H.M.S. Hecla (1878)

H.M.S. Hecla (1878)
Pendant Number:	7A (1914) C7 (Jan 1918)
Builder:	Harland & Wolff
Launched:	13 Jun, 1878
Sold:	13 Jul, 1926

H.M.S. Hecla was a civilian ship, British Crown purchased on the stocks for use as a depot ship.

Service

In mid-May 1878, it was proposed to refit Hecla at Portsmouth as an armed troopship carrying five 64-pdr 71 cwt guns and one 40-pdr B.L. gun.

Re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 26 May, 1882.

Hecla soon proved herself "a very wet ship." During one trial cruise in Bantry Bay in late 1883 the sea "made clean sweeps over her aft, and flooder her beyond the waist, besides breaking the skylights of the deck cabins."

In September 1883, Hecla was unable to cruise with the rest of the Channel Squadron owing to "a long list of defects" reported to Portsmouth Royal Dockyard. She required repairs to the pistons of her main engines and her complement of second-class torpedo boats.

Hecla participated in the Annual Manoeuvres of 1890 under the command of Captain Edwin J. P. Gallwey as part of a Reserve Fleet of the force representing the Royal Navy, headquartered in the Downs.

She, Flirt and Star of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla were paid off on 30 April 1912 and re-commissioned the following day.

Hecla served with the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow from 1914-16 then supported the Second Destroyer Flotilla from Belfast in 1917 and 1918.

She recommissioned at Chatham on 22 October, 1919.

Captains

Dates of appointment given.

• Captain Morgan Singer, 3 September, 1878
• Captain Arthur K. Wilson, 5 March, 1881 – 30 July, 1884
• Captain Hector B. Stewart, 7 June, 1884 – 23 April, 1885  (suffering depression at end)
• Captain Edmund F. Jeffreys, 17 July, 1885 – 7 February, 1888
• Captain Edmund F. Jeffreys, 6 November, 1888 – 21 February, 1889
• Captain Edwin J. P. Gallwey, 21 January, 1889 – 31 October, 1890
• Lieutenant in Command Frederick L. Campbell, 1 November, 1890 – c. mid November, 1890  (temporary, on passage to Malta)
• Captain John Durnford, 17 November, 1890
• Commander (N) Richard H. Wellings, 5 September, 1895 – 22 December, 1897  (and for duty with Ships of the Fleet Reserve)
• Commander (N) William J. Scullard, 11 January, 1898 – 28 June, 1900
• Captain James de C. Hamilton, 10 July, 1900  (for the Annual Manoeuvres of 1900)
• Commander John I. Graham, 16 July, 1901 – 23 August, 1901  (for the Annual Manoeuvres of 1901)
• Captain Edward F. B. Charlton, 21 February, 1905 – 9 July, 1906
• Captain John Nicholas, 9 July, 1906 – 6 August, 1908
• Captain Reginald Y. Tyrwhitt, 6 August, 1908 – 10 August, 1909
• Commander Francis M. Leake, 10 August, 1909 – 14 August, 1909
• Commander Hugh F. W. Wyldbore-Smith, 14 August, 1909 – 21 April, 1910
• Commander John Luce, 21 April, 1910 – 19 October, 1910
• Captain Thomas P. Bonham, 19 October, 1910 – 17 May, 1911
• Captain Francis G. St. John, 17 May, 1911 – 18 December, 1912
• Captain Judge D'Arcy, 18 December, 1912 – 10 August, 1913
• Captain John E. Cameron, 20 August, 1913 – 2 January, 1915
• Captain Henry W. Parker, 2 January, 1915 – September, 1915^{[Fact Check]}
• Commander Sandford G. R. Nevile, 24 August, 1915 – 4 September, 1915
• Captain Edward O. Gladstone, 4 September, 1915 – 30 June, 1916
• Captain Arthur E. Wood, 30 June, 1916 – December, 1916
• Captain Percy Withers, December, 1916 – 7 January, 1917  (and as Captain (D) of Fourth Destroyer Flotilla)
• Captain John B. Sparks, 22 August, 1917 – 1 March, 1919  (and as Captain (D))
• Captain Adrian H. Smyth, 1 March, 1919 – 1 March, 1920
• Captain John B. Sparks, October, 1919 – 30 October, 1919  (and as Captain (D), Nore Reserve Flotilla)
• Captain John F. Grant-Dalton, 30 October, 1919 – 1 February, 1921  (and as Captain (D), Nore Reserve)
• Captain Edward O. Gladstone, 1 February, 1921 – 1 November, 1922  (and as Captain (D), Nore Reserve)
• Captain Leonard L. P. Willan, 1 November, 1922 – 29 December, 1924  (and as Captain (D), Nore Reserve Flotilla)
• Captain The Hon. Edward B. S. Bingham, 29 December, 1924 – 1 January, 1926  (and as Captain (D), Nore Destroyer Flotilla)

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).