HMS ''Success'' was a B-class

torpedo boat 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 1 ...

of 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 ...

. She was launched on 21 March 1901. On 27 December 1914 she was wrecked off

Fife Ness Fife Ness ( gd, Rubha Fiobha) is a headland forming the most eastern point in Fife, Scotland. Anciently the area was called Muck Ross, which is a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic ''Muc-Rois'' meaning "Headland of the Pigs". It is situated in t ...

during heavy gales.

Design and construction

HMS ''Success'' was ordered on 30 March 1899 from

William Doxford & Sons William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wea ...

as part of 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 ...

's 1899–1900 shipbuilding programme,Lyon 2001, p. 84. one of twelve "thirty-knotter" destroyers ordered from various shipyards under this programme.Lyon 2001, p. 25. ''Success'' closely resembled Doxford's , ordered under the 1897–1898 programme, with the major difference being that the ship had three funnels rather than four.Lyon 2001, pp. 83–84. ''Success'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

, 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 .

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 light and full load.Chesneau and Kolesnick 1979, pp. 96. Four

Thornycroft boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, a ...

s fed two triple-expansion engines rated at which drove two propeller shafts, giving a speed of .Brassey 1902, p. 275. Armament was as standard for the "thirty-knotters", with a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt ( calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

(also used as the ship's bridge), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.Friedman 2009, p. 40. ''Success'' 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 Doxford's

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

shipyard as

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

282 on 18 September 1899, launched on 21 March 1901 and completed in May 1902.

Service history

''Success'' was commissioned 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 ...

on 9 June 1902 by Commander

Douglas Nicholson Admiral Sir Douglas Romilly Lothian Nicholson, KCMG, KCVO (4 March 1867 – 8 February 1946) was a senior Royal Navy officer who commanded the Reserve Fleet. Naval career Born the son of Sir Lothian Nicholson, a former Governor of Gibraltar, an ...

and the crew of , which had been docked for repairs after going aground. She succeeded the latter ship in the Portsmouth instructional flotilla, and took part in the

fleet review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

held at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

on 16 August 1902 for the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

of King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

. Commander

Hubert Brand Admiral Sir Hubert George Brand, (20 May 1870 – 14 December 1955) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel. Background Brand was the second son of Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden, Governor ...

was appointed in command on 20 December 1902, but left after only three weeks in mid-January 1903 to take up another command.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Success (1901) Lively-class destroyers Ships built on the River Wear 1901 ships B-class destroyers (1913) World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in December 1914 World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea