HMS Somme (1918)


HMS Somme was an Admiralty destroyer built for the Royal Navy during World War I. commissioned seven days before the end of the war, the ship was sold for scrap in 1932.

Description

The Admiralty S class were larger and faster versions of the preceding. The ships had an overall length of, a beam of and a deep draught of. They displaced at normal load. The ships' complement was 82 officers and ratings.
The ships were powered by a single Brown-Curtis geared steam turbine that drove two propeller shafts using steam provided by three Yarrow boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of. Somme reached a speed of during her sea trials. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at.
The Admiralty S-class ships were armed with three single QF Mark IV guns. One gun was positioned on the forecastle, the second was on a platform between the funnels and the third at the stern. They were equipped with a single QF 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun on a platform forward of the mainmast. They were also fitted with two rotating twin mounts for torpedoes amidships and two 18-inch torpedo tubes, one on each broadside abaft the forecastle.

Construction and career

Somme, the first ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was ordered on 9 April 1917 as part of the Eleventh War Programme from Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company. The ship was laid down at the company's Govan shipyard in November 1917, launched on 10 August 1918 and commissioned on 4 November.
She was recommissioned on 15 December 1920. The ship re-commissioned at Portsmouth with 2/5ths crew on 4 December 1923 for service with the Eighth Destroyer Flotilla of the Atlantic Fleet. Somme served on the China Station during 1927–1929 and conducted anti-piracy patrols. The ship was sold for breaking in August 1932.