HMS ''Fortune'' was an , and the twenty-first ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was launched in 1913 and was sunk at the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

in 1916.

Design and description

The ''Acasta''s were larger and heavier armed than the preceding H and I classes ( and , respectively), displacing about 25% more and with the mixed calibre armament replaced with a uniform fit of QF 4-inch guns, which the ''Acasta''s introduced. Previous weapons had been of the breech-loading ( BL) type. The guns were shipped one each on the forecastle and either side abreast the after torpedo tube (or amidships before and after the tube in some ships.) All ships had three funnels, the foremost being tall and narrow, the second short and wide and the third level with the second but narrower. The foremost torpedo tube was sited between the second and third funnels, a distinctive feature of this class. There were twelve 'standard' vessels built to a common Admiralty design, and eight builders' specials that (except for ''Garland'') had a shorter, less beamy hull; five of the latter were from

Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its fir ...

with (one of Thornycroft's ships, , was planned to diesel cruising motors, but these were not ready in time and ''Hardy'' was completed with Thornycroft's standard machinery).Friedman 2009, pp. 126–129. One 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 Washingto ...

() had semi-geared turbinesFriedman 2009, p. 127. giving a speed of on trials, with a seventh from Fairfields had a clipper bow. The eighth 'special' was by William Denny, Dumbarton, which was built using longitudinal framing rather than conventional transverse framing. While ''Ardent'' novel construction seems to have been a success, no more destroyers were built for the Royal Navy using longitudinal framing until the J-class destroyers in the 1930s.Brown 2010, pp. 70–71. ''Fortune'' displaced with a

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

of , 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 . The destroyer had a complement of 73.Gardiner and Gray, p. 75 The ship was powered by four Yarrow-type water-tube boilers which fed

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 rated at , which drove two shafts, giving the destroyer a maximum speed of . ''Fortune'' was given an experimental clipper bow ''Fortune'' was armed with three QF L/40 Mark IV guns on P Mk. IX mountings. However, ''Fortune'' was a "Builders' Special", and the second 4-inch gun was mounted on a platform between the no.2 and 3 funnels. The ship one QF 2 pdr pom-pom Mk. II gun. The destroyer was also equipped with two single torpedo tubes for four 21 inch (533 mm) torpedoes.

Construction and career

''Fortune'' was laid down under the 1911–1912 construction programme by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched on 17 March 1913. She was temporarily renamed HMS ''Kismet'' in October 1913, but this was reverted shortly afterwards. She joined the

4th Destroyer Flotilla The British 4th Destroyer Flotilla , or Fourth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1909 to July 1951. History In 1907 the Home Fleet had a large formation of destroyers called the Home Fleet Flotilla of destr ...

on completion and served with the Grand Fleet on the outbreak of World War I.

Battle of Jutland and loss

During the evening of 31 May 1916, the 4th Flotilla was screening the rear of the Grand Fleet in the

, against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. At 11:20 pm, the 4th Flotilla encountered unknown ships off their starboard quarter. Believing them to be British, the flotilla leader flashed a challenge. Six opposing ships, comprising the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s , and and three cruisers, turned on their floodlights and opened up with their secondary armament. Most aimed for ''Tipperary'' which was soon ablaze. The destroyers began to return fire and launched a torpedo attack, which led to a collision among the Germans. During this first attack, ''Fortune'' and were separated from the rest of the flotilla. They began to look for the German ships which had disengaged after battering their way through the 4th Flotilla.Massie, p. 644 About 11:30 pm they eventually found four large ships and engaged them. Both ''Ardent'' and ''Fortune'' were sunk in the ensuing firefight. The last anyone saw of ''Fortune'' was the ship afire but still firing as the destroyer was sinking. There were seven survivors, the other 67 crewmen were killed or missing. The wrecksite is designated as a ''protected place'', under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Pennant numbers

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Brown, David K. (2010) ''The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922''. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. . * Friedman, Norman. (2009) ''British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War'', Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. . * Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. . * Massie, Robert K. (2003). ''Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea.'' New York: Ballantine Books.

External links

Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS ''Fortune'' Crew List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune 1913 Acasta-class destroyers World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1916 Ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland Protected Wrecks of the United Kingdom 1913 ships