HMS Observer, 1917 |
|
HMS Observer (1916) was a repeat M class destroyer that served with the Grand Fleet from 1916 to August 1918, then with the 1st Flotilla at Portsmouth, although she was detached back to the Grand Fleet at the end of the First World War.
The Observer was ordered under the Fourth War Programme of February 1915. She was laid down at Fairfield on 1 June 1915, launched on 1 May 1916 and completed in June 1916.
1916
From June 1916 to August 1918 the Observer was part of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet.
1917
In June 1917 the Observer took part in Operation BB, a large scale Grand Fleet operation designed to catch a group of German U-boats that were believed to be about to head north around Scotland on their way home. The operation used the submarines and destroyers of the Grand Fleet with all the potential for disaster that implied. On 16 June the Observer and Rocket found the British submarine K.7 running submerged in the Fair Isle Channel and assumed she was a U-boat. The submarine survived the resulting depth charge attack and was able to surface and signal that she was friendly.
1918
On 1 January 1918 the Observer collided with HSM Drifter Heatherbell.
On 27 August 1918 the Observer collided with SS Amsterdam about 100 miles to the east of the Orkney Islands.
In November 1918 she was recorded as being detached from the 14th Flotilla to the 1st Flotilla at Portsmouth, but retained with the 14th Flotilla.
The 14th Flotilla took part in the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918.
In December 1918 she was with the 1st Flotilla at Portsmouth.
In December 1919 she was in the charge of a Care and Maintenance Party at Portsmouth.
She was sold to be broken up in October 1921.
Service Record
June 1916-August 1918: 14th Destroyer Flotilla, Grand Fleet
November 1918: 1st Flotilla, Portsmouth but detached to 14th
December 1918: 1st Flotilla, Portsmouth
Displacement (standard) |
1,025t (Admiralty design) |
Displacement (loaded) |
1,250t |
Top Speed |
34 knots |
Engine |
3-shaft Brown-Curtis or Parsons turbines |
Range |
|
Length |
273ft 4in (Admiralty) |
Width |
26ft 8ft (Admiralty) |
Armaments |
Three 4in/ 45cal QF Mk IV |
Crew complement |
80 |
Laid down |
1 June 1915 |
Launched |
1 May 1916 |
Completed |
June 1916 |
Sold for break up |
October 1921 |
British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War, Norman Friedman. A very detailed look at the design of British destroyers from their earliest roots as torpedo boat destroyers, though the First World War and up to the start of the Second World War, supported by vast numbers of plans and well chosen photographs [read full review]
