HMS Ness (1905)
{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Ness}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country=United Kingdom | Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} | Ship name= Ness | Ship ordered=1903 – 1904 Naval Estimates | Ship builder= J. Samuel White, Cowes | Ship laid down=5 May 1904 | Ship launched=5 January 1905 | Ship acquired= | Ship commissioned=August 1905 | Ship decommissioned= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= Laid up in reserve 1919 | Ship struck= | Ship reinstated= | Ship fate= 27 May 1919 sold to T.R. Sales for breaking | Ship honours= | Ship badge= | Ship motto= | Ship identification= | Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= White Type {{sclass2|River|destroyer|0 | 1903}} destroyer{{cite book|last=Jane|first=Fred T.|title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1905/6|orig-year=1905|year=1969|publisher=first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1905, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company|location=New York|page=75}}{{cite book|last=Jane|first=Fred T.|title=Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I|year= 1990|publisher=Jane’s Publishing © 1919|isbn=1-85170-378-0|page=76}}
|Ship displacement=*{{Convert|535|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} standard
|Ship propulsion=*4 × White-Forster type water tube boiler
|Ship speed= {{convert|25.5|kn|km/h|abbr=on}} |Ship range=*135 tons coal
| Ship complement= 70 officers and men | Ship sensors= | Ship EW= | Ship armament=*1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I, mounting P Mark I
| Ship aircraft= | Ship aircraft facilities= | Ship notes= }}{{Infobox service record |is_ship=yes |is_multi= |label= |partof=*East Coast Destroyer Flotilla – 1905
|codes= |commanders= |operations=World War I 1914–1918 |victories= |awards= }} |
HMS Ness was a White Type {{sclass2|River|destroyer|0||1903}} destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1903 – 1904 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Ness in northern Scotland, flowing through Inverness, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
Construction
She was laid down on 5 May 1904 at the J Samuel White shipyard at Cowes and launched on 5 January 1905. She was completed in August 1905. Her original armament was to be the same as the Turtleback torpedo boat destroyers that preceded her. In 1906 the Admiralty decided to upgrade the armament by landing the five 6-pounder naval guns and shipping three 12-pounder 8 hundredweight (cwt) guns. Two would be mounted abeam at the foc's'le break, and the third gun would be mounted on the quarterdeck.
Pre-War
After commissioning Ness was assigned to the East Coast Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet and based at Harwich.
On 27 April 1908 the Eastern Flotilla departed Harwich for live fire and night manoeuvres. During these exercises the cruiser {{HMS|Attentive|1904|6}} rammed and sank the destroyer {{HMS|Gala|1905|6}} then damaged {{HMS|Ribble|1904|6}}.
In April 1909 Ness was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet on its formation at Harwich. She remained until displaced by a {{sclass|Beagle|destroyer|0}} destroyer by May 1912. She went into reserve assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the 2nd Fleet with a nucleus crew.
On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. The ships of the River class were assigned to the E class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an E-class destroyer and had the letter ‘E’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.{{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906 to 1922|orig-year=1985 |year=2006|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|isbn=0-85177-245-5|page=Page 17 to 19}}
World War I
In early 1914 when displaced by G-class destroyers (the new designation for the Beagle class) she joined the 9th Destroyer Flotilla based at Chatham tendered to {{HMS|St George|1892|6}}. The 9th Flotilla was a patrol flotilla tasked with anti-submarine and counter mining patrols in the Firth of Forth area. By September 1914, she was deployed to Portsmouth and the Dover Patrol. Here she provided anti-submarine, counter mining patrols and defended the Dover Barrage.{{cite web|title=Naval Database|url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/N/03218.html|access-date=16 June 2013|archive-date=22 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222072010/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/N/03218.html|url-status=dead}}
In August 1915 with the amalgamation of the 9th and 7th Flotillas she was deployed to the 7th Destroyer Flotilla based at the River Humber. She remained employed on the Humber Patrol participating in counter mining operations and anti-submarine patrols for the remainder of the war.{{cite web|title=History of the Great War, Naval Operations, Volume III, Spring 1915 to June 1916 (Part 1 of 2), by Sir Julian S Corbett, Chapter XIII, Loss of Argyl and Natal|url=http://www.naval-history.net/WW1Book-RN3a.htm#13|accessdate=1 Jun 2013}}
Disposition
In 1919 Ness was paid off then laid up in reserve awaiting disposal. On 27 May 1919 she was sold to T.R. Sales for breaking.{{cite web|title="Arrowsmith" List – Part 1 Destroyer Prototypes through "River" Class|url=http://www.gwpda.org/naval/s0420000.htm|accessdate=1 Jun 2013}}
She was not awarded a Battle Honour for her service.
Pennant Numbers
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | From | To |
| N81 | 6 Dec 1914 | 1 Sep 1915 |
| D26 | 1 Sep 1915 | 1 Jan 1918 |
| D59 | 1 Jan 1918 | 13 Sep 1918 |
| H77 | 13 Sep 1918 | 30 Aug 1919 |
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|year=1979 |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London |isbn=0-85177-133-5}}
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book|last1=Dittmar|first1=F.J.|last2=Colledge|first2=J. J.|title=British Warships 1914–1919|year=1972|publisher=Ian Allan|location=Shepperton, UK|isbn=0-7110-0380-7}}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War|year=2009|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-049-9}}
- {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book|last=Manning|first=T. D.|title=The British Destroyer|year=1961|publisher=Putnam & Co.|location=London|oclc= 6470051}}
- {{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |oclc=164893555}}
{{River class destroyer (1903)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ness (1905)}}