HMS Torrent (1916)

HMS ''Torrent'' was a Royal Navy R-class destroyer constructed and then operational in the First World War. She was sunk, with most of her crew in 1917. On 23 December 1917 , HMS ''Torrent'', and sank after entering an Imperial German minefield.

Construction

''Torrent'' was ordered from Swan Hunter by the British Admiralty in March 1916 as part of the Eighth War Construction Programme. The ship was launched at Swan Hunter's Wallsend, Tyne and Wear shipyard on 26 November 1916 and completed in February 1917.

''Torrent'' was long overall, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal and deep load. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of . Three funnels were fitted. 296 tons of oil were carried, giving a design range of at . Armament consisted of three QF 4in Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised bandstand and one between the second and third funnels. A single 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom anti-aircraft gun was fitted, while torpedo armament consisted of four 21 inch (533 mm) torpedoes in two twin mounts. The ship had a complement of 82 officers and men.

Service

On commissioning, ''Torrent'' joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force. On the night of 4/5 June 1917 the Dover Patrol carried out a bombardment of the German-held port of Ostend using the monitors and , with the Harwich force sailing to cover the operation. ''Torrent'' was one of a group of four light cruisers and nine destroyers patrolling off the Thornton Bank. At about 02:30 hr the group encountered two German torpedo boats and . The two torpedo boats retreated under heavy fire towards Zeebrugge, and ''Torrent'', along with , and were ordered to pursue. ''S20'' was immobilised by a hit in the boiler room and was sunk, while ''S15'', although heavily damaged, was able to escape, with the British destroyers turning back to avoid fire from shore batteries. The shore bombardment sank the German submarine and damaged and the torpedo boats and .

One of the duties of the Harwich Force destroyers was the so-called "Beef Run", convoys to and from The Netherlands. ''Torrent'' was part of the escort of a Netherlands-bound convoy on 22 December, when the destroyer struck a mine and was badly damaged, having to be towed to Harwich by the destroyer . The remainder of the convoy reached the Hook of Holland safely, and the escort waited near the Maas Light Buoy for the return convoy. At about 02:00 hr on 23 December, ''Torrent'', , and ran into a German minefield, with ''Torrent'' striking a German mine. ''Surprise'' and ''Tornado'' went to rescue ''Torrent''s crew, but ''Torrent'' struck a second mine and quickly sank. In an attempt to rescue survivors, ''Surprise'' and ''Tornado'' also struck mines and sank. Only ''Radiant'' was undamaged and picked up the survivors from the three ships. In total, 12 officers and 240 other ranks were killed from the three ships. Only three of ''Torrent''s crew survived, with 68 killed.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrent (1916)
World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom
R-class destroyers (1916)
1916 ships