HMS ''Venturous'' (D87) was a V-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 saw service in

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 ...

Construction and commissioning

''Venturous'', the first Royal Navy ship of the name, was ordered in July 1916. She 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 ...

on 9 October 1916 by

William Denny and Brothers William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company. History The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being built ...

at Dumbarton,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and, per a

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 ...

order of 12 January 1917, fitted to carry 60

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s for operations as a minelayer. She was launched on 21 September 1917 and completed on 29 November 1917. Her original

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

, F30, assigned in 1917, became F21 in January 1918 and F87 in September 1918 before finally changing to D87.

Service history

During World War I, ''Venturous'' took part in the first deployment of operational

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...

bottom mines when she joined the destroyers , , , , and , escorted by eight other destroyers, in laying 234 Sinker Mk1(M) mines in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

off the coast of

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, about eight

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s (15 km) north of

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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forces did not interfere with the operations. She also participated with ''Abdiel'', ''Tarpon'', ''Telemachus'', and ''Vanquisher'' in the second operation to lay Sinker mines on 22 August 1918, in the North Sea off Flanders about 17 nautical miles (31 km) north of

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeeb ...

, Belgium, supported by

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

aircraft which patrolled to prevent German aerial observation of the operation. As the result of a reorganization of Royal Navy destroyer flotillas in 1921, ''Venturous'' became part of the

9th Destroyer Flotilla The 9th Destroyer Flotilla, or Ninth Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the British Royal Navy from January 1913 to December 1925 and again in January to July 1940. History Established in January 1913 when it was assigned to the Pa ...

along with the destroyer leaders , , and and the destroyers , , , , and . The entire flotilla was transferred to the

Reserve Fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...

on 4 April 1922 and laid up at Rosyth, Scotland, with reduced crews, but it was recommissioned on 8 April 1925 and renumbered as the 7th Destroyer Flotilla.platenboring.com H.M.S. Douglas
/ref>

Final disposition

After World War I, the United Kingdom received the passenger liner SS ''Bismarck'' from Germany in 1920 as a war reparation, and she was sold to the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...

, later the Cunard White Star Line, in which she served as . In 1936, Cunard White Star retired ''Majestic'' and sold her to Thos. W. Ward for scrapping, but because of legal requirements imposed under the agreement transferring ''Majestic'' to the United Kingdom as a war prize, the British government instead took control of ''Majestic'' and assigned her to the Royal Navy. To pay Thos. W. Ward for ''Majestic'', the Royal Navy agreed to transfer 24 old destroyers with a combined scrap value equivalent to that of ''Majestic'' to Thos W Ward for scrapping. ''Venturous'' was among these, and her transfer to Thos W Ward for scrapping took place on 24 August 1936. She was scrapped at Inverkeithing,

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Venturous (D87) V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Clyde 1917 ships World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom