HMS Marne (1915)
HMS "Marne" was a which served with the Royal Navy during the First World War. The M class were an improvement on the preceding , capable of higher speed. The ship, the first Royal Navy vessel to be named after the River Marne, was launched on 29 May 1915. For much of the war, the destroyer escorted merchant ships in convoys and Royal Navy warships, but was also involved in the rescue of crew from the battleship in 1916. The destroyer also took part in the Battle of Jutland as part of the shield for the British battlecruisers  and engaged with the German light cruiser force with torpedoes. After the armistice, "Marne" was placed in reserve before being decommissioned and, on 31 November 1921, sold to be broken up. Design and development. "Marne" was one of the initial six s ordered by the British Admiralty in September 1914 as part of the First Emergency War Programme. The M-class was an improved version of the earlier destroyers, designed to reach a higher speed in order to counter rumoured German fast destroyers, although it transpired these vessels did not exist. The destroyer was long overall, with a beam of  and a draught of . Displacement was normal and full load. Power was provided by three Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis steam turbines rated at and driving two shafts, to give a design speed of . Three funnels were fitted and of oil was carried, giving a design range of at . Armament consisted of three Mk IV QF guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised platform and one between the middle and aft funnels. A single 2-pounder (40 mm) pom-pom anti-aircraft gun was carried, while torpedo armament consisted of  two twin mounts for torpedoes. The ship had a complement of 76 officers and ratings. Construction and career. "Marne" was laid down by John Brown & Company of Clydebank on 30 September 1914 alongside sister ship with the yard number 434, launched on 29 May the following year and completed on 27 September. The destroyer was the first vessel in the navy to be named after the river Marne in France. The ship was deployed as part of the Grand Fleet, joining the newly formed Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla. After the battleship had struck a mine on 10 January 1916, "Marne" was  one of twelve destroyers that came to the stricken ship's aid. The destroyer, along with , and , transferred all but one of the crew and took them back to port. On 1 May, the destroyer picked up the survivors from the armed merchant ship SS "San Urbano", which had been sunk by . At the Battle of Jutland later that year, "Marne" served as one of four members of the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla attached to the First and Fourth Battle Squadrons. The flotilla then formed close to the dreadnought battleship when the two fleets converged on 31 May. As the German  fleet approached during the night, the flotilla was spotted by the vanguard of the High Seas Fleet, The destroyers, led by the light cruiser , attacked the German light cruisers. "Marne" launching a torpedo that failed to impact. In return, the destroyer received a hit from a shell on the upper deck aft which failed to explode. During the following year, "Marne" was transferred to the Northern Division of the Coast of Ireland Station based at Buncrana. The destroyer was part of the escort service provided to convoys travelling across the Atlantic. The Division provided three escorts every eight days to  protect convoys travelling to and from Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 2 October, the destroyer briefly escorted after the armoured cruiser had been torpedoed by . After the armistice, the Royal Navy returned to a peacetime level of mobilisation and "Marne" was declared superfluous to operational requirements. On 22 October 1919, the destroyer was reduced and placed in reserve at Devonport. However, this did not last long and, after being decommissioned, on 31 November 1921, "Marne" was sold to G Cohen to be broken up in Germany.