HMS Nymphe was one of 20 (later H-class) destroyers built for the Royal Navy that served in the First World War. The Acorn class were smaller than the preceding but oil-fired and better armed. Launched in 1911, the ship served with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, joining the Grand Fleet at the start of the war in 1914, and was transferred to Portsmouth in early 1916. She joined the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean in 1918. She was placed in reserve in 1919 and was sold in 1921 to be broken up.
Design and description
After the preceding coal-burning , the saw a return to oil-firing. Pioneered by the of 1905 and of 1907, using oil enabled a more efficient design, leading to a smaller vessel which also had increased deck space available for weaponry. Unlike previous destroyer designs, where the individual yards had been given discretion within the parameters set by the Admiralty, the Acorn class were a set, with the propulsion machinery the only major variation between the different ships. This enabled costs to be reduced. The class was later renamed H class.
Nymphe had a length of between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and a deep draught of . Displacement was normal and full load. Power was provided by Parsons steam turbines fed by four White-Forster boilers and driving three shafts. Three funnels were fitted, the foremost tall and thin, the central short and thick and the aft narrow. The engines were rated at which gave a design speed of . On trial, Nymphe achieved . The vessel carried of fuel oil which gave a range of at a cruising speed of .
Armament consisted of two single BL Mk VIII guns, one carried on the forecastle and another aft. Two single QF 12-pounder guns were mounted between the first two funnels. Two rotating torpedo tubes were mounted aft of the funnels, with two reloads carried, and a searchlight fitted between the tubes. The destroyer was later modified to carry a single Vickers QF 3-pounder anti-aircraft gun and depth charges for anti-submarine warfare. The ship's complement was 72 officers and ratings.
Construction
The 20 destroyers of the Acorn class were ordered by the Admiralty under the 1909–1910 Naval Programme. One of three in the class sourced from R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Nymphe was laid down at the company's Hebburn shipyard on 8 December 1909 with yard number 1315 and launched on 31 January 1911. The ship was completed in May 1911, the seventh ship in Royal Navy service to be named for the nymph, and the sixth to use the variant spelling "nymphe."
Service history
1911–1914
On commissioning in 1911, Nymphe joined the rest of the Acorn-class destroyers in the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, an element of the 2nd Division of the Home Fleet. Nymphe and her sister ships , , , , , and conducted high-speed trials in the Atlantic Ocean off Berehaven, Ireland, on 1 July 1911 and all achieved despite rough weather. All suffered damage, however, and by the time they reached Portsmouth, England, on 4 July 1911, they all were leaking and had water in their fuel oil bunkers, requiring repair by divers. Nymphe suffered the greatest damage, with flooding in her magazines as well, ruining her ammunition. On 16 October 1911, a 6-pounder gun aboard Nymphe burst during night-firing exercises off Weymouth, England, slightly injuring one officer.
The 2nd Destroyer Flotilla was transferred to the First Fleet in 1912. In late April 1914, Nymphe and two other destroyers patrolled in Dundrum Bay, County Down, on the coast of Ireland to interdict the smuggling of weapons into Ireland. In July 1914, Nymphe was one of 20 destroyers in the First Fleet's Second Flotilla.
World War I
World War I began on 28 July 1914, and the United Kingdom entered the war on the side of the Allies on 4 August 1914. With the outbreak of war, the First Fleet became the Grand Fleet.
At 10:30 on 15 October 1914, the Imperial German Navy submarine torpedoed and sank the protected cruiser in the North Sea off Aberdeen, Scotland. Nymphe and the destroyers Alarm, Lyra, and Nemesis put to sea that day to patrol in the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow. At about 13.30 Nymphe sighted U-9′s periscope, alerted the other destroyers, and steered to ram U-9. Nymphe′s ramming attempt failed. U-9 fired a torpedo which missed Nymphe′s bow by an only a few feet before passing down her starboard side, then passed in front of Nemesis and forced Alarm to take evasive action by making a hard turn to port.