HMS TB 12 (1907)

HMS TB 12 (originally named HMS Moth) was a Cricket-class coastal destroyer or torpedo-boat of the British Royal Navy. TB 12 was built by the shipbuilder Yarrow from 1905 to 1907. She was used for local patrol duties in the First World War and was sunk by a German mine in the North Sea on 10 June 1915.

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS TB 12
Builder:	Yarrow, Poplar
Laid down:	23 November 1905
Launched:	15 March 1907
Completed:	July 1907
Fate:	Mined 10 June 1915
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cricket-class destroyer
Displacement:	291 long tons (296 t)
Length:	175 ft 9 in (53.57 m) oa
Beam:	18 ft 0 in (5.49 m)
Draught:	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Installed power:	4,000 shp (3,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2× Yarrow boilers Parsons steam turbines 3 shafts
Speed:	26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h)
Complement:	39
Armament:	2 × 12-pounder (76 mm) guns 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

Design

The Cricket-class was intended as a smaller and cheaper supplement to the large, fast but expensive Tribal-class, particularly in coastal waters such as the English Channel.[1][2] An initial order for twelve ships was placed by the Admiralty in May 1905 as part of the 1905–1906 shipbuilding programme, with five ships each ordered from Thornycroft and J. Samuel White and two from Yarrow .[1]

Yarrow's ships (the different shipbuilders built to their own design, although standardised machinery and armament was fitted) were 175 feet 9 inches (53.57 m) long overall and 172 feet 0 inches (52.43 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 18 feet 0 inches (5.49 m) and a draught of 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m).[3] The ships had turtleback[lower-alpha 1] forecastles and two funnels. Two oil-fuelled Yarrow water-tube boilers fed steam to three-stage Parsons steam turbines, driving three propeller shafts.[5][2] The machinery was designed to give 4,000 shaft horsepower (3,000 kW), with a speed of 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h) specified.[3]

Armament consisted of two 12-pounder (76-mm) 12 cwt guns[lower-alpha 2] and three 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (in three single mounts).[5][1] The ships had a crew of 39.[6]

Service

Both of Yarrow's two torpedo-boats of the 1905–1906 programme, Mayfly and Moth were laid down at their Poplar, London shipyard on 23 November 1905.[7] In 1906, the ships of the class, including Moth, were redesignated as torpedo-boats, losing their names in the process, with Moth becoming TB 12.[5] She was launched on 15 March 1907 and was completed in July 1907.[7]

In early 1911 TB 12, previously employed at the Dartmouth Naval College, joined the Nore Flotilla.[8] She was refitted at Sheerness in 1911.[9]

On 9 June 1915, following the sinking by a German submarine (probably U-10) of six fishing smacks, the Nore Local Defence Flotilla launched a large search for the submarine involved, with five destroyers and six torpedo-boats, including TB 12, taking part. At 03:30 on 10 June TB 12 was about 2 miles north east of the Sunk Light Vessel when an explosion wrecked the fore part of the ship. Her sister ship TB 10 took TB 12 in tow, but shortly afterwards an explosion wrecked TB 10 which broke in two and quickly sank. Attempts to save TB 12 failed and she sank at 10:55. Although it was believed at the time that the ships had been torpedoed, with the destroyer Vulture reporting that she had seen a torpedo heading towards TB 10 and that Vulture herself had been near-missed by another torpedo, the two torpedo-boats had actually been sunk by mines.[10] 23 of TB 12's crew were killed.[11]

Notes

1. A fore deck with exaggerated camber designed to throw off sea water at high speeds.[4]
2. 12 cwt refers to the weight of the gun in hundredweights

References

1. Friedman 2009, pp. 110–111
2. Brown 2003, p. 195
3. Friedman 2009, pp. 110, 294
4. Gardiner & Lambert 1992, p. 188
5. Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 72–73
6. Friedman 2009, p. 294
7. Friedman 2009, p. 305
8. "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. XXXIII. February 1911. p. 255.
9. "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. XXXIV. August 1911. p. 15.
10. Naval Staff Monograph No. 29 1925, p. 253
11. Kindell, Don (15 February 2011). "1st - 31st June 1915 in date, ship/unit & name order". World War 1 - Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy and Dominion. Naval-history.net. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

• Brown, D. K. (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-84067-5292.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Corbett, Julian S. (1923). Naval Operations: Volume III. History of the Great War. London: Longmans, Green and Co.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Dittmar, F. J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Gardiner, Robert; Lambert, Andrew, eds. (1992). Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-564-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Monograph No. 29: Home Waters Part IV: From February to July 1915 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). XIII. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1925.