HMS Tribune was an destroyer that served with the Royal Navy during the Russian Civil War. Launched in 1918, the vessel entered service with the Aegean Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. Tribune saw no action during the First World War but was involved in supporting the evacuation of refugees from the Russian Civil War, particularly from Crimea in 1920 and 1921. The ship also visited Constantinople in 1920 and 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence. In 1923, the destroyer was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. In 1929, the ship took part in simulated amphibious warfare with the Territorial Army. In 1930, the signing of the London Naval Treaty required the Royal Navy to retire older destroyers before acquiring new ones. Tribune was one of those chosen for retirement and, in 1931, the destroyer was sold to be broken up.
Design and development
Tribune was one of thirty-three destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty on 7 April 1917 as part of the Twelfth War Construction Programme. The design was a development of the introduced as a cheaper and faster alternative to the . Differences with the R class were minor, such as having the searchlight moved aft.
Tribune had a overall length of and a length of between perpendiculars. Beam was and draught . Displacement was normal and deep load. Three White-Forster boilers fed steam to two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of at normal loading and at deep load. Two funnels were fitted. The ship carried of fuel oil, which gave a design range of at .
Armament consisted of three QF Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline. One was mounted raised on the forecastle, one on a platform between the funnels and one aft. The ship also mounted a single 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun for air defence. Four tubes were fitted in two twin rotating mounts aft. The ship was designed to mount two torpedo tubes either side of the superstructure to be controlled by the officer in charge directly, but this required the forecastle plating to be cut away. This made the vessel very wet, so they were removed. The weight saved enabled the heavier Mark V 21-inch torpedo to be carried. Four depth charge chutes were fitted aft. The ship had a complement of 90 officers and ratings.
Construction and career
Ordered on 7 April 1917, Tribune was laid down by J. Samuel White at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight with the yard number 1506 on 21 August, and launched on 28 March the following year. The ship was completed on 16 July. The vessel was the fifth to carry the name, which recalled the tribunes of ancient Rome. On commissioning, Tribune joined the Aegean Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet.
With the First World War closing, the destroyer saw no action before the Armistice, and remained in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla. By this time, the increasingly belligerent Russian Civil War led the Royal Navy to send ships into the Black Sea to support the White Russian forces and manage the refugee crisis that arose from the conflict, including the evacuation of the Crimea. Tribune was sent to Karkinit Bay in the Crimea in January 1920. At the same time, the war between Greece and Turkey was escalating and the Turkish War of Independence had broken out. On 27 March, the destroyer accompanied the seaplane carrier and the battleship on a visit to Constantinople. The Allies had taken over the running of the city, and much of the force supporting the White Russians was now diverted to this new threat.
On 8 December 1921, Tribune was dispatched to Mykolaiv in one of the last naval operations in the Russian conflict. Although there is a lack of contemporary evidence for how Tribune was involved in the actual evacuation, the operation was considered a success by contemporaries. On 1 December the follow year, the destroyer was again stationed in Constantinople. The recent Chanak Crisis had shaken the British ruling class and, along with the Carlton Club meeting, led to the fall of the government of David Lloyd George. The destroyer was sent to Chanak on 2 December, but saw no action and returned to Malta the following day.