HMCS Tuna
{{otherships|USS Tarantula (SP-124)|Tuna (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Steam yacht and Canadian Navy torpedo boat}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= Tuna HMCS.jpg |Ship caption= HMCS Tuna under way }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship name= *1902: Tarantula
|Ship namesake= *1902: tarantula
|Ship owner= *1902: Harry McCalmont
|Ship operator= 1914: {{flagicon|UK|naval}} Royal Canadian Navy |Ship registry= *1902: {{flagicon|UK|naval}} London |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= Yarrow Shipbuilders, Poplar |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship completed= 1902 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= into RCN, 5 December 1914 |Ship decommissioned= from RCN, 10 May 1917 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship refit= |Ship identification= *1902: UK official number 115849
|Ship fate= hulked, 1918 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= steam yacht |Ship tonnage= {{GRT|124}}, {{NRT|84}} |Ship displacement= |Ship length= {{cvt|152.7|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{cvt|15.35|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= {{cvt|5|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= {{cvt|8.7|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship decks= 1 |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= *1902: 3 × steam turbines
|Ship speed= {{convert|26.75|kn|km/h|1}} |Ship capacity= |Ship complement= |Ship crew= |Ship armament= *in First World War:
|Ship sensors= |Ship notes= }} |
HMCS Tuna was a steam yacht that was converted into a Royal Canadian Navy torpedo boat. She was the first turbine-powered steam yacht ever built. She was built in London, England in 1902 as Tarantula for Colonel Harry McCalmont. He died soon after she was completed, and in 1903 William Kissam Vanderbilt II acquired her. In 1914 JKL "Jack" Ross bought her and transferred her to the Minister of Naval Service for Canada, who had her converted into a torpedo boat. She served in the First World War until 1917, when she became irreparably unfit for service. She was sold for scrap in 1918, and her hulk survived in Halifax, Nova Scotia until the 1930s.
Built for Harry McCalmont
Cox & King of Pall Mall, London designed the yacht.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt buys Tarantula. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=10 |date=13 March 1903 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1903-03-13/ed-1/seq-10/}} Yarrow Shipbuilders of Poplar, London built her in 1902 for Harry McCalmont, who was a colonel in the British Army; a Conservative Member of Parliament; and a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Her length was {{cvt|152.7|ft|abbr=on}}, her beam was {{cvt|15.35|ft|abbr=on}}, and her depth was {{cvt|8.7|ft|abbr=on}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|124}}, {{NRT|84}}, and 172 Thames Measurement. Like Charles Parsons' Turbinia, she had three drive shafts, each driven by a steam turbine,{{sfn|Yacht Register 1904|loc=TAR}} and with more than one screw on each shaft.{{cite news |title=Accident to the Tarantula. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=5 |date=7 June 1905 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1905-06-07/ed-1/seq-5/}} She was the first turbine-driven steam yacht ever built.{{cite news |title=Howard Gould's steam yacht the winner. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=7 |date=29 September 1904 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/09/29/118948696.html?pageNumber=7}}{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt buys yacht Tarantula. |newspaper=The Providence News |place=Providence, RI |page=2 |date=12 March 1903 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91070630/1903-03-12/ed-1/seq-2/}} She was reputed to be capable of {{convert|24|kn|km/h}}. Her lines were similar to those of a destroyer of her era, and quite unlike most steam yachts of the first decade of the 20th century.{{cite news |title=Young Vanderbilt has a crack yacht. |newspaper=The Providence News |place=Providence, RI |page=7 |date=2 April 1903 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91070630/1903-04-02/ed-1/seq-7/}} She was registered in London. Her United Kingdom official number was 115849, and by 1903 her code letters were TLFR.{{sfn|Mercantile Navy List 1903|p=385}}
Bought by William K Vanderbilt
McCalmont died in December 1902. By March 1903 WK Vanderbilt II had acquired Tarantula. He had her delivered from England to the United States that July and August. Her coal bunkers were too small for her to cross the North Atlantic entirely under her own power, so Vanderbilt had her towed as far as Bermuda. From there she steamed to Newport News, Virginia under her own power. At times she developed up to {{convert|26.75|kn|km/h|1}}.{{cite news |title=The Tarantula here. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=3 |date=12 August 1903 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1903-08-12/ed-1/seq-3/}} She reached Newport News on 5 August.{{cite news |title=The Tarantula at Newport News. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=5 |date=6 August 1903 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1903-08-06/ed-1/seq-5/}} He registered her in New York.{{sfn|Register of Yachts 1906|loc=TAM}} By 1907 her code letters were KTQD.{{sfn|Register of Yachts 1907|loc=TAR}}
Experiments suggested that Tarantula would be just as swift without her middle turbine. Toward the end of 1903, Vanderbilt decided to have the middle turbine removed to save weight.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt's Turbine Tarantula Being Changed. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=12 |date=19 December 1903 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1903-12-19/ed-1/seq-13/}} The work was undertaken at Tebo's Pier in South Brooklyn in January 1904.{{cite news |title=Of interest to yachtsmen. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=5 |date=23 January 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1904-01-23/ed-1/seq-5/}} At the same time, her forward deckhouse was converted into a dining saloon, and her after deckhouse was converted into a lounge.{{cite news |title=Changes on the Tarantula. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=10 |date=27 January 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1904-01-27/ed-1/seq-10/}} On 7 May, Tarantula was at anchor off Robert Jacob's shipyard on City Island, Bronx, being overhauled by a party of 32 men, when the lead-acid batteries for her electric lighting system exploded. Her battery room was in her forward hold. The explosion injured three men, one with serious acid burns to his face. He was admitted to Fordham Hospital, where it was feared that he would lose his eyesight.{{cite news |title=Blow-up on Tarantula. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=1 |date=8 May 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1904-05-08/ed-1/seq-1/}} The explosion tore out the bulkheads of her battery room and galley; caused a fire that burned for a few minutes; and caused damage worth an estimated $2,000.{{cite news |title=Explosion on Tarantula |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=14 |date=8 May 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1904-05-08/ed-1/seq-14/}}
File:Spectators at New London boat race LCCN2014682988.jpg steamship Richard Peck]]
Some fast steam yachts would informally race fast coastal passenger steamships. On 18 May 1904, Vanderbilt tried to use Tarantula to race the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad steamship Richard Peck in Long Island Sound. The two steamers were neck and neck until Hart Island, where Vanderbilt broke off the race and turned Tarantula back toward his private anchorage in Great Neck, Long Island.{{cite news |title=Tarantula Fails to Beat Richard Peck. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=12 |date=19 May 1904 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/05/19/101391887.html?pageNumber=12}} In June, Vanderbilt offered to sell Tarantula to the United States Department of the Navy, for research into turbine propulsion.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt yacht for sale. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=4 |date=25 June 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1904-06-25/ed-1/seq-4/}} His offer was declined. Opponents of the purchase noted that since Tarantula was built in 1902, turbine propulsion had been further developed. The Department should therefore buy a brand new turbine craft, rather than one built two years ago.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt's offer not favored. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=10 |date=28 June 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1904-06-28/ed-1/seq-10/}} On 28 September, Howard Gould's steam yacht {{USS|Niagara|SP-136|2}} IV raced Tarantula in a formal race over a {{convert|39|nmi|km|adj=on}} course in Long Island Sound from Stepping Stones Light, turning at a buoy at Eatons Neck Light. Niagara IV had triple-expansion reciprocating engines, but beat the turbine steamer by 3 minutes and 50 seconds.{{cite news |title=Steam yacht beats turbine. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=10 |date=29 September 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1904-09-29/ed-1/seq-10/}}
File:William K Vanderbilt IIc.jpg ]]
In February 1905, the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club elected WK Vanderbilt, Jr as its Commodore. He made his sloop Virginia his flagship, and Tarantula her tender.{{cite news |title=Virginian his flagship. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=5 |date=25 February 1905 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1905-02-25/ed-1/seq-5/}} In 1905 Vanderbilt had had Tarantula{{'}}s original Yarrow boilers removed, and replaced with new ones with twice the heating capacity and furnace grate area.{{cite news |title=Tarantula's fast trial. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=5 |date=10 May 1905 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1905-05-10/ed-1/seq-5/}} On 9 May that year, Tarantula ran a set of sea trials over the Government course at Great Neck, on which she averaged {{convert|25|kn|km/h|0}}.{{cite news |title=Tarantula in speed test. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=11 |date=10 May 1905 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1905-05-10/ed-1/seq-12/}}
Around the beginning of June 1905, Tarantula broke one of her propeller shafts while racing Niagara IV, which then took Tarantula in tow. When Vanderbilt had her middle turbine removed, he replaced the small screws on the port and starboard shafts with one large screw on each, contrary to Parsons' recommendation. This may have increased the strain on the shafts, and contributed to the breakage. On 26 June, Tarantula accidentally collided with the yacht Norman in Long Island Channel. The collision stove in Tarantula{{'}}s bow, deeply scored Norman{{'}}s hull, and tore a "naphtha launch" (i.e. motorboat) from its davits aboard Norman. Both yachts remained afloat, and Tarantula went to Robert Jacob's shipyard on City Island for repair.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt yacht hits Mr. Tilford's Norman |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |date=27 June 1905 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/06/27/120277107.html?pageNumber=1}}{{cite news |title=Tarantula in collision. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=1 |date=27 June 1905 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1905-06-27/ed-1/seq-1/}} On 20 July, Charles Ranlett Flint's yacht Arrow beat Tarantula in an impromptu race from Great Neck to the New York Yacht Club station at the foot of East 23rd Street.{{cite news |title=Arrow scoots by Tarantula. |newspaper=The Sun |place=New York |page=6 |date=21 July 1904 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1904-07-21/ed-1/seq-6/}} On 15 September, Niagara IV and Tarantula raced each other in Long Island Sound again. The course was {{convert|40|nmi|km}}, from Bridgeport to New Haven and back. Each owner staked $5,000 in a sweepstake, and this time Tarantula won.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt yacht beats Gould flier |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=7 |date=16 September 1905 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/09/16/101706592.html?pageNumber=7}}
On 21 May 1906, Tarantula was entering Hampton Roads when she suffered an accident to her machinery.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt yacht injured. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |date=22 May 1906 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/05/22/101712268.html?pageNumber=1}} She limped into Newport News,{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt yacht breaks down. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=7 |date=22 May 1906 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1906-05-22/ed-1/seq-7/}} but was back in service by 6 July.{{cite news |title=Social notes from Newport. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=6 |date=7 July 1906 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1906-07-07/ed-1/seq-6/}} On 21 July, Tarantula broke one of her propeller shafts and lost two of her screws after colliding with an unidentified submerged object between Point Judith Light and Beavertail Lighthouse. She reached Newport, Rhode Island under her own power, but at reduced speed.{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt yacht hit. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=1 |date=22 July 1906 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1906-07-22/ed-1/seq-1/}}{{cite news |title=Tarantula Breaks a Shaft. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=8 |date=22 July 1906 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/07/22/101844456.html?pageNumber=8}}
On 1 January 1909, WK Vanderbilt and guests left either Havana or Cárdenas (reports differ), Cuba aboard Tarantula for a fishing trip to Nuevitas. On the trip, one of the yacht's boiler tubes failed, scalding two members of her crew. She returned to Havana on 4 January for repairs.{{cite news |title=Accident to Vanderbilt's yacht. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=7 |date=5 January 1909 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1909-01-05/ed-1/seq-7/}}{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt cruise stops. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=6 |date=10 January 1909 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1909-01-10/ed-1/seq-6/}}
By November 1912, Vanderbilt had ordered a new yacht, also to be named Tarantula. George Lawley & Son in Neponset, Boston were building her, and she was to be a motor yacht.{{cite news |title=New Vanderbilt yacht. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |date=11 November 1912 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/11/11/100380514.html?pageNumber=1}}{{cite news |title=Vanderbilt boat building. |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=9 |date=2 December 1912 |via=Chronicling America |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1912-12-02/ed-1/seq-9/}} By May 1914, Vanderbilt had taken delivery of the new yacht, and had traded in the 1902 Tarantula to Lawley & Son.{{sfn|Register of Yachts 1914|loc=TAR}}
Bought by Jack Ross
File:Commander J.K.L. Ross of Montreal.jpg JKL Ross ]]
In August 1914, after the First World War began, the Canadian industrialist Jack Ross acquired the 1902 Tarantula from Lawley & Son. The United States, being neutral, forbade the sale to any belligerent country in the war of any ship that could be adapted for naval use.{{sfn|Johnston|Rawling|Gimblett|MacFarlane|2010|pp=331–332}} Ross circumvented this by having Tarantula fitted out in secret in the US, and delivered to Canada by a civilian crew. She reached Halifax, NS, on 10 September 1914. Ross sold her to the Canadian Naval Ministry for $1, and offered to buy her back at the end of the war if she were still functional.{{sfn|Johnston|Rawling|Gimblett|MacFarlane|2010|p=332}} She was registered in Montreal as a merchant ship, with the code letters TMJQ.{{sfn|Mercantile Navy List 1916|p=605}}
The yacht was armed with two {{cvt|14|in|mm}} torpedo tubes and one 3-pounder gun, and commissioned on 5 December 1914 as HMCS Tuna,{{cite web |title=Converted Civilian Vessels |publisher=Naval History Information Center |access-date=2 October 2024 |url= https://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/ww1/convert/}} with the pennant number QW-2,{{cite web |title=Tuna |work=Canadian Navy Heritage Project |archive-date=2 October 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111002013112/http://www.navy.gc.ca/project_pride/ships/ship_e.asp?shipNumber=80 |access-date=2 October 2024 |url= http://www.navy.gc.ca/project_pride/ships/ship_e.asp?shipNumber=80}} and Ross as her commanding officer.{{sfn|Macpherson|Barrie|2002|p=25}}{{sfn|Milner|2010|p=47}} She was based at Halifax, and patrolled from there.{{sfn|Johnston|Rawling|Gimblett|MacFarlane|2010|p=334}}
In July 1916, Tuna was overhauled at Sorel, Quebec.{{sfn|Johnston|Rawling|Gimblett|MacFarlane|2010|p=369}} On 10 May 1917, she was decommissioned due to an irreparable fracture in one of her engine mounts. In June 1918 she was sold for scrap, and hulked.{{sfn|Macpherson|Barrie|2002|p=25}} One shipping register continued to list Ross as her owner until 1921.{{sfn|Mercantile Navy List 1921|p=636}} Her hulk remained in Halifax's Northwest Arm until the 1930s.{{sfn|Macpherson|Barrie|2002|p=25}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last1=Johnston |first1=William |last2=Rawling |first2=William GP |last3=Gimblett |first3=Richard H |last4=MacFarlane |first4=John |year=2010 |title=The Seabound Coast: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1867–1939 |volume=1 |place=Toronto, ON |publisher=Dundurn Press |isbn=978-1-55488-908-2}}
- {{cite book |last1=Macpherson |first1=Ken |last2=Barrie |first2=Ron |name-list-style=amp |year=2002 |title=The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002 |edition=Third |place=St Catharines, ON |publisher=Vanwell Publishing |isbn=1-55125-072-1}}
- {{cite book |year=1903 |title=Mercantile Navy List |place=London |via=Crew List Index Project |ref={{harvid|Mercantile Navy List 1903}} |url= https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?name=Tarantula&year=1903&submit=Enter}}
- {{cite book |year=1916 |title=Mercantile Navy List |place=London |via=Crew List Index Project |ref={{harvid|Mercantile Navy List 1916}} |url= https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?name=Tuna&year=1916&submit=Enter}}
- {{cite book |year=1921 |title=Mercantile Navy List |place=London |via=Crew List Index Project |ref={{harvid|Mercantile Navy List 1921}} |url= https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?&name=Tuna&steamsail=Steam&submit=Enter&year=1921}}
- {{cite book |last=Milner |first=Marc |year=2010 |title=Canada's Navy: The First Century |edition=Second |place=Toronto, ON |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-9604-3}}
- {{cite book |year=1906 |title=Register of Yachts |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |ref={{harvid|Register of Yachts 1906}} |url= https://archive.org/details/lloyds-register-of-yachts-1906/page/483/mode/1up}}
- {{cite book |year=1907 |title=Register of Yachts |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |ref={{harvid|Register of Yachts 1907}} |url= https://archive.org/details/lloyds-register-of-yachts-1907/page/500/mode/1up}}
- {{cite book |year=1914 |title=Register of Yachts |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |ref={{harvid|Register of Yachts 1914}} |url= https://archive.org/details/lloyds-register-of-yachts-1914/page/557/mode/1up}}
- {{cite book |year=1904 |title=Yacht Register |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |ref={{harvid|Yacht Register 1904}} |url= https://archive.org/details/lloyds-register-of-yachts-1904/page/711/mode/1up}}
External link
- {{cite web |last=Grosjean |first=François |title=Cox & King Vessels |work=The 1913 Cox & King Catalogue of Yachts and Motor Boats |url= http://www.francoisgrosjean.ch/cox_and_king/vessels.html}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuna, HMCS}}
Category:Ships built in Poplar
Category:Steamships of the United States