H.M.S. Tirade (1917)

H.M.S. Tirade (1917)
Pendant Number:	F.81 (Jan 1917) G.80 (Jan 1918)
Builder:	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
Ordered:	Mar 1916 (8th Order)
Launched:	21 Apr, 1917
Commissioned:	28 Jun, 1917
Sold:	15 Nov, 1921

H.M.S. Tirade was one of sixty-two "R" class destroyers completed for the Royal Navy in 1916-17.

Service

Upon joining the fleet on 21 July 1917, she joined the Fifteenth Destroyer Flotilla to help escort convoys out of Lough Swilly, despite a minor fault in a 4-in gun and a steering defect that would not be rectified before September.

In early August, she and Rapid were tasked to search for the culprit in torpedoing and sinking a vessel. They found only flotsam and a swimming horse, whom they destroyed. While returning to their convoy, a gunner aboard Tirade sighted the conning tower of a distant submarine, which dived. Tirade dropped two depth charges to no appreciable immediate effect.

Later in the same month, Tirade was among three destroyers escorting three empty oilers when one was torpedoed at sunrise. A second torpedo attack the next midnight failed to hit Tirade and a remaining oiler.

After taking twelve days to address her steering problem, she proceeded to Scapa Flow to work with the Fifteenth. She lost several torpedoes in practice firings and then commenced escorting excruciatingly slow and disorderly convoys from Norway. On 29 September at 2.15 p.m., Moravia pointed her toward UC 55, visible on the surface and in distress due to a diving mishap. Charging in and firing from a range of 3,400 yards, Tirade's third shell struck near the conning tower of the fleeing sub, and her fifth on the aft casing below the waterline. Tirade approached to ram and drop depth charges on her hapless foe, and Sylvia charged in, firing her forward 12-pdr.. Moravia and Rowena attempted to pile on, but the kill was Tirade's. She recovered two of the nineteen Germans rescued from the water.

Lieutenant Stanistreet was awarded a bounty of 145 pounds in February, 1920.

On 21 October, 1917, Tirade accidentally rammed Marmion while they were shepherding another convoy. Tirade suffered little damage, but her victim foundered before she could be towed to safety.

Reduced to C. & M. Party at the Nore on 28 November, 1919.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Lieutenant-Commander Henry D. C. Stanistreet, 16 June, 1917 – 9 January, 1919
• Lieutenant-Commander John Fawcett, 10 November, 1917 – December, 1917  (temporary, apparently during Stanistreet's absence)
• Lieutenant in Command Francis W. Craven, 11 January, 1919 – 25 January, 1919
• Lieutenant-Commander Alexander L. Fletcher, 25 January, 1919 – 1 October, 1919

See Also

• Wikipedia