HMS Zubian
{{Short description|1917 destroyer from Britain}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Good article}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = HMS Zubian.jpg | Ship caption = HMS Zubian }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United Kingdom | Ship flag = Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg | Ship name = HMS Zubian | Ship owner = | Ship namesake = | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Chatham Dockyard | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = 7 June 1917 | Ship decommissioned = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship honours = | Ship fate = Scrapped 9 December 1919 | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = {{sclass2|Tribal|destroyer (1905)|0}} destroyer | Ship displacement = {{convert|1040|MT|abbr=on}} | Ship length = {{convert|85.4|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|8.2|m|abbr=on}} | Ship draught = {{convert|3|m|abbr=on}} | Ship power =*6 Thornycroft boilers
| Ship propulsion = 3 Parsons steam turbines | Ship speed = {{convert|33|kn|mph km/h|lk=in|abbr=on}} | Ship range = | Ship complement = 68 | Ship armament =*2 × QF 4-inch Mk V guns | Ship notes = }} |
HMS Zubian was a First World War Royal Navy {{sclass2|Tribal|destroyer (1905)|0}} destroyer constructed from the forward end of {{HMS|Zulu|1909|6}} and the rear and mid sections of {{HMS|Nubian|1909|6}}. These two destroyers had been badly damaged in late 1916, and rather than scrapping both hulls at the height of World War I, the Admiralty ordered that they be rebuilt as the composite Zubian and put back into service. She was commissioned into the fleet in June 1917. The name Zubian is a portmanteau of the names of the original ships.Dilke, p. 714
Zubian saw extensive service in the final two years of the war as part of the Dover Patrol. She sank the German U-boat {{SMU|UC-50||2}} in February 1918, while she was on patrol in the English Channel. In late April, she participated in the First Ostend Raid as an escort for the bombardment force. After the war, Zubian was sold for scrap and broken up by December 1919.
Design
{{main|Tribal-class destroyer (1905)}}
Zubian was {{convert|85.4|m}} long overall, with a beam of {{convert|8.2|m|abbr=on}} and a draught of {{convert|3|m|abbr=on}}. She displaced {{convert|1040|LT|lk=on}}. The ship's propulsion system consisted of three Parsons steam turbines, which were powered by six oil-fired Thornycroft boilers. These provided {{convert|14000|shp|lk=on}} and a top speed of {{convert|33|kn|lk=in}}. She was armed with two QF 4-inch Mk V guns and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. One gun was mounted on the forecastle and the other on the stern, with the two torpedo tubes amidships. Her crew numbered 68 officers and ratings.
Service history
In late 1916, two British destroyers of the 6th Flotilla in the Dover Patrol—{{HMS|Nubian|1909|2}} and {{HMS|Zulu|1909|2}}—were badly damaged by German attacks in the English Channel. Nubian{{'}}s bow had been destroyed by a torpedo from a German torpedo boat on 27 October in the Battle of Dover Strait, while Zulu had her stern blown off by a mine in the Channel on 8 November, and was towed to Calais.{{sfn|Henshaw|2020|p=27}} Both wrecks were then towed to Chatham Dockyard, where a complete destroyer was constructed by joining the foreparts of Zulu with the stern of Nubian,Ravenscroft, p. 429 and despite a {{convert|3.5|in|mm}} difference in beam,Gardiner & Gray, p. 71 the unique operation was successful.van der Vat, p. 91 The ship was renamed Zubian by Admiral Reginald Bacon, the commander of the Dover Patrol.Sea History, p. 61 The hybrid destroyer was commissioned on 7 June 1917. The choice of name caused confusion among the German Imperial Admiralty Staff, who knew of no such ship under construction.The Nautical Gazette, p. 62
Zubian joined the 6th Flotilla and served there until the end of the war.Bacon, p. 13 During this period, Zubian and the rest of the Flotilla rotated through nighttime patrols of the Dover Strait in groups of four, supported by flotilla leaders; these patrols were intended to catch German torpedo boats that were conducting night bombardments of Allied positions in the Channel.Bacon, p. 45 While in the Dover Strait on 4 February 1918, she encountered the mine-laying U-boat {{SMU|UC-50||2}}, which was surfaced about {{convert|400|yd}} off Zubian{{'}}s port bow with her radio antennae up. Zubian attempted to ram the submarine but the Germans managed to submerge. The destroyer then dropped depth charges over the submerged U-boat and a significant amount of oil and wreckage was observed thereafter. Zubian marked the location with a buoy and an hour later, the patrol vessel {{HMS|P12}} dropped additional depth charges there. Trawlers later located an object that divers confirmed was UC-50.Messimer (2002), p. 290
Zubian also participated in the First Ostend Raid two months later on the night of 23–24 April. The attack was intended to close the German-held ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, which were being used as bases for the U-boats.Carpenter, pp. 17–18 Zubian was assigned to the bombardment force, and along with the destroyers {{HMS|Mentor|1914|2}} and {{HMS|Lightfoot|1915|2}}, provided the close escort for a group of six monitors. The bombardment unit was covered by the Harwich Force in the Channel.Carpenter, p. 270 The bombardment force was tasked with suppressing the German coastal defences,Messimer (2001), p. 173 while a pair of old cruisers attempted to steam into the harbour entrances, where they would be sunk as blockships. The effort failed when both cruisers ran aground far outside of the harbour.Messimer (2001), p. 175
Worn out by heavy wartime use, Zubian was sold in the immediate post-war draw down and broken up for scrap by December 1919.Gardiner & Gray, p. 72
{{clear}}
Footnotes
{{Reflist|colwidth=25em}}
References
- {{cite book|last=Bacon|first=Reginald, Sir|title=The Dover Patrol 1915–1917|volume=II|publisher=George H. Doran company|location=New York|year=1919|oclc=1136826}}
- {{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Alfred Francis Blakeney|title=The Blocking of Zeebrugge|url=https://archive.org/details/blockingofzeebru01carp|location=New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1922|oclc=648562}}
- {{cite journal|last=Dilke|first=Alexander|title=Secrets Behind the Names That Sail the Seas|journal=The War Illustrated|date=29 March 1945|volume=8|number=208|url=http://www.thewarillustrated.info/203/secrets-behind-the-names-that-sail-the-seas.asp|access-date=4 March 2008|archive-date=3 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403094430/http://www.thewarillustrated.info/203/secrets-behind-the-names-that-sail-the-seas.asp|url-status=usurped}}
- {{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|location=Annapolis|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-87021-907-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_z3o0}}
- {{cite book|last=Henshaw|first=John | title = V & W Destroyers: A Developmental History|year=2020| publisher = Seaforth Publishing| isbn= 9781526774859 }}
- {{cite book|last=Messimer|first=Dwight R.|title=Find and Destroy: Antisubmarine Warfare in World War I|year=2001|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis|isbn= 1-55750-447-4}}
- {{cite book|last=Messimer|first=Dwight R.|title=Verschollen: World War I U-boat Losses|year=2002|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis|isbn=155750475X}}
- {{cite journal|editor-last=Ravenscroft|editor-first=G. M.|title=Professional Notes: Great Britain|journal=United States Naval Institute Proceedings|volume=45 |issue=193|location=Annapolis|publisher=United States Naval Institute|date=March 1919|pages=426–437}}
- {{cite journal|journal=Sea History|publisher=National Maritime Historical Society|year=1983|oclc=3064427}}
- {{cite journal|journal=The Nautical Gazette|publisher=The Gazette|location=New York|year=1944|oclc=6410316}}
- {{cite book|last=van der Vat|first=Dan|title=The Grand Scuttle: The Sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow 1919|location=Edinburgh|publisher=Birlinn|year=1997|isbn=1874744823}}
Further reading
- {{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|author-link=Norman Friedman}}
- {{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}}
{{Tribal class destroyer (1905)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zubian}}
Category:Tribal-class destroyers (1905)
Category:Ships built in Chatham