HMS ''Tobago'' was a Thornycroft

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 ...

which served with 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 ...

during the Greco-Turkish War. Launched by

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 firs ...

on 15 July 1918, the vessel followed a design typical of the yard by being faster than the majority of the class, and also had better seakeeping properties thanks to a raised forecastle. The destroyer operated as part of the Grand Fleet for the last few weeks 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 ...

, and, after the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

, joined the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

based in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. While serving in off the coast of Turkey, the ship hit a mine on 15 July 1920, exactly two years after being launched. Despite the relative youth of the vessel, the damage was deemed irrepairable and so ''Tobago'' returned to Malta and was sold for scrap on 9 February 1922.

Design and development

''Tobago'' was one of two destroyers ordered by 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 ...

from Thornycroft in April 1917 as part of the Eleventh War Construction Programme alongside . The design was based on the destroyer built by the shipyard. Compared to the standard S-class vessels, the design, also known as Modified ''Rosalind'', was longer, with a raised forward gun position and

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 moved to a new position, both of which improved seakeeping. They also had provision for triple mounts for the main torpedo tubes. In a similar way to previous designs, Thornycroft also installed more powerful machinery to give the warship a higher top speed. This also enabled a more stable hull design with a greater beam and a metacentric height of . With an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...

of and a length of between perpendiculars, ''Tobago'' had 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 .

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. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

-Curtis 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 rated at and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of in light load and at full load. Two

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 ...

were fitted, the forward one larger in diameter. A total of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

were carried, giving a design range of at . ''Tobago''s armament consisted of three QF 4in Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline. One was mounted on the raised

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 ...

, while another was positioned between the second and third funnels and the last was located aft. The ship also mounted a single 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

gun for air defence. Six torpedoes were launched from two triple rotating mounts located aft with two mounts fitted athwartships. This ship's complement was 90 officers and ratings.

Construction and career

Laid down in May 1917, ''Tobago'' was launched on 15 July 1918 and completed on 2 October that year. The destroyer joined the Fourteenth Destroyer Flotilla just before the end of the

. After the

, the Grand Fleet was dissolved. ''Tobago'' was recommissioned on 22 February 1919 and assigned to the

under . The ship was assigned to

to support of British interests in the Greco-Turkish War. While on patrol on 15 July 1920, ''Tobago'' hit a mine off the coast from

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

. The damage was deemed uneconomic to repair and, on 15 December 1920, the ship was paid off. The destroyer returned to Malta and was sold for scrap on 9 February 1922.

Pennant numbers

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tobago (1918) 1918 ships S-class destroyers (1917) Ships built by John I. Thornycroft & Company World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom