H.M.S. Salmon (1916)

H.M.S. Salmon (1916)
Pendant Number:	G.94 (Jan 1917) G.93 (Jan 1918)
Builder:	Harland & Wolff
Ordered:	Jul 1915 (6th Order)
Launched:	7 Oct, 1916
Completed:	20 Dec, 1916
Handed over:	28 Jan, 1937

H.M.S. Salmon was one of sixty-two "R" class destroyers completed for the Royal Navy in 1916-17. She was renamed H.M.S. Sable in late 1933.

There was an earlier destroyer launched in the 1890s also named Salmon.

Construction & Acceptance

Salmon was the first destroyer built at Govan and her lively motions proved a challenge for the elderly pilot who attempted to shepherd her to and from her acceptance trials, requiring the prospective commissioning captain Lionel G. Dawson to assume these duties, at the risk of the builders, though he noted that the pilot "pocketed the fee." The trials demonstrated a worrisome vibration in her first funnel, but she was soon accepted, having demonstrated a slightly disappointing 30 knots.

Service

Salmon joined the Grand Fleet's Fifteenth Destroyer Flotilla in December, 1916. On first steaming to join them, her magnetic compass stopped working, requiring her to stop into Oban to have it replaced. On the same journey, she lost her aerials along with the main topmast in a storm, causing some concern at her delayed arrival.

Salmon collided with her squadron-mate Sable some time in 1917, ramming her in the Captain's cabin when the destroyers were proceeding in fog at 20 knots, despite each ship throwing its helm over and backing one engine hard to assist. Sable's commander, Woodward, shouted for Dawson to "keep your stem in the hole," but the ships separated. Dawson deemed it fortunate that his ship struck just aft of Sable's main engine room, whose large volume may have meant her loss. The two returned to Rosyth, Sable with her quarter deck nearly awash, to be docked in the same dock. Their undocking was delayed by a day or two by damage Salmon sustained when a horse and cart fell into the dock, apparently through an error by the carter. The horse was killed by the accident.

After a lazy summer of 1917, much of it berthed in the Firth of Forth and the ship's men accommodated by Malaya for amenities only a large ship can offer, Dawson recalls that the closest he got to the enemy in Salmon was when they fired a few long range shots at a U-Boat they found charging its batteries. It dived and evaded them with seeming ease. Salmon went south for a refit in February of 1918.

Post-War

Salmon reduced to reduced complement on 15 February, 1919.

Paid off into Dockyard Control on 1 September, 1924.

Salmon was reduced to Reserve Complement at Devonport on 29 October, 1925. After just less than a year, she was commissioned on 22 September 1926 for service with the Portland Anti-Submarine Flotilla, where she remained into at least early 1933.

In January 1928 she underwent a refit at Chatham.

Salmon was r-commissioned on 21 July, 1933.

The ship was renamed H.M.S. Sable on 2 December, 1933.

In 1934, her bell, marked Salmon, was offered for sale to naval officers and others who might be interested, at the price of £5 or perhaps £1. Interested parties were to write the Director of Stores and were urged to include any special information which might convey the importance they attach to the bell, in light of the Admiralty's understanding that such items carry great sentimental value.

On 28 January, 1937, she was handed over to Ward in partial payment for Majestic. She was taken away for breaking up in March, 1937.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Lieutenant-Commander Lionel G. Dawson, 2 December, 1916 – 9 April, 1918
• Commander William B. Mackenzie, 15 April, 1918 – 24 June, 1918
• Lieutenant-Commander George C. H. Lawson, 24 June, 1918 – 9 April, 1919
• Lieutenant-Commander Ronald H. C. Hallifax, 9 April, 1919 – 2 June, 1919
• Lieutenant-Commander Richard M. Welby, 30 April, 1919 – 1 October, 1919
• Lieutenant-Commander Lewes G. Gardner, 1 October, 1919 – 13 November, 1919
• Lieutenant-Commander John S. Prescott-Roberts, 13 November, 1919 – 13 October, 1920
• Lieutenant-Commander Charles F. Stow, 15 October, 1920 – March, 1922
• Lieutenant-Commander Theodore F. A. Voysey, 22 September, 1926 – March, 1927
• Lieutenant-Commander Benjamin C. S. Martin, 30 March, 1927 – 5 April, 1928
• Lieutenant-Commander William D. G. Weir, 5 April, 1928 – 15 November, 1928
• Lieutenant-Commander Denys R. Brocklebank, 15 November, 1928 – 3 March, 1930
• Lieutenant-Commander Roger Frederick, 11 June, 1931 – 23 July, 1932
• Lieutenant-Commander Edward R. Conder, 13 June, 1932 – 25 July, 1933^[Inference]
• Lieutenant-Commander Norman L. Dwane, 25 July, 1933
• Lieutenant-Commander Ernest W. Reep, 22 September, 1934 – c. 8 October, 1935
• Lieutenant-Commander Harry D. Barlow, c. 8 October, 1935

See Also

• Wikipedia