HMS Wolverine (1910)

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

HMS Wolverine
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Wolverine
Builder:	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
Launched:	15 January 1910
Fate:	Sunk in collision, 12 December 1917
General characteristics
Class & type:	Beagle-class destroyer
Length:	274 ft (84 m)
Beam:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Draught:	10 ft (3.0 m)
Installed power:	12,500 ihp (9,300 kW)
Propulsion:	Steam engines
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Complement:	96
Armament:	1 × BL 4-inch (100 mm) L/40 Mark VIII guns 3 × QF 12 pdr 12 cwt Mark I 1 × 3-pounder anti-aircraft gun 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

HMS Wolverine was a Beagle-class destroyer of the Royal Navy launched on 15 January 1910. She was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead.

Design and construction

Wolverine was one of three Beagle-class destroyers ordered from the shipbuilder Cammell Laird as part of the 1908–1909 shipbuilding programme. The Beagles were not built to a standard design, with detailed design being left to the builders of individual ships in accordance with a loose specification. Wolverine, like the other two Laird-built ships, was 266 feet (81.1 m) long, with a beam of 28 feet (8.5 m) and a draught of 8 feet 8 inches (2.6 m). Displacement was 914 long tons (929 t) normal. Five Yarrow boilers fed direct-drive Parsons steam turbines driving three propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at 12,500 shaft horsepower (9,300 kW) to meet the design speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). Gun armament consisted of one BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIII and three QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. Torpedo armament consisted of two 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. Two spare torpedoes were carried.

Woverine was laid down at Laird's Birkenhead shipyard on 26 April 1904 and was launched on 15 January 1910. She reached a speed of 27.1 knots (50.2 km/h; 31.2 mph) on her sea trials, meeting the contract requirement of 27 knots, and was completed in September 1910.

Service history

On commissioning, Wolverine joined the First Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Home Fleet. In 1912, the Royal Navy's destroyer flotillas were re-organized, with the Beagles joining the Third Destroyer Flotilla. Wolverine remained part of the Third Flotilla until August 1913, but had transferred to the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet by November that year.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Wolverine was still in the Mediterranean, as a member of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla. The flotilla, including Wolverine, was involved in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser Goeben. Wolverine was one of eight destroyers deployed by Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge to assist his squadron of Armoured cruisers in stopping the German ships escaping to Austrian waters. When it was realised that Goeben and Breslau were not heading to Austria, Troubridge left these destroyers behind as they did not have sufficient coal left for a high speed pursuit, and set off southwards on the night of 6/7 August 1914 with his four Armoured cruisers. He called off his pursuit later that night because he could not intercept the German squadron until daylight, when Goeben's superior speed and armament would give the Germans a significant advantage. On 1 November 1914 she and the destroyer Scorpion sank a Turkish armed yacht, believed to be involved in minelaying operations, in the Gulf of Smyrna.

In 1915, along with numerous other Beagle, River and Laforey-class destroyers, she took part in the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign. Early operations involved escorting trawlers when they attempted to sweep Turkish minefields in the narrows of the Dardanelles. Work included naval artillery support and the landing of infantry reinforcements, particular at the exposed Anzac Cove beachhead.

On 12 December 1917, Wolverine sank following a collision with the fleet sweeping sloop Rosemary off the northwest coast of Ireland.