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HMS Decoy (1894)
HMS Decoy (1894) Q 021146
HMS Decoy
Career (UK) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Decoy
Builder: John I. Thornycroft & Company,
Chiswick
Cost: c.£36,000
Yard number: 288
Laid down: July 1892
Launched: 7 February 1894
Completed: June 1895
Fate: Sunk in collision, 13 August 1904
General characteristics [1]
Class & type: Daring-class torpedo boat destroyer
Displacement: 260 long tons (264 t) light
287.8 long tons (292 t) full load
Length: 185 ft (56 m) oa
Beam: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Draught: 7 ft (2.1 m)
Installed power: 4,200 hp (3,100 kW)
Propulsion:
  • 2 Thornycroft water-tube boilers
  • 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
  • 2 shafts
Speed: 27 kn (31 mph; 50 km/h)
Crew: 46-53
Armament:

HMS Decoy was a Daring-class torpedo boat destroyer which served with the Royal Navy in home waters. She was launched in 1895 and sunk in a collision with HMS Arun in 1903.

Construction[]

She was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Chiswick and was launched on 7 February 1894.[2]

Although fitted with multiple torpedo tubes, her bow tube proved useless in practice as — while running at high attack speeds — the ship was prone to overtake its own torpedo. The clumsy tube also reduced living quarters and made the bridge very prone to flooding.

Service[]

She served as instructional tender to the Cambridge, gunnery school ship, until August 1901.[3]

Fate[]

Decoy was lost in a collision with HMS Arun off the Scilly Islands on 13 August 1904[4] while taking part in night exercises.[5] One man was killed while the remaining 40 members of the crew were rescued by Arun and Sturgeon.[5]

Courts martial regarding the sinking were subsequently assembled aboard the battleship Conqueror. The first, on 22 August,[6] attributed blame on the commander of Arun. The second, an appeal, was held on 30 August,[7] and dismissed the charge of neglect but confirmed the charge of hazarding both vessels.

Notes[]

  1. British "18-inch torpedoes" were 450mm (17.72 inches) in diameter.

References[]

  1. Lyon (1996), pp.40-41.
  2. The Times (London), Thursday, 8 February 1894, p.4
  3. "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". 16 August 1901. 
  4. The Times (London), Wednesday, 15 August 1904, p.5
  5. 5.0 5.1 Kemp, Paul (1999). The Admiralty Regrets British Warship Losses of the 20th Century. Sutton Publishing Ltd. pp. p1. ISBN 0-7509-1567-6. 
  6. The Times (London), Thursday, 23 August 1904, p.9
  7. The Times (London), Friday, 31 August 1904, p.4
  • Lyon, David (1996). The First Destroyers. ISBN 1-84067-364-8. 
  • Captain T.D. Manning (1961). The British Destroyer. Putnam and Co. 


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