp (20,000 kW)
Propulsion
  • 3× Yarrow boilers
  • Parsons geared steam turbines
  • 2 shafts
Speed36 kn (41 mph; 67 km/h)
Complement90
Armament
  • 3 × 4-inch (102 mm) guns
  • 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

The boat badge is in the shape of a boar and is in the collection of the National Maritime Museum.[1]

Design and construction

The S-class were intended as a fast (36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) destroyer for service that would be cheaper than the large V-class destroyers that preceded them and so able to be ordered in large numbers.[2] The ships were 276 feet (84.12 m) long overall and 265 feet (80.77 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 26 feet 8 inches (8.13 m) and a draught of 9 feet 10 inches (3.00 m). They displaced 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) normal and 1,220 long tons (1,240 t) deep load.[3] Three Yarrow boilers fed Parsons geared steam turbines which drove two propeller shafts, and generated 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW), giving the required 36 knot speed.[4]

The design gun armament of the S-class was three 4-inch (102 mm) guns and a single 2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun. Torpedo armament was four 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in two twin rotating mounts on the ships' centreline and two 18-inch (457 mm) tubes at the break of the forecastle for easily aimed snap-shots in close action.[5][2] The ship had a crew of 90 officers and men.[4]

On 23 June 1917, the Admiralty placed an order for 36 S-class destroyers under the Twelfth War Programme as a follow-on to the 33 S-class destroyers ordered in May that year under the Eleventh War Programme.[6] Tilbury, one of three S-class destroyers ordered from Swan Hunter in the Twelfth War Programme, was laid down at their Wallsend shipyard in November 1917. She was launched on 17 June 1918 and completed on 17 September 1918.[7]

Service

On commission, Tilbury was sent to the Mediterranean, and was at Mudros in the Aegean Sea at the end of the war.[8][9] Tilbury continued as part of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet through 1919.[10][11][12] The Royal Navy had a surplus of modern destroyers following the First World War, and by October 1920, Tilbury was listed as in reserve at the Nore.[13][12] In 1923, she was in reserve at Portsmouth and in June 1928 was in Maintenance Reserve at Rosyth.[12]

Tilbury was sold to the shipbreakers Ward in February 1931 for scrapping at their Llanelly yard.[14]

References
  1. Official boat badge of HMS Tilbury, National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  2. Friedman 2009, pp. 168–169
  3. Friedman 2009, p. 297
  4. Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 84
  5. Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 84–85
  6. Friedman 2009, pp. 169–170, 311
  7. Friedman 2009, p. 311
  8. "Ships of the Royal Navy - Location/Action Data, 1914–1918: Admiralty "Pink Lists", 11 November 1918". World War 1 at Sea. Naval-history.net. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  9. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c. : XV. Mediterranean: British Aegean Squadron". The Navy List. December 1918. Retrieved 21 July 2018 – via National Library of Scotland.
  10. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands &c. : X. Mediterranean: Sixth Destroyer Flotilla". The Navy List. January 1919. p. 22. Retrieved 22 July 2018 – via National Library of Scotland.
  11. "X. Mediterranean". The Navy List. October 1919. p. 712. Retrieved 22 July 2018 – via National Library of Scotland.
  12. Watson, Graham (2 September 2015). "Between the Wars: Royal Navy Organisation and Ship Deployments 1919–1939". Royal Navy, Inter-War Years. Naval-history.net. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  13. "IV.—Vessels Under the V.A.C. Reserve Fleet". The Navy List. October 1920. p. 707. Retrieved 22 July 2018 – via National Library of Scotland.
  14. Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 75

Bibliography
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • 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.
  • March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
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