HMS Wolverine (1910)

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HMS Wolverine was a Template:Sclass of the Royal Navy launched on 15 January 1910. She was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead.

Design and construction

Wolverine was one of three Template:Sclasss ordered from the shipbuilder Cammell Laird as part of the 1908–1909 shipbuilding programme.<ref name="Friedman p118,305-6">Friedman 2009, pp. 118, 305–306.</ref><ref name="Manning p56">Manning 1961, p. 56.</ref> 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.<ref name="grand p68">Brown 2010, p. 68.</ref> Wolverine, like the other two Laird-built ships, was Template:Convert long, with a beam of Template:Convert and a draught of Template:Convert.<ref name="Manning p57">Manning 1961, p. 57.</ref> Displacement was Template:Convert normal.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Five Yarrow boilers fed direct-drive Parsons steam turbines driving three propeller shafts.<ref name="conways06 p73">Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 73.</ref> The machinery was rated at Template:Convert to meet the design speed of Template:Convert.<ref name="Manning p54,7">Manning 1961, pp. 54, 57.</ref> Gun armament consisted of one BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIII and three QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns.<ref group="lower-alpha">"Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12cwt referring to the weight of the gun.</ref> Torpedo armament consisted of two 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. Two spare torpedoes were carried.<ref name="Friedman p116,8">Friedman 2009, pp. 116, 118.</ref><ref name="conways06 p73-4">Gardiner and Gray 1985, pp. 73–74.</ref>

Wolverine was laid down at Laird's Birkenhead shipyard on 26 April 1904 and was launched on 15 January 1910.<ref name="Fried p306">Friedman 2009, p. 306.</ref> She reached a speed of Template:Convert on her sea trials,<ref>Hythe 1912, p. 249.</ref> meeting the contract requirement of 27 knots, and was completed in September 1910.<ref name="Fried p306"/>

Service history

On commissioning, Wolverine joined the First Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Home Fleet.<ref name="Manning p25,55">Manning 1961, pp. 25, 55.</ref><ref name="nmm">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1912, the Royal Navy's destroyer flotillas were re-organized, with the Beagles joining the Third Destroyer Flotilla.<ref name="Manning p25">Manning 1961, p. 25.</ref> Wolverine remained part of the Third Flotilla until August 1913,<ref name="nmm"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> but had transferred to the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet by November that year.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

At the outbreak of the First World War, Wolverine was still in the Mediterranean, as a member of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The flotilla, including Wolverine, was involved in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser Template:Ship. Wolverine was one of eight destroyers deployed by Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge to assist his squadron of Armoured cruisers in stopping the German ships escaping to Austrian waters. When it was realised that Goeben and Breslau were not heading to Austria, Troubridge left these destroyers behind as they did not have sufficient coal left for a high speed pursuit, and set off southwards on the night of 6/7 August 1914 with his four Armoured cruisers. He called off his pursuit later that night because he could not intercept the German squadron until daylight, when GoebenTemplate:'s superior speed and armament would give the Germans a significant advantage.<ref name="Massie p41-3">Massie 2007, pp. 41–43.</ref><ref name="Marderv2 p25-8">Marder 2013, pp. 25–28.</ref><ref>The Naval Review Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 514–519.</ref> On 1 November 1914 she and the destroyer Template:HMS sank a Turkish armed yacht, believed to be involved in minelaying operations, in the Gulf of Smyrna.<ref name="navopv1 p363">Corbett 1920, p. 363.</ref>

In 1915, along with numerous other Beagle, Template:Sclass2 and Template:Sclass destroyers, she took part in the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign. Early operations involved escorting trawlers when they attempted to sweep Turkish minefields in the narrows of the Dardanelles.<ref name="navopv2 p173">Corbett 1921, p. 173.</ref> During the initial landings at ANZAC Cove and at Cape Helles, Wolverine joined several other destroyers in minesweeping operations in the Dardanelles straits to allow Allied battleships to bombard Turkish positions. On 28 April, Wolverine was sweeping in conjunction with sister ship Template:HMS (the sweep wire was run between the two ships) when she was hit on the ship's bridge by a Turkish shell, which killed Commander Osmond J. Prentis, WolverineTemplate:' s captain and two more men.<ref>Dorling 1932, pp.66–67.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On the night of 12/13 May, the pre-dreadnought battleships Template:HMS and Template:HMS were anchored in Morto Bay, supporting French troops. To protect the two battleships, Beagle and Bulldog patrolled the north side of the straits, with Scorpion and Wolverine patrolling the southern side and Template:HMS in the centre of the straits. Despite these patrols, the Turkish destroyer Template:Ship managed to sneak past Beagle and Bulldog on the northern side of the straits and torpedoed and sunk Goliath before successfully escaping. On releasing that Goliath had been torpedoed, Wolverine and Scorpion attempted to cut off the Turkish destroyer, but Muavenet-i Milliye evaded them.<ref name="Navopv2 p406-8">Corbett 1921, pp. 406–408.</ref>

Work included naval artillery support, particular at the Cape Helles beachhead.<ref>Dorling 1932, p. 72</ref> On 28 June Wolverine provided support for the advancing forces at the Battle of Gully Ravine, helping to break up a Turkish counter attack.<ref>Corbett 1923, p. 71.</ref> She provided cover for the final evacuation from Cape Helles on the night of 8/9 January 1916.<ref>Dorling 1932, pp. 88–89.</ref><ref>Corbett 1923, pp. 248–255.</ref> From March 1916, Wolverine operated in the Aegean, patrolling the Dodecanese, Sporades and Cyclades and the Turkish coast, carrying raiding parties of Greek and Cretan irregular troops commanded by the classical scholar John Myres which carried out cattle raids on the Turkish coast.<ref>Dorling 1932, pp. 95–100.</ref>

Wolverine was recalled to home waters and assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla now based at Buncrana, near Lough Swilly in the north of Ireland in October 1917.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On 12 December 1917, Wolverine was part of an escort group on the way to rendezvous with a Britain-bound Atlantic convoy off the northwest coast of Ireland, when the force's senior officer, aboard Template:HMS ordered a course change. After carrying out the manoeuvre, Wolverine was rammed by the fleet sweeping sloop Template:HMS, with the destroyer rolling over and sinking as a result of the damage received.<ref>Kemp 1999, p. 60.</ref><ref name="hepp112">Hepper 2006, p. 112</ref> Two of WolverineTemplate:'s crew were killed.<ref name="hepp112"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The collision was blamed on RosemaryTemplate:'s bridge crew, and in particular her officer of the watch, who had carried out the course change too early, and then reversed the manoeuvre, putting the sloop on collision course with the destroyer, with there being no time for successful evasive action.<ref name="hepp112"/>

References

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