H.M.S. Acheron (1911)

H.M.S. Acheron (1911)
Pendant Number:	H.00 (1914) H.02 (Jan-Apr 1918)^[1]
Builder:	John I. Thornycroft & Company^[2]
Ordered:	1910-11 Programme^[3]
Launched:	27 Jun, 1911^[4]
Completed:	Nov, 1911^[5]
Sold:	9 May, 1921^[6]
Fate:	to Ward

Acheron, c1914 – Jan, 1918
1919 painting by her signalman, John W. A. Erasmuson, R.N.V.R.. Image courtesy of Les Smith.

H.M.S. Acheron was one of twenty-nine destroyers of the Acheron class.

Radio

She was one of 18 Acheron class destroyers fitted with W/T in 1912, becoming one of 123 destroyers so far fitted with Destroyer Sets.^[7]

Service

In July, 1914, Acheron was serving in First Destroyer Flotilla, part of First Fleet.^[8]

Immediately before the start of war, plans to remove shipping strips under cocoanut matting on this ship and Ariel were deferred.^[9]

Acheron fought with the First Destroyer Flotilla at the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August, 1914 under the command of Commander Brien Michael Money.

Acheron would also fight at the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915 with her flotilla, also under Money's command.

On 10 March, 1915, while operating out of Rosyth, she attacked and sank U 12 off of Fife Ness along with Ariel and Attack by repeated rams and gunfire.^[10]

She fought at the Battle of Jutland under the command of Charles Gordon Ramsey as part of the First Destroyer Flotilla,^[11] which was tasked with screening the Fifth Battle Squadron.

In November, 1916, Acheron transferred to the Second Destroyer Flotilla, which was then eighteen destroyers under orders of the Commander-in-Charge or Devonport. Around September 1917, she left with three other Acheron's to join the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, which was supporting the Mediterranean Fleet.

An image at the Imperial War Museum dated 1918, but perhaps being earlier by its pennant numbers,^[12] suggests that Acheron at that time sported a splinter/spray shield on her forward 4-in gun (only), had life-saving rings on her after searchlight platform, a chart-table on her bridge's port side, and no visible installation of a gunnery director.

As part of the post-war fleet re-organization in February/March 1919, Acheron had no place anymore. She became inactive, and would eventually be sold in May, 1921.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

Commander Viscount Kelburn, 24 October, 1911^[13] – after June, 1913^[14]
Commander Wion de M. Egerton, 24 October, 1913^[15]^[16] – 31 March, 1914^[17]
Commander Brien M. Money, 31 March, 1914^[18]^[19] – 26 January, 1916^[20]
Commander Charles G. Ramsey, 3 February, 1916^[21] – July, 1916^[22] (in command at Battle of Jutland)
Lieutenant in Command Robert L. Burnett, July, 1916^[23] – 15 November, 1916 (transferred in from Pasley)
Lieutenant in Command John B. Spurgin, 15 November, 1916^[24]^[25] – 27 January, 1917^[26]
Lieutenant in Command Arthur K. Gibson, 1 March, 1917^[27] – December, 1917^[28]
Lieutenant in Command Richard C. A. Littleton, December, 1917 – 6 August, 1918
Commander (I, Fr.) Basil R. Poë, 3 August, 1918^[29]^[30] – 12 April, 1919^[31]
Commander Malcolm Murray, 10 May, 1919^[32] – 30 August, 1919 (and for command of group of ships in reserve at the Nore)