HMS Phoenix (1911)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Phoenix.

HMS Phoenix HMS Phoenix
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Phoenix
Builder:	Vickers Limited of Barrow-in-Furness
Launched:	9 October 1911
Fate:	Sunk on 14 May 1918 by the Austrian submarine SM U-27
General characteristics
Class & type:	Acheron-class destroyer
Displacement:	990 tons
Length:	75 m (246 ft)
Beam:	7.8 m (26 ft)
Draught:	2.7 m (8.9 ft)
Propulsion:	Three shaft Parsons Turbines Three Yarrow boilers (oil fired) 13,500 shp
Speed:	28 kt (66.7 km/h)
Complement:	72
Armament:	2 × BL L/40 Mark VIII guns, mounting P Mark V 2 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun, mounting P Mark I 2 × single tubes for 21 in torpedoes

HMS Phoenix was an Acheron-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She is named for the mythical bird, and was the fifteenth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was the only British warship ever to be sunk by the Austrian Navy.

Pennant Numbers

Pennant Number	From	To
H75	6 December 1914	Unknown
H94	Unknown	Sunk 14 May 1918

History

Phoenix was ordered during the building programme of 1910-1911 and laid down by Vickers Limited of Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched on 9 October 1911. Capable of 28 knots (52 km/h), she carried two 4-inch (102 mm) guns, other smaller guns and 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes and had a complement of 72 men.

Career

At the beginning of the First World War, Phoenix was part of the First Destroyer Flotilla operating in the North Sea. She and her sisters were attached to the Grand Fleet as soon as the war started.

Action on 16 August 1914

On 16 August 1914, within days of the outbreak of war, the First Destroyer Flotilla engaged an enemy cruiser off the mouth of the Elbe, which is reported with great verve by an author writing under the pseudonym "Clinker Knocker" in 1938:

On Aug 16th we had our first brush with the enemy, and our flotilla received a sample of German gunnery which our own gunners acknowledged was excellent. We were on our usual Dutch coast patrol, known as the 'broad fourteens' and were somewhere off the mouth of the river Elbe off the German coast. At daybreak we chased a German collier and made contact with a powerful armoured crusier, which opened fire on us with 8.2 inch guns. Our heaviest gun was four-inch, so the enemy easily outranged us, and straddled us with her accurate salvo firing. The Goshawk and Phoenix were disabled, and shells were ricochetting over us. Fearless led us in a determined attack to close with torpedos, but the large German Cruiser foiled our intentions by running for home, and we did not blame her. We were very disappointed, however at not being able to equalise matters with the third flotilla, but the Yorch or Roon or whichever ship it may have been was too near home for us to follow, and we left the vicinity after the Goshawk and Phoenix had patched up their wounds.

— Aye, Aye, Sir, a saga of the lower deck by Clinker Knocker

The Battle of Heligoland Bight

She was present with First Destroyer Flotilla on 28 August 1914 at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, led by the light cruiser Fearless. Phoenix suffered one man wounded during the action

The Battle of Dogger Bank

On 24 January 1915 Phoenix took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank, and her crew shared in the Prize Money for the German armoured cruiser Blücher.

The Battle of Jutland

Phoenix was not present with her flotilla at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.

HMAT Ballarat

Phoenix was escorting the Australian troopship Ballarat when she was attacked by a German submarine on Anzac Day (25 April) 1917 in the English Channel. Although efforts were made to tow Ballarat to shallow water, she sank off The Lizard the following morning. No lives were lost of the 1,752 souls on board, a striking testament to the calmness and discipline of the troops.

• HMAT Ballarat sinking.jpg

  HMAT Ballarat sinking, Phoenix to the left

• HMS Phoenix & troopship Ballarat 1917 AWM H13735.jpeg

  Phoenix alongside Ballarat

Mediterranean Service

In September 1917, Phoenix transferred to the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla which was operating in the Mediterranean. This posting was to be her last.

HMS Phoenix lists to port after being torpedoed, viewed from HMAS Warrego

Loss

At 9:18 on 14 May 1918, while patrolling the Otranto Barrage, the Phoenix was torpedoed amidships by the Austro-Hungarian submarine SM U-27, at position . HMAS Warrego made an unsuccessful attempt to tow her to Valona (now Vlorë in Albania), but she sank within sight of the port at 13:10 in position . The crew had been taken off before she capsized, and there were only two fatalities; a Leading Stoker and an Engine Room Artificer.