HMS ''Tilbury'' was a
S-class 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 ...
of the British
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 ...
that served during the First World War.
The boat badge is in the shape of a boar and is in the collection of the
National Maritime Museum.
Design and construction
The S-class were intended as a fast ( 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.
The ships were long
overall and
between perpendiculars, 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 . They
displaced normal and deep load.
Three
Yarrow boilers fed Parsons geared
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 which drove two propeller shafts, and generated , giving the required 36 knot speed.
The design gun armament of the S-class was three
guns and a single
2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun. Torpedo armament was four
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 in two twin rotating mounts on the ships' centreline and two tubes at the break of 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 ...
for easily aimed snap-shots in close action.
The ship had a crew of 90 officers and men.
On 23 June 1917, the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
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. ''Tilbury'', one of three S-class destroyers ordered from
Swan Hunter in the Twelfth War Programme, was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
at their
Wallsend
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...
shipyard in November 1917. She was
launched on 17 June 1918 and completed on 17 September 1918.
Service
On commission, ''Tilbury'' was sent to the Mediterranean, and was at
Mudros in the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
at the end of the war. ''Tilbury'' continued as part of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet through 1919.
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
The Nore is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades into the cha ...
.
In 1923, she was in reserve at
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and in June 1928 was in Maintenance Reserve at
Rosyth.
''Tilbury'' was sold to the shipbreakers Ward in February 1931 for scrapping at their
Llanelly
Llanelly ( cy, Llanelli) is the name of a parish and coterminous community in the principal area of Monmouthshire, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire, south-east Wales. It roughly covers the area of the Clydach Gorge. The popula ...
yard.
References
Bibliography
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External links
Dreadnought project website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilbury, HMS
1918 ships
S-class destroyers (1917) of the Royal Navy
Ships built on the River Tyne