HMS Laverock (1913)
HMS "Laverock" was a destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1913 and entered service in October 1914. "Laverock" served through the First World War, operating with the Harwich Force and in the English Channel. She was sold for scrap in 1921. Construction and design. The British Admiralty ordered 20 L-class (later to become the ) destroyers as part of the 1912–1913 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy. An initial order for 16 destroyers was placed on 29 March 1912, with four more ordered from Yarrow & Company (to become and "Laverock") and two from Beardmore  ( and ) later in the year. The ship was laid down at Yarrow's Scotstoun, Glasgow shipyard on 24 July 1912 as "Hereward" but on 30 September 1913, the Admiralty ordered that the L-class be renamed with names beginning with the letter "L", and "Hereward" was renamed "Laverock". "Laverock " was launched on 19 November 1913. The ship was undergoing final acceptance trials on 1 March 1914 when she ran aground in the Firth of Clyde near Skelmorlie, suffering a gash on her port side, and was not refloated until 29 March. She was completed in October 1914. "Laverock" was long  overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement of the L-class was normal and deep load. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to direct-drive Parsons steam turbines which drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at , giving a design speed of . Two funnels were fitted. The ship's main gun armament consisted of three QF Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline, with 120 rounds per gun, supplemented by a .303 in (7.7 mm) Maxim machine gun. The ship carried two twin 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, and was fitted with  rails to carry four Vickers Elia Mk IV naval mines, although these rails were never used. A single QF 2-pounder pom-pom Mk. II gun was fitted from 1916. The ship had a complement of 73 officers and men. Service. On commissioning "Laverock" joined the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Harwich Force, which was under the overall command of Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. On 2 November 1914, "Laverock" accompanied the light cruiser and the destroyers and on an anti-submarine patrol in the area of the Broad Fourteens. As their course took them between British and German minefields, the  ships encountered many stray floating mines, destroying 15 of them. The patrol was still at sea when German cruisers and battlecruisers carried out a raid on Yarmouth the next morning, and was ordered to Yarmouth to attempt to intercept the German force. The Germans, however, managed to escape the British forces. In October 1915 the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla was renumbered the 9th Destroyer Flotilla, still remaining part of the Harwich Force, with "Laverock" remaining part of the new formation. "Laverock" was part of the escort for the seaplane carrier when "Vindex", covered by most of the Harwich Force, launched an  unsuccessful air attack against a German Zeppelin base believed to be at Hoyer in Schleswig-Holstein on 25–26 March 1916. Only two out of five seaplanes dispatched returned, reporting that the Zeppelin base was in fact at Tondern, but that they were unable to attack the base. Tyrwhitt sent several of his destroyers, including "Laverock" to search for the missing seaplanes. No sign of the missing seaplanes were found (they had, in fact, ditched due to engine trouble, and their crews captured by the Germans) but the force did encounter two German patrol boats which they sank. When picking up  survivors from the two patrol boats, "Laverock" rammed the destroyer . While damage to "Laverock" was confined to her bows, "Medusa" had been holed in her engine room and was taken in tow by the Flotilla leader , but due to the severe weather, "Medusa" eventually had to be scuttled. During the return journey of Tyrwhitt's force, the cruisers and also collided, badly damaging "Undaunted", shortly after "Cleopatra" rammed and sunk the German destroyer . The Harwich Force was held back as a reserve during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916, but when the battleship was damaged by a  German torpedo, "Laverock" was one of eight destroyers of the Harwich Force sent to escort the crippled battleship to the Humber. On 13 August 1916, "Laverock", along with and was part of the escort of a Harwich–Holland convoy when "Lassoo" struck a mine, killing six of her crew. Believing that "Lassoo" had been torpedoed, the other destroyers deployed their anti-submarine explosive sweeps. "Laverock"s sweep detonated, but no debris came up. Early in 1917, the 9th Destroyer Flotilla was split up, with the newer destroyers joining the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, and the L-class ships being dispersed to different  units, with "Laverock" joining the Dover Patrol. On the night of 24/25 February 1917, "Laverock" was one of five destroyers (the others were "Lance", , and ) patrolling the Dover Straits to guard against attack by German torpedo boats, while further forces of destroyers and cruisers were on standby in the Downs and at Dover. That night, German torpedo boats a raid against the Dover Barrage and Allied shipping in the Dover Straits, with one flotilla attacking the Barrage and a half flotilla of torpedo boats operating off the Kent coast. The southern German force, the 6th Flotilla, comprising six torpedo boats  (equivalent to Royal Navy destroyers) encountered "Laverock" and engaged the British destroyer with gunfire and at least two torpedoes, one of which struck "Laverock" but did not detonate. "Laverock" set out in pursuit of the German ships, which broke contact and returned to base, their commander believing that he was engaged with several destroyers and that his planned raid on Dover was no longer possible. The second German group of five torpedo boats, was spotted near the North entrance to the Downs, and shelled Margate and Westgate-on-Sea prior to returning to base. On 18 April 1917, "Laverock" left  the 6th Flotilla, joining the 4th Flotilla, now based at Devonport and employed on convoy escort duties. "Laverock" remained part of the 4th Flotilla at the end of the war on 11 November 1918. Disposal. "Laverock" was laid up in reserve at the Nore by March 1919, and was sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward's Grays shipbreaking yard on 9 May 1921.