Acheron-class destroyer
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The ''Acheron'' class (renamed the I class in October 1913) was a
class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
of twenty-three
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 ...
s 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 ...
, all built under the 1910–11 Programme and completed between 1911 and 1912, which served during 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 ...
. A further six ships were built to the same design for the Royal Australian Navy as
River-class destroyers River class may refer to: Destroyers * , ships of the Royal Navy built in the early 20th century that served in World War I * , ships of the Royal Canadian Navy that served in World War II * , frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy post Worl ...
. There was considerable variation between the design and construction of ships within this class, which should be considered as more of a post-build grouping than a homogeneous class.No class of ships were called J class.


Design

Originally, 20 ships, including ''Acheron'', were ordered but three more were completed by Yarrow & Company. Three
River-class destroyers River class may refer to: Destroyers * , ships of the Royal Navy built in the early 20th century that served in World War I * , ships of the Royal Canadian Navy that served in World War II * , frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy post Worl ...
of the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
were laid down in British yards, with another three built in Australia. The ''Acherons'' were generally repeats of the preceding ''Acorn''- or H-class, although ''Acheron'' and five others were builders' specials. They differed from the ''Acorn''s in having only two funnels, both of which were short, the foremost being thicker than the after stack. The 12-pounder guns were mounted slightly further forward than in the ''Acorn''s.


Variation within the class

Fourteen of the class were completed to an Admiralty standard design, although those built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank (''Hind'', ''Hornet'' and ''Hydra'') had Brown-Curtis type turbines and only two shafts. ''Archer'' and ''Attack'' used steam at higher pressures and ''Badger'' and ''Beaver'' were completed with 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 for evaluation purposes, achieving speeds of in trials.


Thornycroft specials

''Acheron'' and ''Ariel'' were longer (), had higher power (15,500 shp) and were faster, achieving in trials.


Yarrow specials (or "special I class")

Sir
Alfred Yarrow Sir Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, 1st Baronet, (13 January 1842 – 24 January 1932) was a British shipbuilder who started a shipbuilding dynasty, Yarrow Shipbuilders. Origins Yarrow was born of humble origins in East London, the son of Esther ...
maintained that it was possible to build strong, seaworthy destroyers with a speed of , and eventually a contract for three such boats was placed with the firm. They were a little larger than the rest of the class and developed , but carried the same armament. Like the John Brown-built boats ''Hind'', ''Hydra'' and ''Hornet'', they had only 2 shafts, with steam developed in 2 Yarrow-type water-tube boilers and delivered to 2 Parsons turbines. ''Firedrake'', ''Lurcher'' and ''Oak'' were distinctive in appearance and indeed much faster. They all exceeded their contract speed, ''Lurcher'' making over .


Conversion to minelayers

''Ferret'', ''Sandfly'' and ''Ariel'' were converted into fast minelaying destroyers in 1917, serving with the 20th Flotilla. They were each capable of laying 40 mines.''Minesweeping and Minelaying'' from the Eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911


Evaluation

This class of
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 ...
s (TBDs, or colloquially, "boats") handled well and were excellent sea boats; like similar classes of TBDs of the time, they had open bridges but were much drier at sea than was the norm.


Ships


Builders' I class


Admiralty I class


Yarrow Specials (or "Special I class")


Australian River class


Notes


References


Bibliography

* ''Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981'', Maurice Cocker, 1983, Ian Allan * ''The British Destroyer'' by Captain T D Manning
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
VRD
RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
(Ret'd), (Putnam, 1961) * ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'', Conway Maritime Press, 1985, Robert Gardiner {{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017 Destroyer classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy