HMS Broke was a Thornycroft type flotilla leader of the Royal Navy. She was the second of four ships of this class that were ordered from J I Thornycroft in April 1918, and was originally named Rooke after Rear Admiral Sir George Rooke of the Dutch Wars and the Battle of Vigo Bay.
The naturalist Peter Scott, among the ship's crew in 1940, conducted experiments in ship camouflage, having the two sides of Broke painted in different patterns.
Design and construction
The Thornycroft type or Shakespeare-class leaders, were like the similar and contemporary Admiralty type (also known as the Scott-class) were designed to meet a requirement from Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, for a large, fast and heavily armed flotilla leader to match and outclass rumoured large German destroyers.
The ships had a length of overall, at the waterline and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Design displacement was normal and full load. The ship's machinery consisted of four Yarrow boilers that fed steam at to two sets of Brown-Curtis single-reduction geared-steam turbines, rated at . This gave a design speed of light, which corresponded to about at full load. Broke reached a maximum speed of during sea trials. Up to 500 tons of oil fuel could be carried, giving a range of at .
The class had a main gun armament consisted of five 4.7 in (120 mm)/45 calibre BL Mark I guns, on CP VI mountings capable of elevating to 30 degrees, arranged in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure with the remaining gun positioned on a platform between the funnels. Anti-aircraft armament consisted of a single gun on a platform abaft the rear funnel together with a pair of single two-pounder (40mm) pom-pom autocannon for close-in protection on single mounts. Torpedo armament consisted of two triple mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes between the 3-inch AA gun and the rear pair of 4.7-inch guns.
Four Shakespeare-class leaders (, Rooke, Saunders and Spragge) were ordered from Thornycroft in April 1918, as a follow-on to a pair of ships ordered in April 1916 and a third ordered in April 1917. Rooke, named after Admiral Sir George Rooke, was laid down at Thornycroft's Woolston, Hampshire shipyard in October 1918 and was launched on 16 September 1920. Her name was changed to Broke in April 1921, after Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Broke (). Broke was moved to the Royal Dockyard at Pembroke Dock for completion, but was not completed until 1925. She was commissioned on 15 April 1925. The ship's cost was £409,394.
Operational history
1925–1939
After trials and workup, Broke was ordered to the Mediterranean, arriving at Malta on 9 February 1925 and replacing as leader of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla. She was refitted at Malta dockyard from May to August 1929 and again from November 1930 to March 1931. Broke left the 4th Flotilla and returned to British waters in April 1931, going into reserve at Devonport. While in reserve, she acted as tender to the Royal Naval Engineering College at Keyham, Plymouth until April 1932, and then served as Emergency destroyer at Devonport. In June 1935 Broke received a full crew, and was allocated as an independent command (i.e. not part of any Flotilla) as part of the Reserve Fleet. She served as the flagship for the Rear Admiral (D) of the Reserve Fleet during the Royal Fleet Review in July 1935, before returning to local duties around Portsmouth. In October 1935, HMS Broke starred as the fictional "Second-class cruiser HMS Rutland" in the film Forever England based upon C. S. Forester's novel Brown on Resolution, with John Mills playing Able Seaman Brown in his first leading role.
Broke was refitted at Devonport from September 1936 to March 1937, having her boilers re-tubed. After completing the refit, Broke returned to reserve duties at Devonport, again acting as Emergency destroyer and as a tender for the Royal Naval Engineering College. On 2 September 1937 Broke was sent to investigate an SOS signal from the South African merchant ship Sherard Osborn in the Bay of Biscay. The Captain of Sherard Osborn had sent the signal fearing an imminent mutiny owing to an overtime dispute and poor conditions aboard the ship, but intervention by Broke was not needed. On 20 November that year, Broke was damaged in a collision with the destroyer and was under repair at Devonport from 31 December 1937 to 28 January 1938. She was temporarily brought forwards into full commission later into 1938, replacing as leader while Codrington was being refitted. Broke returned to reserve in October 1938 and again underwent refit at Devonport from January to June 1939.