H.M.S. Sharpshooter (1888)

H.M.S. Sharpshooter (1888)
Builder:	Devonport DYd
Laid down:	13 Jan, 1888
Launched:	30 Nov, 1888
Completed:	Aug, 1889
Hulked:	1904

H.M.S. Sharpshooter was one of thirteen Sharpshooter class torpedo gunboats. This class was followed by others which hoped to improve upon the problematic nature of the originals, but Sharpshooter herself was particularly vexacious in service.

Service

The ship ventured outside the Plymouth breakwater on 31 July 1889 for a steam trial at forced draught and suffered a steam accident which scalded five men. The injuries were not terribly serious.

Sharpshooter's machinery, like many of her sisters', was a source of constant trouble. An eight-hours steam trial on 30 September 1890 was abbreviated by a mishap to her starboard engine. A re-try on 10 October went much better, yielding speeds of 16.5 knots for the entire eight hour duration.

Until her participation in the Annual Manoeuvres of 1892, her frequent steam trials and dockyard visits occur under the command of no specifically mentioned officer. Toward the end of those, on 14 August in a gale, her fires were extinguished and shipped fully seventy tons of water. A similar fate had nearly befallen Skipjack, and it was reported that "it is the univeral opinion amongst naval officers who have had experience of the Sharpshooter class that the vessels are unfit for active service owing to the weakness of their engines and boilers." It might be that the vulnerability was introduced by the boilers resting on the hull rather than on the deck.

On 14 September, a Court Martial was convened in Devonport for Mr. Mabb, her chief engineer. No conclusion was immediately forthcoming, but an officer from H.M.S. Spanker reported that that ship's bulkheads had flexed when she was under strain, and it was thought that this might open her seams. Tests of the two ship were to be conducted, but before these could start, in January 1893 Sharpshooter's faults were declared too great to permit her participation.

On 21 March 1894, she trialled a new set of boilers in the Channel for two hours before her automatic feed gear broke down, compelling a return to Plymouth sound, where her crew made repairs, allowing her to continue trials. This was the sixth breakdown she had experienced since her steam trials began.

After defects were repaired, further trials in April showed weakness in the steering engine and the starboard low-pressure indicator gave out. As she returned to harbour, the starboard air pump rods broke.

In September 1894, she was commissioned to replace Speedwell in the Channel Squadron. She underwent a satisfactory three-hour steaming trial on 24 September, but an examination showed her piston-rod gland and automatic feed for a boiler was defective. Repairs would be extensive enough that she was unable to join the squadron for the cruise. She was able to make it to Gibraltar with Speedy by the end of October. Predictably, after some time operating out of Gibraltar, she developed piston rod problems and required accompaniment for prudence's sake.

When the squadron wished to depart Gibraltar for Arosa Bay in January 1895, it was declared that Sharpshooter would remain at Gibraltar "for the present." The ship was not proving itself a naval asset in any way.

Having served with the Sixth Submarine Flotilla, Sharpshooter was to be paid off at Chatham on 4 June, 1904 and placed in the hands of a Care & Maintenance Party. Her crew was turned over to the new submarine tender Alecto.

Sharpshooter was soon hulked for instructional duties and renamed Northampton.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Lieutenant & Commander (T) The Hon. Alexander E. Bethell, 18 July, 1889  (lent for Annual Manoeuvres of 1889)
• Commander Lionel de L. Wells, 21 July, 1892 – 22 September, 1892  (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1892)
• Commander William Ricketts, 15 September, 1894 – 21 January, 1895^[Inference]
• Commander Arthur Dodgson, 21 January, 1895 – 20 July, 1897  (in command for Annual Manoeuvres of 1896 and 1897, in lieu of a Lieutenant, sick at end)
• Lieutenant & Commander John I. Pocock, 6 September, 1898
• Lieutenant & Commander Frederick W. Loane, 1 March, 1900 – 19 October, 1900  (lent, and for the Annual Manoeuvres of 1900)
• Lieutenant & Commander Benjamin J. Blower, 29 November, 1900 – 31 March, 1903  (including Annual Manoeuvres of 1901?)
• Lieutenant & Commander Edgar R. Morant, 21 July, 1903 – 18 August, 1903  (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1903)
• Lieutenant & Commander Wyndham Forbes, 14 July, 1904 – 24 September, 1904  (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1904)
• Commander Llewellyn Griffiths, 19 October, 1904 – 8 February, 1905
• Lieutenant & Commander Oscar M. Makins, 7 February, 1905 – 1905
• Lieutenant & Commander Joseph Sanders, 28 February, 1905 – 10 November, 1908^[Inference]
• Lieutenant & Commander Henry Luxmoore, June, 1906 – c. July, 1906  (for manoeuvres)
• Lieutenant & Commander George D. Jephson, 10 November, 1908 – 1 January, 1910
• Lieutenant-Commander Reginald Henniker-Heaton, 1 January, 1910 – 8 January, 1912
• Lieutenant & Commander Thomas J. S. Lyne, 8 January, 1912 – June, 1912

See Also

• Wikipedia