HMS Grasshopper was a (or G-class) destroyer of the British Royal Navy. The Beagles were coal-fuelled ships, designed for a speed of , armed with a 4-inch (102 mm gun and two torpedo tubes. Grasshopper was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at their Govan yard, between 1909 and 1910, being launched on 23 November 1909 and completing in July 1910.
Grasshopper was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1913, and spent most of the First World War in the Mediterranean, taking part in the Gallipoli campaign, before returning to British waters in 1917. She was sold for scrap in November 1921.
Construction and design
Grasshopper was one of three s ordered from Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company as part of the 1908–1909 shipbuilding programme. The Beagles were not built to a standard design, with detailed design being left to the builders of individual ships in accordance with a loose specification.
The three Fairfield ships were long, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal. Five Yarrow boilers fed direct-drive Parsons steam turbines driving three propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at giving a design speed of . Gun armament consisted of one BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIII and three QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. Torpedo armament consisted of two 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. Two spare torpedoes were carried. The ship had a crew of 96 officers and men.
Grasshopper was laid down at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's Govan, Glasgow shipyard as Yard number 464 on 17 April 1909 and was launched on 23 November 1909. She reached a speed of during sea trials, and was completed in July 1910.
Service
The Beagles joined the 1st and 2nd Destroyer Flotillas as they commissioned, with Grasshopper being a member of the 1st Flotilla. She was refitted at Chatham Dockyard in July–September 1911. In 1912, a reorganisation of the Home Fleet resulted in the Beagles forming the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla. Grasshopper remained part of the 3rd Flotilla in March 1913. In October 1913, the Beagles, including Grasshopper, were moved to the Mediterranean as the newly formed 5th Destroyer Flotilla.
Grasshopper remained part of the 5th Flotilla on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War. With war clouds looming on 2 August 1914 the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla was involved in the search for and in the Mediterranean. On 3 August, the 3rd Division of the 5th Flotilla (, , Grasshopper and ) were at Malta and while it was initially planned that they reinforce Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge's squadron patrolling the entrance to the Adriatic, Grasshopper, along with Harpy and , was ordered to patrol the southern end of the Straits of Messina on 7 October. The attempts to intercept Goeben and Breslau failed, and the two German ships reached Turkey on 10 August.
In 1915 she took part in the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign. On the night of 1/2 March 1915, Grasshopper, along with , and escorted trawlers attempting to clear the minefields across the narrows of the Dardanelles straits. The force came under heavy fire from Turkish guns, and were forced to turn back before reaching the minefields. Continued attempts to clear the minefields ay night proved unsuccessful, and it was decided to clear the minefields by day while the British and French battleships suppressed the Turkish guns that protected the minefields. This was attempted on 18 March, with Grasshopper, Basilisk, Mosquito and Racoon again escorting the minesweeping trawlers. The attempt failed, however, with the fire from mobile guns forcing the minesweepers to turn back, with the battleships , and sunk and the battleships and and the battlecruiser badly damaged.