HMS Mary Rose (1915)


HMS Mary Rose was an that served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. The M class was an improvement on those of the preceding, capable of higher speed. The destroyer was armed with three single QF guns and four tubes for torpedoes. Launched in October 1915, the destroyer served with the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet. Mary Rose was sunk on 17 October 1917 by the German light cruisers and in an action approximately east of Lerwick while escorting a convoy of twelve merchant ships from Norway.

Design and development

Mary Rose was one of the sixteen s ordered by the British Admiralty in September 1914 as part of the First War Programme. The M class was an improved version of the earlier, required to reach a higher speed in order to counter rumoured new German fast destroyers. The remit was to have a maximum speed of and, although ultimately the destroyers fell short of that ambition in service, the extra performance that was achieved was valued by the navy. It transpired that the rumoured German warships did not exist.
The destroyer had a length of between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and draught of. Displacement was normal and at full load. Power was provided by three Yarrow boilers feeding Brown-Curtiss steam turbines rated at, driving three shafts and exhausting through three funnels. Mary Rose produced during trials. Design speed was. A total of of oil was carried, which gave a design range of at. The ship had a complement of 80 officers and ratings.
Mary Rose had a main armament consisting of three single QF Mk IV guns on the centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised platform and one between the middle and aft funnels. Torpedo armament consisted of two twin torpedo tubes for torpedoes located aft of the funnels. Two single 1-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns were carried. The anti-aircraft guns were later replaced by single 2-pdr "pom-pom" guns and the destroyer was fitted with racks and storage for two depth charges.

Construction and career

Laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their shipyard in Wallsend, Mary Rose was launched on 8 October 1915. The vessel was deployed as part of the Grand Fleet, joining the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla. The destroyer was one of eight based at Lerwick that operated an escort service for convoys between Norway and the Shetland Islands. On 16 October 1917, along with fellow destroyer and the armed trawlers Elise and P. Fannon, left Lerwick to meet with an incoming convoy that had sailed from Norway on 16 October. At dawn on the following day, the captain of the Mary Rose, Lieutenant-Commander Fox, observed two warships approaching. Their profiles and dark-grey colour led him to assume they were British light cruisers, and recognition signals were duly transmitted. The approaching ships were in fact the German light cruisers and, despatched as part of a plan by Admiral Reinhard Scheer to supplement U-boats with high speed surface raiders. The convoy was then east of Lerwick.
The German ships closed to before opening fire, quickly sinking the convoy's second escort, Strongbow. Mary Rose was hit in the engine room shortly afterwards, and disabled. Sub-Lieutenant Marsh, RNVR, maintained fire with the one gun left operational, while the only two surviving members of the torpedo crew, French and Bailey, were able to fire the last remaining torpedo, but to no avail. With further salvoes wrecking the superstructure, Fox ordered Master Gunner Handcock to scuttle the ship. The ship's boats reduced to matchwood, only a handful of men survived by clinging to a raft; Fox and the First Lieutenant went down with the ship. Several hours later, the survivors boarded a lifeboat from one of the merchant ships and were able to reach Norway. A total of 83 were killed.
The escorts sunk, Brummer and Bremse proceeded to sink nine of the merchant ships; only three survived. One of the crew, Ordinary Seaman Alfred Holden, died in Norway and is buried in Fredrikstad Military Cemetery. In response to the new threat of surface raiders, later convoys were accorded heavier escorts, which ensured there was no repetition of the disaster.