HMS Myrtle (1915)

HMS Myrtle was an Azalea-class sloop that was part of a Royal Navy squadron that was sent to assist the Baltic States and their fight for independence. While clearing naval mines on 16 July 1919[2] both Myrtle and HMS Gentian hit mines and sank killing nine sailors in the two blasts.

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Myrtle
Operator: Royal Navy
Builder: Lobnitz, Renfrew
Yard number: No 806
Launched: 11 October 1915
Completed: November 1915
Fate: Hit a mine on 16 July 1919
General characteristics
Type: Minesweeper
Displacement: 1,250 tons
Length:
  • 255 ft 3 in (77.80 m) p/p
  • 267 ft 9 in (81.61 m) o/a
Beam: 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m)
Draught: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Propulsion:
  • 1 × 4-cylinder triple expansion engine
  • 2 × cylindrical boilers
  • 1 screw
Speed: 17 knots (31 km/h)
Range: 2,000 nmi (3,700 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) with max. 260 tons of coal[1]
Complement: 79 men
Armament: 2 × 1 – QF 4 inch Mk IV guns, BL 4 inch Mk IX guns or QF 4.7 inch Mk IV guns and 2 × 1 – 3-pounders (47 mm) AA. A few had no 3-pounders.

Design and construction

The Azalea-class was based on the previous Acacia-class, but with a heavier gun armament.[3][lower-alpha 1] They were designed at the start of the First World War as relatively fast minesweepers that could also carry out various miscellaneous duties in support of the fleet such as acting as dispatch vessels or carrying out towing operations, but as the war continued and the threat from German submarines grew, became increasingly involved in anti-submarine duties.[4][5]

Myrtle was 262 ft 6 in (80.01 m) long overall and 250 ft (76.20 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 33 ft (10.06 m) and a draught of 11 ft (3.35 m).[6] Displacement was 1,200 long tons (1,200 t) normal.[7] Two cylindrical boilers fed steam to a triple expansion steam engine rated at 1,800 ihp (1,300 kW), giving a speed of 16.5 kn (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h).[3][8] The Azeleas had a main armament of two 4.7 inch (120 mm) or 4 inch (102 mm) guns, with two 3-pounder (47 mm) anti-aircraft guns also carried.[7] Myrtle had a crew of 90 officers and other ranks.[3]

Myrtle was ordered on 4 May 1915 from the Scottish shipbuilder Lobnitz, and was built at their Renfrew shipyard as Yard number 806. She was launched on 11 October 1915, and was completed on 16 December 1915.[6][9][10]

Service

On commissioning, Myrtle was attached to the Grand Fleet.[11] The duties of the sloops attached to the Grand Fleet were mainly confined to keeping the approaches to the Fleet's anchorage at Scapa Flow clear of mines, with daily sweeping of the prescribed channels.[12] By July 1916, the Grand Fleet's minesweepers had been split into three Flotillas, with Myrtle joining the 1st Fleetsweeping Flotilla.[13] Myrtle was still part of the 1st Minesweeping Flotilla, by now based at Granton, Edinburgh at the end of the war in November 1918.[14][15]

Baltic deployment and loss

The British campaign in the Baltic was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was "Operation Red Trek".[16] The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia[17] but failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.[18] The taskforce was vital in supplying the Baltic states as well as containing the Soviet navies.

On 26 June 1919, the 1st Fleet Sweeping Flotilla arrived at Biorko to reinforce the British forces in the Baltic.[19] On 16 July,[lower-alpha 2] four sloops of the 1st Flotilla, Myrtle, Gentian, Lilac and Lupin, were employed sweeping mines East of Saaremaa. The sloops worked in pairs, towing a sweep between the two ships, which steamed about 500 yd (460 m) apart, with Myrtle working with Gentian. During the afternoon, Myrtle and Gentian were attempting to sink mines that had been brought to the surface by Lilac and Lupin' sweep when Gentian struck an unswept mine. Myrtle went to Gentian's assistance, but also stuck a mine which broke off the fore part of the ship and killing six. Myrtle sank 90 minutes after striking the mine.[22] Myrtle's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Richard Scott, was awarded the Bronze Albert Medal for Lifesaving for his actions during the sinking, returning alone to the ship to search it for a missing man.[23]

Wreck

In July 2010 an Estonian minesweeper located the remains of the cruiser HMS Cassandra, HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian.[24][25]

Notes
  1. Together with the following Arabis-class, Aubrietia-class and Anchusa-class, these classes were collectively known as Flower-class sloops.
  2. 15 July according to Dunn,[20] 16 July according to Dittmar and Colledge,[6] Gardiner and Gray,[3] Kemp,[21] and Gibson and Prendergast.[2]

References
  1. Gogin 2019
  2. Gibson & Prendergast 2002, p. 336
  3. Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 94
  4. Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 3, 94
  5. Brown 2010, pp. 136–137
  6. Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 94
  7. Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 95
  8. Brown 2010, p. 137
  9. Dorling 1935, p. 364
  10. "Myrtle". Scottish Built Ships: The History of Shipbuilding in Scotland. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  11. "Supplement to the Monthly Naval List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c.: I.—The Grand Fleet: Other Ships Attached to Grand Fleet". The Navy List. January 1916. p. 12. Retrieved 13 November 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  12. Dorling 1935, pp. 208–209
  13. "Supplement to the Monthly Naval List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c.: I.—The Grand Fleet: Other Ships Attached to Grand Fleet". The Navy List. July 1916. p. 12. Retrieved 13 November 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  14. "Ships of the Royal Navy - Location/Action Data, 1914–1918: Admiralty "Pink Lists", 11 November 1918". Naval-history.net. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  15. "Supplement to the Monthly Naval List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c.: I.—The Grand Fleet: Other Ships Attached to Grand Fleet". The Navy List. December 1918. p. 12. Retrieved 13 November 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  16. Langworth 2017
  17. Kinvig 2006
  18. Kinvig 2006, pp. 271–90
  19. Dunn 2020, p. 130
  20. Dunn 2020, p. 133
  21. Kemp 1999, p. 85
  22. Dunn 2020, pp. 133–134
  23. Dunn 2020, p. 134
  24. Wainwright 2010
  25. Wright 2017, p. 387

Bibliography
  • Brown, D. K. (2010). The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-085-7.
  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Dorling, Taprell (1935). Swept Channels: Being and Account of the Work of the Minesweepers in the Great War. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
  • Dunn, Steve R. (2020). Battle in the Baltic: The Royal Navy and the Fight to Save Estonia & Latvia 1918–20. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4273-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Gibson, R.H. & Prendergast, Maurice (2002) [1931]. The German Submarine War 1914–1918. Penzance, UK: Periscope Publishing. ISBN 9781904381082.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gogin, Ivan (2019). ""Flower" Arabis type fleet sweeping sloops". navypedia.org. Retrieved 16 July 2019.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kemp, Paul (1999). The Admiralty Regrets: British Warship Losses of the 20th Century. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7509-1567-6.
  • Kinvig, Clifford (2006). Churchill's Crusade: The British Invasion of Russia, 1918–1920. A & C Black. ISBN 9781852854775.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Langworth, Richard (23 April 2017). "Churchill and the Baltic, Part 1". Hillsdale College. Retrieved 16 July 2019.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wainwright, Martin (23 August 2010). "British warships sunk 90 years ago found off Estonian coast". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 July 2019.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wright, Damien (2017). Churchill's Secret War With Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918–20. Helion and Company. ISBN 9781913118112.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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