The ''Acorn'' class (officially redesignated the H class in 1913) was a
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
of twenty
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
all built under the 1909-1910 Programme, and completed between 1910 and 1911. The ''Acorn''s served during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Design
After the coal-burning of the 1908–1909 shipbuilding programme, the
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
decided to return to oil-fuelled machinery, as pioneered in the of 1905 and of 1907, for the destroyers to be built under the 1909–1910 programme, which became the ''Acorn'' class.
[Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 74.] This change allowed a smaller vessel than the ''Beagle''s even with an increase in armament.
[Brown 2010, p. 69.][Manning 1961, p. 57.]
While the detailed design of earlier destroyer classes was left to the builders resulting in individual ships differing considerably, this changed for the ''Acorn''s, where a standard hull design was used, allowing more shipyards to bid for orders, thus driving down costs, while reducing the time and effort required for the Admiralty to check and approve each builder's designs. Machinery design, however, was still left to the builders, although it had to fit into the space allowed in the standard design.
[Brown 2010, p. 68.][Friedman 2009, pp. 118–119.] They had a reasonably uniform appearance, with three funnels, a tall, thin fore funnel, a short, thick central and a short narrow after stack.
[Friedman 2009, p. 119.]
The ships were
long 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 ...
and
overall
Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Overalls were ...
, with 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
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draught of between and depending on load.
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.
[Friedman 2009, p. 295.] Nineteen of the twenty ships of the ''Acorn'' class had three propeller shafts driven by
Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s, fed by four boilers (
White-Forster boilers in the three
J. Samuel White
J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White (1838–1915).
It came to prominence during the Victorian era. During the 20th century it built destroyers and other naval craft for both the ...
-built ships, (, and ),
Yarrow boiler
Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by
Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships.
The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...
s in the remaining ships), with the boiler out-takes routed to three
funnels
A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.
Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...
. The remaining ship of the class, the
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 the ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''.
At its ...
-built , had a two shaft arrangement powered by Brown-Curtis
impulse turbines. The ships were required to reach , the same speed as the ''Beagle'' class, which was expected to need .
[Friedman 2009, p. 122.] The ships had a crew of 72 officers and men.
The revised machinery layout freed up deck space, allowing heavier armament to be carried.
[Friedman 2009, p. 118.] Gun armament consisted of two
BL Mk VIII guns, one on the ship's
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
and one aft, and two
12-pounder (76 mm) QF 12 cwt guns carried in the waist position between the first two funnels.
Unlike the ''Beagle''s, the
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
gun was not raised on a bandstand, as it was felt that in heavy seas this generated additional spray.
As with the ''Beagle''s, torpedo armament consisted of two
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, with two reload torpedoes carried, although the tubes were longer, allowing more modern torpedoes to be carried. The torpedo tubes were aft of the funnels, mounted singly with a searchlight position between them.
Wartime modifications included the addition of a
3-pounder (47 mm) Vickers anti-aircraft gun and
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s.
[Friedman 2009, p. 147.]
The ''Acorn''s were followed, in the 1910-11 Programme, by the (later known as the 'I' class).
Service
On commissioning, between December 1910 and February 1912, the ships of the class joined the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy's
Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
, replacing s.
They were officially redesignated the H class in October 1913 as part of a general re-designation of the Royal Navy's destroyers.
[Gardiner and Gray 1985, pp. 18, 74.]
The ships of the class remained members of the 2nd Flotilla on the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, when the flotilla became part of 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 the ...
. Some ships of the class were sent to the Mediterranean in 1915, with all surviving ships eventually being transferred there. Two of the class ( and ) were loaned to the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
in 1917, being renamed ''Sendan'' and ''Kanran'', and were returned in 1919. Three ships of the class were lost during the war, one () ran aground at Start Point in Sanday, one of the
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
Islands, in 1915, while the other two ships, and , were sunk by enemy submarines in the Mediterranean.
Following the end of the war, the Royal Navy quickly disposed of large numbers of older ships, including the ''Acorn'' class. All remaining ships of the class had been sold for scrap by the end of 1921.
[Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 5.]
Ships
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
{{WWI Japanese ships
Destroyer classes
Ship classes of the Royal Navy