HMS TB 5 (1906)

HMS TB 5[lower-alpha 1] (originally named HMS Spider) was a Cricket-class coastal destroyer or torpedo-boat of the British Royal Navy. TB 9 was built by the shipbuilder J S White from 1905 to 1907. She was used for local patrol duties in the First World War and survived the war. She was sold for scrap in 1920.

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS TB 5
Builder: J. Samuel White, Cowes
Laid down: 24 January 1906
Launched: 15 December 1906
Completed: May 1907
Fate: Sold 1920
General characteristics
Class and type: Cricket-class coastal destroyer
Displacement: 268 long tons (272 t)
Length: 171 ft 6 in (52.27 m) oa
Beam: 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Draught: 6 ft 4 1⁄2 in (1.943 m)
Installed power: 3,750 shp (2,800 kW)
Propulsion:
  • 2× Yarrow boilers
  • Parsons steam turbines
  • 3 shafts
Speed: 26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h)
Complement: 39
Armament:
  • 2 × 12-pounder (76 mm) guns
  • 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

Design

The Cricket-class was intended as a smaller and cheaper supplement to the large, fast, but expensive Tribal-class destroyer, particularly in coastal waters such as the English Channel.[1][2] An initial order for twelve ships was placed by the Admiralty in May 1905 as part of the 1905–1906 shipbuilding programme, with five ships each ordered from Thornycroft and J. Samuel White and two from Yarrow.[1]

White's ships (the different shipbuilders built to their own design, although standardised machinery and armament was fitted) were 178 feet 0 inches (54.25 m) long overall and 175 feet 0 inches (53.34 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 17 feet 6 inches (5.33 m) and a draught of 6 feet 1 1⁄2 inches (1.867 m). Displacement was 247 long tons (251 t) normal and 272 long tons (276 t) deep load.[3] The ships had turtleback[lower-alpha 2] forecastles and two funnels. Two oil-fuelled Yarrow water-tube boilers fed steam to three-stage Parsons steam turbines, driving three propeller shafts.[5][2] The machinery was designed to give 3,600 shaft horsepower (2,700 kW), with a speed of 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h) specified.[6]

Armament consisted of two 12-pounder (76-mm) 12 cwt guns[lower-alpha 3], and three 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (in three single mounts).[5][1] The ships had a crew of 39.[6]

Service

The fifth of the torpedo-boats ordered from Whites under the 1905–1906 programme was laid down at J. Samuel White's Cowes shipyard on 24 January 1906, was launched on 15 December 1906 and completed in May 1907.[7]

TB 5 was refitted at Sheerness dockyard late in 1912.[8] In April 1913 TB 5 and TB 34 collided and were repaired at Sheerness dockyard.[9][10]

In 1912, four Patrol Flotillas were formed with torpedo boats and older destroyers, with the duties of preventing enemy minelaying or torpedo attacks on the east coast of Britain.[11][12] In March 1913, TB 5 was a member of the Eighth Flotilla, based at Chatham,[13] but by July 1914 she had moved to the Seventh Flotilla, based at Devonport.[14] TB 5 was still a member of the Seventh Flotilla at the outbreak of war, when the Flotilla moved to its war station on the east coast of England.[15][16]

In February 1915 TB 5 was one of four torpedo boats sent to Newhaven to escort stores ships sailing from that port to France. On 23 February, after two merchant ships were sunk by the German submarine U-8 off Beachy Head, TB 5 was sent to join the forces hunting the German submarine.[lower-alpha 4] Despite the hunt, U-8 torpedoed and sank three more merchant ships on 24 February before returning safely to her base at Ostend.[17] The torpedo-boats proved unsuitable for the weather, but despite this they continued on escort duties, with the Newhaven torpedo boats transferring to the Portsmouth command, where they were used to escort transports from Southampton.[18]

On 3 September 1916, the Danish steamer SS Johan Siem was stopped off Newhaven by a German submarine, with the steamer's crew abandoning ship, but TB 5 came up from Newhaven[lower-alpha 5] with two trawlers and drove the submarine off and took Johan Siem into Newhaven.[19] On 3 May 1917 the German submarine UB-40 torpedoed and sank the merchant ship SS Clodmore off Newhaven. TB 5 rescued the crew of Clodmore.[20] On 6 June 1917 TB 5 spotted what appeared to be the conning tower of a submarine which dived away. TB 5 attacked with four depth charges bringing up a thick oil slick over a considerable area. The success of the attack was subsequently judged by Naval Intelligence as "Improbable".[21]

Disposal

TB 5 was sold for scrap on 7 October 1920 to Ward of Briton Ferry.[22][23]

References
  1. Torpedo Boat No. 5
  2. A fore deck with exaggerated camber designed to throw off sea water at high speeds.[4]
  3. 12 cwt refers to the weight of the gun in hundredweights
  4. Other ships involved in the hunt were the destroyers Ghurka, Maori and the torpedo-boat TB 1
  5. Newhaven was a sub-base of Portsmouth
  1. Friedman 2009, pp. 110–111
  2. Brown 2003, p. 195
  3. Friedman 2009, pp. 110, 294
  4. Gardiner & Lambert 1992, p. 188
  5. Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 72–73
  6. Friedman 2009, p. 294
  7. Friedman 2009, p. 305
  8. "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 35. December 1912. p. 105.
  9. "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 35. May 1913. p. 394.
  10. "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 35. June 1913. p. 419.
  11. Manning 1961, p. 25
  12. Naval Staff Monograph No. 7 1921, pp. 73–77
  13. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Patrol Flotillas". The Navy List. March 1913. p. 269d.
  14. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Patrol Flotillas". The Navy List. August 1914. p. 269c.
  15. Naval Staff Monograph No. 7 1921, pp. 77–79, 102
  16. "Ships of the Royal Navy — Location/Action Data 1914–1918: Admiralty "Pink Lists", 5 August 1914". World War 1 at Sea. naval-history.net. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  17. Naval Staff Monograph No. 28 1925, pp. 80–82
  18. Naval Staff Monograph No. 28 1925, p. 85
  19. Naval Staff Monograph No. 33 1927, pp. 133–134
  20. Naval Staff Monograph No. 35 1939, p. 51
  21. Naval Staff Monograph No. 35 1939, p. 72
  22. Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 81
  23. Colledge & Warlow 2006, p. 329
  • Brown, D. K. (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-84067-5292.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 9781861762818.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Corbett, Julian S. (1923). Naval Operations: Volume III. History of the Great War. London: Longmans, Green and Co.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Dittmar, F. J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gardiner, Robert; Lambert, Andrew, eds. (1992). Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-564-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Monograph No. 7: The Patrol Flotillas at the Commencement of the War (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). III. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1921. pp. 71–107.
  • Monograph No. 28: Home Waters Part III: From November 1914 to the end of January 1915 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). XII. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1925.
  • Monograph No. 33: Home Waters Part VII: From June 1916 to November 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). XVII. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1927.
  • Monograph No. 35: Home Waters Part IX: 1st May 1917 to 31st July 1917 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). XIX. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1939.
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