HMS ''Arun'' was a Laird Type River-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 ...

ordered by the

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under the 1902–1903 Naval Estimates. Named after the

River Arun The River Arun () is a river in the English county of West Sussex. At long, it is the longest river entirely in Sussex and one of the longest starting in Sussex after the River Medway, River Wey and River Mole. From the series of small stream ...

in southern England she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.

Construction

She was laid down on 27 August 1902 at the

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

shipyard at

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

and launched on 29 April 1903. She was completed in February 1904. Her original armament was to be the same as the turtleback torpedo boat destroyers that preceded her. In 1906 the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

decided to upgrade the armament by landing the five 6-pounder naval guns and shipping three 12-pounder 8 hundredweight (cwt) guns. Two would be mounted abeam at the foc's'le break and the third gun would be mounted on the quarterdeck.

Pre-War

After commissioning she was assigned to the East Coast Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet and based at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

. On 13 August 1904, while under the command of Commander Reginald Y. Tyrwhitt, RN, she collided with the destroyer off the Scilly Islands. ''Decoy'' sank. On 27 April 1908 the Eastern Flotilla departed Harwich for live fire and night manoeuvres. During these exercises the cruiser rammed and sank the destroyer , then damaged the destroyer . In April 1909 she was assigned to the

3rd Destroyer Flotilla The British 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as Third Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from 1909 to 1939 and again from 1945 to 1951. History In 1907 the Channel Fleet had a large Channel Flotilla of destroyers in Fe ...

of the 1st Fleet on its formation at Harwich. She remained until displaced by a Basilisk-class destroyer by May 1912. She went into reserve assigned to the

5th Destroyer Flotilla The British 5th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation 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 ...

of the 2nd Fleet with a nucleus crew. On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. The ships of the River class were assigned to the 'E'-class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an E-class destroyer and had the letter 'E' painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

World War I

In early 1914 when displaced by G-class destroyers she joined 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 ...

based at Chatham tendered to . The 9th Flotilla was a patrol flotilla tasked with anti-submarine and counter mining patrols in the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

area. By September 1914, ''Arun'' was deployed to the Scapa Flow Local Flotilla under the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet tendered to . Here she provided anti-submarine and counter mining patrols in defence of the main fleet anchorage. In August 1915 with the amalgamation of the 7th and 9th Flotillas, she was redeployed to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet based at Alexandria. Here ''Arun'' was employed in escort of merchant ships, counter mining patrols and anti-submarine patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea for the remainder of the war.

Disposition

In 1919 ''Arun'' returned to Home Waters and was paid off then laid up in reserve awaiting disposal. On 30 June 1920 she was sold to

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, steel, engineering and cement business, which began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture of machinery. I ...

of Sheffield for breaking at Hayle, Cornwall. She was not awarded a Battle Honour for her service.

Pennant numbers

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arun (1903) River-class destroyers 1903 ships Ships built on the River Mersey Maritime incidents in 1904